By PAT NEWMAN

Staff Writer

Linda Furey, Fayette County's Teacher of the Year 2000, is described by her colleagues as a very creative woman who wants to see every one of her students succeed, not only in the classroom, but in life.

By her own admission, she "marches to the beat of a different drummer," but has developed a rapport with her students which transcends the average student-teacher relationship.

"I practice co-respect," Furey said. "I have a lot of respect for my students and they, in turn, respect me."

As a sixth grade science teacher at Rising Starr Middle School, Furey said she was shocked to learn of her newly earned title.

"The biggest reward was being recognized by your peers; to represent them is the highest honor," she said.

Furey was nominated for the recognition by the faculty at Rising Starr and was required to complete a series of questions about her teaching style, greatest accomplishments, and her opinions on major public education issues such as violence in the schools and the influence of technology in the classroom.

"How can you put your soul on paper?" she asked rhetorically.

With a little help from her friends, Furey completed the paperwork and was selected to represent Fayette County in the statewide competition for the best of the best.

Even after a week of conducting hands-on labs with her students and facing the chore of setting up another six experiment sites, Furey talked about her work with the enthusiasm and idealism usually found in first year teachers.

"I've taught 11 years," Furey said. She has a master's degree in education and is state certified to teach kindergarten through eighth grade. Currently, her sixth grade students are learning about physical science and the part it plays in their everyday lives.

"We don't even touch the textbooks until we do labs," she explained.

Furey demonstrated pitch and amplitude before her class with a guitar and other musical instruments which she routinely incorporates into her lessons.

Furey described herself as a "hands-on" science teacher who is also acutely aware of brain compatible learning. Simply put, an artistic child may be able to explain his ideas more clearly by drawing them than writing them in paragraph form.

"I want these students to become thinkers: not teach them what to think, but how to think for themselves," Furey explained.

In addition to teaching science, Furey works on the life skills county middle school students are practicing, such as responsibility, organization, etc.

"She's a master at it," said Bob Foley, a social studies teacher at Rising Starr.

Fellow science teacher Debbie Carson concurred. "She has democracy in her classroom," Carson said. "The students have a say in what they do. In one instance, the students were dissatisfied with an assignment she had given them so they were responsible for creating their own. She brought in the life skill 'responsibility.' That's Linda."

Furey was exposed to science in her early years growing up in Kemah, Texas, a small town just outside Houston. "I went to school with the astronauts' kids," she recalled. "We used to have moon dances when there was a space shot," she laughed.

Today, she and her husband, who could be described as a commercial composter, have two sons and live in Palmetto.

Where does Furey expect to be in 10 years? "I'd like to do consulting work help teachers be effective in the classroom," she said. "I do love my students, though," she added. "I listen. I know every one of these kids."

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