Seventh grade began a day of first for twenty-one students at St. Bernard Middle School, and one new faculty member. Stephen Calvert began his first day for the 2010-11 academic year with his first teaching position at St. Bernard Middle School. Calvert is serving as 7th grade math and 8th grade Algebra and Pre-Algebra, and literature teacher.
Having been public schooled all of his life, he began the first day of his private school career with a day of opening prayer, blessings, the pledge of allegiance and singing God Bless America with the entire Middle School community.
In the classroom he addressed the class as though he had been teaching for years by introducing himself and covering his syllabus. “In seventh grade math, we are basically trying to set things up for Algebra,” he said to his class of ten students. “The more math you do, the better you get.”
His expectations left nothing unturned. Calvert instructed, “I expect you to be punctual, prepared, respectful, and able to follow instructions, as well as to complete all assignments.”
Calvert said everyone has a different way of doing things, and encouraged the students to share their ways of doing math with the class.
Getting to know the students was important too. Each student was asked to introduce themselves to the class by standing and sharing information about their summer. “It’s always interesting what you discover about students,” Calvert said smiling. “Some went to the gulf and experienced the oil spill; some played baseball; one did barrel racing, one did gymnastics, several visited relatives within the states, and some just played video games.”
Calvert is looking forward to his first year at St. Bernard. St. Bernard Middle School enrolled thirty-nine students for grades 7-8, and is awaiting the arrival of another seventh grade international student from Korea this week.
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