Published: October 12, 2006 02:30 pm      

Our kids reap the rewards of being taught by the best of the best at Effingham High School

The Illinois Teacher of the Year award bestowed upon Effingham High School teacher Joe Fatheree Saturday night confirms what the Effingham area already knew — we are blessed to have the best of the best teaching our children.

Early in his teaching career, Fatheree broke traditional bounds and began an experimental journey full of twists and turns that would wind through different subjects but always kept the focus on challenging students to supersede their own expectations. Hand-in-hand with an administration that encouraged change, he set a high standard for students and then led the charge as together they hurdled the bar of expectation.

Daily, Fatheree proves that listening to students while demanding they give their best in any given situation is an equation for success.

Traditional education methods oftentimes only reach a small percentage of students, but those who get left out are not any less bright. Fatheree knew that early on and set about exploring ways to reach all students and pushed them to reach for the stars.

After spending his first year of teaching elsewhere, Fatheree in 1990 came back to where he student taught — Effingham High School. But he soon realized the traditional lecture method of teaching English was not reaching all students. So he went to the source of his struggle for help — the kids in the classroom.

Utilizing the input from his students, Fatheree changed the way he taught. Reading plays aloud, writing and singing rap music with guitar accompaniment and other innovations were weaved into daily lessons, and the students responded. Attendance increased, grades soared and discipline problems diminished.

He found a kindred spirit in then-Assistant Principal Mike McCollum, who soon became high school principal. Both men believe the educational system fails if it does not reach every student, including those who zone out in traditional classrooms and are on the verge of falling through the cracks. Reaching the top 10 percent is not enough. Both men believe highly talented kids get lost in a staid system and if the system does not expect excellence from all, it will not get excellence.

In 1994, Fatheree switched from teaching English to history, his field of study when he attended Eastern Illinois University.

He soon incorporated a session on the Vietnam War that had students and McCollum a buzz. The classroom setting changed as Fatheree and his students brought in memorabilia from the war, Spam and other food products soldiers ate while in the war zone, and veterans who told students about their experiences. It was a class all students wanted to take part in.

His interest in Vietnam would lead Fatheree to another venture. He teamed up with Teutopolis teacher Craig Lindvahl, a former finalist for Teacher of the Year who also should have won the title, and together they created an award-winning documentary, "A Time for Honor," on the local impact of the war. When it debuted at Effingham High School in 2003, audience members, many of whom had tears in their eyes, were wrought with emotion. The many vets in the audience had only high praise for the film, and the rest of the audience expressed awe at the talent of the two men who shared their skills with students.

Fatheree and Lindvahl also teamed up to jointly teach a multimedia class to both Effingham and Teutopolis students. The class fanned the flames of students' hidden talents and conveyed a whole new set of possibilities.

In addition to the multimedia class, which allows students to explore filmmaking, animation and other media-related fields, Fatheree, who became technology instructor in 2000, teaches Web page design and other technology-related skills, but his focus is the same — create a learning environment that reaches all students, including those who some have already given up on, and challenges them to fulfill their potential.

Three years ago, Fatheree began a "No Barriers" program that brought home the citizenship aspect of education and enlightens students to different circumstances under which many teens live. Designed to help students understand how extreme poverty impacts student success, he recruited a group of students to pilot a poverty literacy program that collected over 2,500 coats for homeless children living in the St. Louis area. The following year, students collected over 4,000 books and partnered with a Public Broadcasting System station to find a literacy expert who could take the books into homes of disenfranchised children to help them improve reading skills.

Through the program, Effingham High School students partnered with East St. Louis students to develop media skills, and in the process, learn about each other's cultures. The project continues, but already students have expanded their world.

Although Fatheree is a force of his own, the encouragement he received from high school and Unit 40 administration allowed him to break into new areas, secure state-of-the-art equipment for the multimedia classroom and unleash his creative powers.

The highest praise for Fatheree comes from the students themselves. They are the first to say he is a demanding teacher, but they also contend his wry sense of humor melded with his formidable attitude that hard work and a belief in one's self can unleash untapped potential is a formula that catapulted them to success.

Fatheree sets a tough standard and high expectation for each student in his class, and they deliver because they know he believes they can.

By winning the state title, Fatheree now is in the running for national Teacher of the Year recognition. Regardless of whether he brings the national award home or not, we — community members, Effingham High School and Unit 40 administrators, and, most importantly, students — know he not only deserves it, but earns it every day he walks into the classroom.

Congratulations, Mr. Fatheree!