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Walking down the hallways of a school that requires security camera clearance to enter, Stacy Justice passes hundreds of powder blue lockers. The walls are adorned with hand-painted characters, the polar opposite of the graffiti covered buildings throughout the Cherry Hill community.
One of 48 Towson students working with the Cherry Hill Learning Zone program, Justice, an elementary education major, works with disadvantaged youth in one of Baltimore City's most troubled areas. The median annual income of homeowners in the community is just $17,464 and the majority of households are headed by single females, according to the program's Web site. Cherry Hill has the highest concentration of public housing in Baltimore.
And to help the children in the community, Justice does what she can, even if it's just reading them a book.
After her mentor teacher, Margaret Hoffer, who is in her second year at Patapsco Elementary/Middle School, completed the morning lesson, the floor was passed to Justice.
She began to read from "Miss Smith's Incredible Storybook" by Michael Garland, all the while wrangling attention from 6-year-olds. She periodically stopped to ask the class who the characters in the book were. Eager hands shot up in the air with answers.
"I love the kids at this age. You get to influence them right from the beginning. Their young experience [determines] whether they will like school or not," Justice said. "They're going to be our future some day. They're going to be the ones leading the world."
The Cherry Hill Learning Zone initiative is a partnership between the Baltimore City Public School System, Baltimore City government, Towson University and Cherry Hill's grassroots organizations to help elementary school students learn to read and improve math skills, according to the program's Web site.
Following story time, the students crossed the hall for "resource time," a period during the day that rotates physical education, music and library courses throughout the week. With the classroom empty, Hoffer and Justice had time to prepare for the day's next lesson. Seated in a chair built for a 6-year-old, Justice began clipping leaf shapes out of green construction paper.
A week prior, she had taught the class on her own- every subject and the week's lesson plan.
"It went really well. The kids were very respectful and they were learning a lot," Justice said. "I had a few problems [and] my mentor teacher had to step in, but that's mainly because it's not my classroom. They still don't think of me as their teacher, you always have a problem like that when you're student-teaching."
When the students returned, it was time for a phonics lesson with the aid of the fairytale "Jack and the Beanstalk."
With the students gathered around, Hoffer posed the question, "What's the synonym for enormous?" In unison, the class responded, "A giant!" Hoffer politely reminded them to raise their hands.
Then it was time for the next assignment.
Scissors, glue and markers in hand, the students wrote down words on the leaves cut out by Justice. They were taught to change one letter from the original word they started with to create new words.
Justice walked around helping the students.
"She's nice 'cause she helps us learn," DeAisha, one of Justice's students, said.
"She's a good teacher because she has fun activities for us," Montrell, another first-grader, said.
Kind words like these from her students are just a few of the compliments Justice and the entire University collaboration receive from professionals working in Cherry Hill.
"It's been amazing. I don't know what I would've done without her," Hoffer said. "It's an excellent program and I am really, really glad she was here."
After sending the students off to the cafeteria for lunch, Justice was back in a chair meant for someone half her size. And before she can take a bite herself, she received a call from the main office.
Justice made her way through the sea of powder-blue lockers and children's artwork unaware of the reason she was called. Justice entered the main office to see two other Towson student-teachers, Vernell Lucadamo and Kelsey Fleming. Prepared with papers in hand, Reginald Howard, a representative from the Baltimore City Public School System Department of Human Resources, offered the three women conditional contracts to teach in the city beyond their student-teacher work.
Flattered by the offer, Justice signed the contract but will continue to look around and keep her options open.
"I'm just applying places that best fit my needs and wants, but I am definitely considering it," Justice said. "I think [the Cherry Hill Learning Zone program] is a good initiative to help out the community just to show that there are people still willing to help and support others."
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