ROGERS — Reagan teacher Jeanie Schneider is also a cheerleader. Although some students are assigned to her, she's ready to help any student in the school - especially if the subject is reading.

Schneider is the school's reading cheerleader, Principal Cathy Ramsey said. She runs the Reader of the Week program and checks the points students earn in the school-wide Accelerated Reader program. It's Schneider who makes sure the student with the most points gets on the school's closed-circuit television.

She also rewards a Reader of the Month and a winning reader for each quarter. Her room has its own library so students and teachers can check out AR books. Thousands of computerized AR tests are available, she said.

She also does character education lessons on the school's television show.

It's important, she explained, that all students know what behavior is expected of them.

As a resource teacher she has her own room and works with some students one-on-one, but her goal is to keep students in their regular classroom. She does that by going to class with them.

During the morning, Schneider moves between the third, fourth and fifth- grade classrooms acting as a co-teacher. Usually, she's at the front of the room along side the regular classroom teacher adding another point of view, she said. Sometimes she expands on the regular lesson. Since she dealswith all three grades, she can add information she knows the students need.

She works with any student who needs help, but she knows which students have been identified as resource students and she keeps an eye on them.

Students are identified because of a weakness, but her resource students also have strengths. Many of her students are autistic, and while their social skills are poor, their academic skills can be exceptional. If she knows one of her students can answer a question, she always calls on him. It's good for her students to "shine" in class, she explained.

When she tells them what their strengths are, they don't really believe her until they have the chance to show their peers.

She also works with new students. Sometimes they just need a little attention to feel like they belong, but if they have alearning disability, Schneider can often spot the problem early and get them the help they need.

"I love that part of my job," she said.

A Rogers native, Schneider had both Reagan sisters in high school, long before the elementary school was named for them. When she was a teenager, she worked in the Rogers Day Care Center which served many needy families. That was when she first met youngsters with special needs and she wanted to continue working with them.

After graduating fromMissouri Valley College, she spent a few years teaching in Bentonville, but she found it frustrating to work within the bureaucracy and she left to become a peace and hunger activist in Little Rock.

She missed teaching and realized that she had to let go of the things she couldn't change and just concentrate on the students. By then she was looking for a place to raise her own family, so she returned to Rogers and found a job at Reagan. She's been there 13 years and has never regretted her choice.

"The best part of my day is when I walk in the door and some kids smiles at me," she said. "That's why I keep coming back."

Scholars, Pages 9 on 09/16/2009

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