When the second-grade class of Kathy Harper at Wilson Elementary School lined up to leave yesterday, Harper asked them what their new student teacher's name was. "Mrs. Blur..." said the students in unison before all the voices trailed off. "Ms. Blurton", Harper said. And she'll be back tomorrow. Despite the students not remembering her name (she said that a lot of people have problems with it), Jan Blurton, senior at Fort Hays State University and student teacher in Harper's class, said that she was very excited about the semester ahead and working with the students.

"When the kids came in, they knew exactly what to do and when to do it and they didn't complain," Blurton said. Her experience in the classroom has been limited to one or two hour increments without being able to have an entire class to call her own. "I'm most looking forward to being able to take ownership in the class," Blurton said. "I'm looking forward to thinking of these students as my students, really caring about them and about what they're learning and how they're learning." Harper is excited to have an extra set of hands to help with her classroom of 20 students. "It's just good to have another person here to bounce ideas off of and share responsibilities," Harper said. Gradually, Blurton will be phased into lesson plans before taking over an entire day later in the semester. Blurton was impressed by the response from the students on the first day. "One of my fears was that theywouldn't be ready for me or they wouldn't be excited for me to stay for the whole semester," Blurton said.

Instead, they seemed enthusiastic about her presence. Previously, Blurton had worked with students from kindergarten through fourth grade, but said that the second grade is ideal for her. "They still like to be here, like to be in school and think its fun. They still have so much to learn," Blurton said. Her biggest adjustment will be the time element. Spending an entire day from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the classroom will be hard for her to get back to, not having done it since high school. "When by 12 o'clock, I found myself yawning, I was a little bit worried about making it through the day," Blurton said. Harper said that student teaching experience will be very beneficial when Blurton gets her first classroom. She said that a lot of knowledge can be gained just from observing, but also from interacting with the students. "You can have your whole day planned out and you never know what's going to happen," Harper said. Blurton is ready for the challenge of her first real teaching experience and ready to embrace the class as her own. "I think (knowing how they learn) is going to make teaching a lot more fun, when you're really doing it for the right reason," Blurton said.

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Reporter Gayle Weber can be reached at (785) 628-1081 ext. 139
or by e-mail at [gweber@dailynews.net].
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