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Teacher Is 'All About Passion'

LOIS KINDLE/Tampa Tribune photo.

Ruskin Elementary School teacher Melody Perry looks on approvingly as first-grader Ramiro Salinas practices writing in English.

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By LOIS KINDLE, The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 26, 2007

Updated: 09/24/2007 10:23 pm

RUSKIN - Every day, Melody Perry heads to school hoping to reach her students like any other teacher.

But the challenge she faces is a bit tougher than most. Perry is a first-grade teacher whose students speak little, if any, English and she speaks no Spanish.

'Melody is teaching every single minute of the day,' said Donna Ippolito, principal of Ruskin Elementary School. 'She is totally involved with her students, and she knows where every child is individually at school and at home. She could teach any child.'

Her co-workers agree.

'She's very compassionate and willing to differentiate her instruction to meet each child's needs,' said second-grade teacher Sara Kincaid. 'If I had a child, I'd put her in Melody's classroom.'

Some teachers might be intimidated by the added responsibility, but Perry welcomes it.

'It's all about passion - for the students, for teaching, for giving, basically for life. ... Live it passionately and you get that passion right back,' she said. 'At least, that's how my world seems to work. I get what I give.'

Perry, 49, has a paraprofessional in the classroom to assist her in communicating with her students when necessary.

Aside from that, she teaches them by acting things out, using her hands, having students who do understand her explain to others and modeling for them individually.

When she talks about the ocean, for example, Perry plays videos, brings in sand and shells, reads books and makes saltwater during the science portion of the day.

She said most of these kids have never been to the beach, so she tries to give them a semblance of the experience.

'As a mother, I know my own children will learn, no matter what,' Perry said. 'But these kids come to school with very limited experience from families that cannot help them.

'They're eager to learn and so smart. The minute you give them an environment that's all English, they listen so hard. They're clear, little slates. At 6 years old, they learn anything you throw at them.'

Despite the language barrier, Perry said by the time the school year is over, her students will be reading at level 18, which is required for them to enter second grade.

In 2005-06, only three of Perry's students were retained, and they entered the class in the middle of the school year.

'It's just like any other first-grade class, except that when the children start school they're extremely limited in their understanding of English,' Perry said. 'At first, Mary Bence, the paraprofessional helps during parent-teacher conferences. By the end of the year, it's the kids who help.'

Born in Tallahassee and raised in Tampa, Perry graduated from Hillsborough High School in 1976. She attended Hillsborough Community College briefly and took classes at Classical Ballet of Tampa.

Married in 1981, she became a stay-at-home mom until the younger of her two daughters entered kindergarten.

Perry returned to school and earned a bachelor's degree in elementary education from the University of South Florida in 1996.

She had interned at Cypress Creek Elementary School in Ruskin, where she said she fell in love with the students who spoke little English. Her first teaching job was at Brooker Elementary School in Brandon.

A year later, Perry transferred to Ruskin Elementary School, where 88 percent of the 1,104 students are considered English language learners. Since then she has taken more than 350 hours of training to become certified as an English-for-speakers-of-other-languages teacher.

No additional compensation is involved, Perry said.

'You do it purely for the love of it,' she said. 'Next to being a mother, it's the most rewarding and worthy thing I've ever done. There's not enough money in the world that can give you that.'

GET TO KNOW

Melody Perry

AGE: 49

JOB: first-grade teacher, Ruskin Elementary

EDUCATION: bachelor's degree, University of South Florida

QUOTE: 'Next to being a mother, it's the most rewarding and worthy thing I've ever done. There's not enough money in the world that can give you that.'

Reporter Lois Kindle can be reached at 865-1553 or lkindle@tampatrib.com.

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