Former San Leandro Woman Reveals Teaching Secret

Erin Carson, a fifth-grader teacher at Indian Valley Elementary School, was recently named the Walnut Creek School District's teacher of the year for 2012.

She spent part of her youth growing up in San Leandro.

Carson is known for using computers in the classroom, and using students' enthusiasm to get them engaged with learning.

"She was always so good with kids, whether it was babysitting or teaching ballet classes," said sister LeeAnne Jones. 

Her class has 23 iPods, funded by grants Carson secured, that allow the students to make presentations to show what they've learned. 

The idea is to get kids to interact with the material and with each other.

That turns out to be the same tactic used by Heather DiMaggio, a fourth grade teacher at San Leandro's  James Madison Elementary -- albeit with less technology.

"They're sweet and they're energetic and they just want to know about everything," DiMaggio . "They're sponges. If you can hook them." 

By fourth grade the learning gap between advantaged and disadvantaged children is already obvious, she said. Students who may not be adept at writing can still draw and then explain verbally what the drawings represent.

"Art is a great equalizer," DiMaggio said.

For instance, in learning about the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II, DiMaggio had students draw mock suitcases containing things they would bring with them if they had to pack in a hurry.

The students then discussed their choices, giving them a sense of what it would be like to fit their whole life into a suitcase.

DiMaggio has pushed sensory involvement to the limits.

At one point she told students that Japanese-Americans were housed for a while in the horse stalls at the Tanforan Race Track in San Bruno.

"I got horse poop and brought it into the classroom," she said.

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