Anchorage Daily News

PALMER - On the first day of school, Shawn Arnold met his students at the door of his classroom at Colony High School. Wearing a button-down shirt and tie with a pair of slacks in a sea of black-clad, hoodie-wearing teenagers, Arnold had 'teacher' stamped all over him. "Hi, I'm Mr. Arnold," he said to everyone filtering into his room, a former audio-visual class with several TV monitors hanging dark and silently overhead. Last week, in between meetings, paperwork and workshops, Arnold worked over the weekend to hang a few posters on the walls - "No Slacking, Anytime" - and stack paperback books like "The Red Badge of Courage" and "The Giver" in the bookcases.

Both the room and Arnold are in a state of transition, although Arnold is handling it better. The room lacks a phone, his e-mail is down and the clock doesn't work, but Arnold - an Air Force veteran with both combat and personnel training under his belt - doesn't let the glitches in the system bother him.

Instead, he rolls with them. On the first day of school he copes with the lack of necessary computers in a Fundamentals of English class by reading aloud to his handful of students. Ten minutes into an excerpt from Sherman Alexie's "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian," all fidgeting has stopped and students forget to check their cell phones to see how much time is left before dismissal.

Drawn in by both the story of a disadvantaged Native American boy and Arnold's frequent pauses - "You guys remember where Spokane is, right? On the eastern side of Washington state?" - the class settles into the palm of Arnold's hand, right where he needs them to be to succeed.

And success is especially crucial for Arnold's students. He's a special education teacher, one of dozens hired this year due to high turnover in the field, according to Katherine Gardner, human resources director for the Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District.

In order to meet adequate yearly progress, or AYP, mandated by 2001's No Child Left Behind Act, schools must achieve in 31 categories, ranging from test scores to graduation rate.

Scores are broken down by demographics and achievement level. Looking over the data, it's clear special education is often the toughest category to meet for AYP. The Mat-Su district is spending almost $30 million, or more than 14 percent of its total budget, on it this year.

FIRST STEPS

Arnold, who grew up in New York City, chose a career in education after his military service because he wanted to make a difference. He said he views it "almost as a calling."

His educational background is eclectic, from two associate degrees in criminal justice and human resources, to a bachelor's degree in arts history, two master's degrees in military history and education and one pending in special education. His resume doesn't suggest that of a slow learner, but Arnold said he struggled early on in school.

"I did not have parents who were involved in my success and moving around a great deal, I never had a teacher who took interest in my learning," Arnold wrote via e-mail. "This is part of the reason I want to help kids who may have been in the same spot I was."

Arnold's first job as a teacher was last year in Allakaket, a small village northwest of Fairbanks. He taught grades six through 12, where he learned to adjust to a variety of learning styles and the isolation of the Bush.

LEARNING PROCESS BEGINS

But he expects this year - his first in a big high school - to be more challenging. There are more people, more expectations and more paperwork. Arnold will act as advisor/advocate for 12 special-ed students, a responsibility that includes overseeing their Individual Education Plans and networking with their other teachers.

Twelve seems like a lot of students in addition to his regular classes, but Arnold said he has a light load this year. Another teacher he knows is doing 25 IEPs, he said.

These responsibilities hang in the back of his mind as he greets his next group of students for a World History class. In a get-to-know-you icebreaker, Arnold passes an inflatable globe from teen to teen. They reveal both sophistications and ignorance - knowledge of Japanese anime but blank looks when asked about Michael Phelps. They navigate a digital camera's menu with ease yet can't find China or Zimbabwe on the map.

"You guys are almost adults," Arnold told them several times that first day. And this year, he has his work cut out helping them get there.

Find Melodie Wright online at adn.com/contact/mwright or call 352-6721.

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