Lalanne program proving strong

Susan Fairhead, Kathryn Peters, Christina Tetzlaff and Sonja Johnson are the first graduates of the Ohio Catholic college to come to the Diocese as participants in the Lalanne program, which provides training and support for Catholic school teachers.

Lalanne participants live in community, pray together and share their faith journey with one another. In addition, they receive professional development, assistance from mentor teachers and attend summer graduate courses. After two years, they will receive a master's degree in education. In addition to the Albany Diocese, there are Lalanne communities in Cleveland, Ohio; Dayton, Ohio; and Detroit, Michigan.

First experience

"I like having religion in school," she said. "It's nice to have religion openly present. It's comforting to be in a religious atmosphere."

Miss Johnson, an English teacher at Bishop Maginn High in Albany, agreed. Unlike the other local Lalanne participants, she is in her fifth year teaching. She left an affluent public school district in New Jersey to join Lalanne.

"In public schools, they're so uptight about religion," she said. "It's freeing to be able to talk to the students about religion."

Impressions

"The people at our schools really want to be there," she said. "They're not looking for career advancement or attention. They could work somewhere else if they wanted and make more money, but they want to teach. I've found them to be more helpful and not catty. It would be nice to have more than just white paper in the copy room. But if I had a choice, I'd choose the helpful people over the colored paper at the public schools."

Miss Johnson has a slight advantage over the other members of her Lalanne community in that she has taught before. Her experiences can help remind her housemates that they will survive their first year of teaching.

"The first year at a new school is tough," she said. "You have a new curriculum, so you have to prepare tests and worksheets."

Challenges

"There's lesson planning and grading," she said. "It's a continuous challenge. The first year is a challenge, but every day is a new day."

Miss Peters has found that there is a difference between student teaching and being a classroom teacher. She student-taught in a fourth grade classroom and is now a fourth grade teacher at St. Patrick's School in Troy. Both her student teaching assignment and her current position are urban schools.

"It's a completely different world when you're the teacher," she said. "It's harder than I thought, but I work with good teachers who are helpful."

Long days

Miss Fairhead leaves for school at 6:45 a.m. and, on a good day, may leave school around 4 p.m. She's calculated that she works 12-hour days and a 55-hour week.

To get them through their first years, the teachers have the support of one another as well as diocesan personnel. Sister Pat Conron, CSJ, associate director of the Office of Evangelization and Catechesis serves as their spiritual director. They meet with her two times a month and call her as needed. The women are also well known by the staff of the diocesan Catholic School Office and Bishop Howard J. Hubbard.

"We're young teachers, and we have the support of higher-ups," said Miss Tetzlaff. "That's a big help."

It's working

* Said Miss Johnson: "I definitely would choose to do Lalanne again. It's nice to live with people. It's nice to work in a Catholic school, and I'm getting my master's."

* Miss Peters had similar thoughts: "I would do this again. As a first-year teacher, it's nice to have the extra support."

* Miss Fairhead has found the experience to be an opportunity for personal growth. "I never would have come out here without being in Lalanne," she said. "It's a good chance to challenge myself. Lalanne has given me support and background to try something new."

* Miss Tetzlaff is enthusiastic about Lalanne and teaching in the Albany Diocese. "It's an experience of a lifetime," she declared.

(The Lalanne program is open to education majors from other colleges besides the University of Dayton. For more information, visit www.udayton.edu/~lalanne, or call Brother Edward Brink at 937-229-3709.)

(01-24-02) [[In-content Ad]]