Hot Springs teacher receives grant

HOT SPRINGS – Lisa Meuller, fourth grade teacher at Hot Springs Elementary School, recently received word she was awarded the One Class at a Time grant to fund educational opportunities for her students.

Teachers often have special projects they want to do with their students; however, with how little funding schools usually get, they are not always able to afford them. One such project is Meuller’s goal with the grant money.

The plan is to use the money to get enough copies of the book, Jim Thorpe: Bright Path – by Joseph Bruchac, for her students to all have a copy. With how big a role model Thorpe is as an athlete, Meuller felt there would be good, inspirational lessons to be taught through the book.

“[Thorpe] actually was considered the greatest athlete that ever lived,” Meuller said, noting he played football, baseball as well as running track and field and winning gold at the Olympics.

The book is a picture book biography of the Native American athlete, focusing on his childhood and how his sports career took shape. It is also expected to tie into some of the Native American studies being discussed at the school.

Meuller has a number of activities based around the book planned for her students. Some of these include making diorama-like displays, talking about boarding schools and other topics. She plans to incorporate Native American education, about language, culture and history, into the unit as well.

“We’re just going to do a lot of little things,” she said of her current plans.

The book can also be tied into local history. According to Meuller, Thorpe came to Hot Springs and cut the ribbon during the grand opening of the Camas Bathhouse.

“The kids have a lot of questions about our town, what it used to be like [and about] the reservation,” she said. “When you can connect it to the places … they love that, they love those stories … The kids were just in awe when I told them about Jim Thorpe being in Hot Springs.”

So far, Meuller’s students have been excited at the prospect of the unit. She expects to make some more changes, adding and removing elements, as it gets closer to starting.

She recalled she had applied for the grant last spring, but had forgotten exactly what she wrote in the application. She was out of town at a class when word arrived and only learned about receiving it last Tuesday.

The hope is to order the books soon. Meuller recalled she checked Barnes and Noble last spring, but there were not enough copies available for her needs. They said they could call when they had enough, but it was hard to say when it would happen.

“It looks like I may even need to contact the author, in some way, to say go ahead and publish more books,” Meuller said. “If that’s the case, I will.”

The goal is to have the books and be able to do the lesson plan this school year with the return from winter break as the target period to start. She would also like to see the books become available for the whole school to use as well as incorporating computer-based lessons in the high school.