Edith Rohrer is passionate about what she teaches, and that passion has resulted in a state honor.
The Indiana Association of Family and Consumer Sciences recognized Rohrer as the INAFCS Teacher of the Year at its annual conference Sept. 24. Rohrer teaches family and consumer sciences at Edgewood Middle School. INAFCS is a state affiliate with the American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences.
As the Indiana FCS Teacher of the Year, Rohrer will enter national competition for the 2010 AAFCS Teacher of the Year to be announced in June. The national conference will be in Cleveland, Ohio.
"I was excited," said Rohrer of receiving the state honor. "It was exciting because I put a lot of effort into my career. FACS is my life's work and probably will continue to be."
As the Indiana representative, Rohrer said she knows she represents many hardworking teachers across the state.
"It's an honor to be chosen," she said.
The unit for which Rohrer was recognized as teacher of the year is "Who's In My 'Hood?" This is a unit for middle school students examining the people and resources found in their neighborhood. Focusing on communication throughout the life cycle, students identify the needs of the developing child, define adolescence, interview a parent, examine aging and investigate challenges of special needs individuals. Additional lessons explore career research, apply the decision-making process to real-life problems and explain the environmental need for the practice of recycle, reduce and reuse.
"It focuses on communication because interpersonal communication is so needed in people's lives," said Rohrer.
She said the objective is to get students to focus on communicating with a variety of people of different ages, stages in their lives and situations. "In other words, the people around them in their neighborhoods," Rohrer said.
Her favorite part of the unit, she said, is a lesson she's had students do for 10 years. She brings retired persons into the classroom. Students interview them about their lives, and the retired volunteers get to learn more about computers and what students are doing in the classroom. Rohrer said it's her "sneaky" way of teaching students about aging.
"Students beg for the chance to do it again," she said. "They didn't know they could talk to seniors and enjoy it."
Another area the students look at during the unit is special needs.
"We do simulation activities to experience situations challenged people face," Rohrer said. Those include hearing impairments, learning disabilities and mental challenges.As a teacher, Rohrer has learned a few things along the way herself.
She has been with Warsaw Community School Corp. since January 1981. For the first three years, she taught at the high school, but then moved over to the middle school.
"I had to eat my words. I never thought I'd like middle school students, but I found I do like them. That's why I stayed here," she said.
Rohrer holds a bachelor's degree from Manchester College and a master's degree from Purdue University in vocational home economics education.
"As a FACS professional, our mission is to have the tools to empower individuals, families and communities to meet the challenges in daily living and that's what we're about - daily living," Rohrer said.
"FACS is a science-based discipline. Everything we teach comes out of researched science," she said. "We're the only discipline in school with family as our main focus."
