Giving students “brain breaks” is just one of the successful teaching tactics Pam Wandersen uses in her third-grade class at Indian Trail School in Frankfort Square.
Whichever strategy she has chosen in her 14 years in Summit Hill School District 161, it seemingly always involves some enjoyment for her students.
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Wandersen is one of 10 finalists for 2016 Illinois Teacher of the Year, and the only one from the Southland. The honoree is to be named Oct. 17 at the Illinois State Board of Education “Those Who Excel” banquet in Normal.
“The kids are so successful in my room because I think I’m creative, I’m fun,” Wandersen said. “I get them up out of their seats. I was kind of a hyperactive child, so I understand that it’s difficult to sit in a chair for that long a period of time. So I get them up.”
One “brain break” that “gets them up” challenges the entire class, including Wandersen, to attempt a yoga position drawn randomly from a deck of yoga cards.
“We’re all going to try it together because we’re all learning together,” she said.
A favorite break, she said, is taking “snake breaths,” an activity in which students pretend to inhale an anaconda-size snake and then breathe the entire thing out again. It has just enough of a “yuck factor” to engage 9- and 10-year-olds, and Wandersen said it can be very effective in relieving stress.
“You get those kids with those anxiety issues, so it’s something that’s good that helps them,” she said. “They can concentrate a little bit more. … and I think it helps them a lot and the other kids that aren’t anxious.”
The 21-year veteran teacher — Wandersen also taught first grade for seven years in a parochial school in Chicago — said she learned the relaxation technique while working with an occupational therapist who helped children with sensory issues.
“I noticed that it worked for everybody,” Wandersen said.
Wandersen makes it her business to take note of what is successful for her students at all levels of learning and then applies it so students will benefit.
“I differentiate a lot,” Wandersen said. “I’m to the point where I think I’m pretty good at it.”
Wandersen may pull a group of students together who are experiencing some difficulty with a concept and teach it differently until the children “fully understand,” she said. The goal is always “to reach all learners,” she said.
District 161 ESL teacher Chris Coffey said she has observed Wandersen teaching her third-grade class. Coffey, a 30-year veteran teacher, said Wandersen’s ability to “make learning exciting” and to work with students of different ability levels impressed her.
“She’s an exceptional teacher in the classroom, and the way that she differentiates for students with special needs like my students — that’s what I really appreciated about her from the beginning,” Coffey said. “But she also does that for gifted, and she does that for special-ed students. Every student seems unique to her.”
Coffey said Wandersen often creates her own materials and is “generous” in sharing them with other teachers.
Sharing is part of the third-grade teachers’ team strategy for success, Wandersen said.
“My team that I work with here at Trail is just an awesome team,” she said. “We’re very collaborative. I mean somebody will find something or develop something and we all share it.”
Wandersen, who lives in Lemont with her husband Jeff, is committed to her career in teaching. She said she thinks of her class like family.
“I have 24 children,” Wandersen said. “My class is my kids.”
As one of the finalists set to be recognized at the “Those Who Excel” banquet, Wandersen said she is both humbled and energized.
“I feel like I’m teaching the best I have in my life,” Wandersen said. “It’s that confidence, that recognition, that ‘Hey, what you’re doing is good.’ “
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Ginger Brashinger is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.