Three angels for students: sponsors enable assistants in the classroom

2022-05-20T07:10:12.288Z

Three angels for students: sponsors enable assistants in the classroom Created: 05/20/2022, 09:00 By: Susanne Weiss Pulling together: (front from left) Vice-Headmistress Claudia Rosen, assistants Katja Ritter, Caroline Osmanczyk and Helga König, Chairwoman of the Friends of Magdalena Singer and the sponsors Erna Doll, Ursula Nachtelberger, Roswitha Beyer, Gerlinde Berchtold (both Franz- Geiger-

Three angels for students: sponsors enable assistants in the classroom

Created: 05/20/2022, 09:00

By: Susanne Weiss

Pulling together: (front from left) Vice-Headmistress Claudia Rosen, assistants Katja Ritter, Caroline Osmanczyk and Helga König, Chairwoman of the Friends of Magdalena Singer and the sponsors Erna Doll, Ursula Nachtelberger, Roswitha Beyer, Gerlinde Berchtold (both Franz- Geiger-Verein), (back from left) Irene Wacker, Max Rummel and Ursula Goepfert (TUN eV).

The project would not be possible without sponsors Assistant motivates students © sh

The support association of the middle school uses donations to finance additional teaching assistants.

They support teachers and students in inclusion.

Geretsried – It's hard to believe, but there are students in the fifth grade who don't know how to cut something or how to hold a ruler.

"We also have children in the seventh grade who can't do multiplication tables.

I'm shaken," says Helga König.

She is one of five school assistants at the Geretsried middle school.

Two are funded by the county.

The other three are paid for by the school's support association with the help of donations.

The supporters now got an idea of the successful model on Johann-Sebastian-Bach-Straße.

"They were always helped by the person sitting next to them, and it wasn't noticed," explains Magdalena Singer, former headmistress and chairwoman of the association, the problem of some students.

Others could not cognitively meet the requirements in class, adds Steffi Schalch, teacher at the Geretsried middle school and representative for inclusive teaching and school development in the districts of Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen and Miesbach.

Secondary school Geretsried: Sponsors and support association make assistants possible

With 487 students in 21 classes, the middle school is the largest in the district.

"61 percent of them, ie 290, have a migration background," reports Deputy Headmistress Claudia Rosen.

55 of the children would have special educational needs due to either a learning disability, an impairment in emotional development or an intellectual disability.

"Previously, these 55 children would have gone to the Franz Marc School," says Singer, the special education center for the northern district.

But since 2008, all parents have the right to send their offspring to a regular school.

The middle school in Geretsried actively meets this challenge with an inclusion profile.

In addition to a cooperation with the nearby support center and the integration assistance of the district, this includes the assistants Katja Ritter, Caroline Osmanczyk and Helga König.

Thanks to the Beuerberg association TUN, private sponsors such as the Wacker family, the Ernst-Pelz-Foundation and a subsidy from the city, the association raises the necessary budget of 45,000 euros per year.

The Franz-Geiger-Verein from Wolfratshausen has also promised a donation for the coming year, Singer reports gratefully.

Since the project depends on the sponsors, "unfortunately we can only issue annual contracts."

Read the latest news from Geretsried here.

Assistants cannot solve teacher shortage problem

The three women support the teachers in the fifth to seventh grade.

"We can still move the most there," explains Schalch.

As a fifth grade teacher, she is grateful for the support.

"There's always something happening during the break," she reports.

After that, lessons would be unthinkable if Katja Ritter, as an assistant, didn't go out the door with the children concerned.

It is a good togetherness, adds Ritter.

"The teacher is the boss."

Speaking of teachers: the school assistance project will not solve the lack of qualified staff.

“We need time for the kids to bond.

The lower the staffing level, the more difficult it is,” warns Rosen.

According to Schalch, there is a particular lack of male role models at the school.

Assistant König has special respect for the teachers at the middle school.

In addition to those who are in good hands at middle school, both children with special needs and candidates for the M-train must be taught in a class.

"The teachers have to be there for everyone." The fact that this can work well with a little support is made clear by the example of a boy who initially only wrote fives.

"He became aggressive when he got a bad grade, destroyed his school materials and was so caught up in his anger that he could no longer follow the new subject matter," reports König.

Again and again she motivated and persuaded him.

In the meantime he also writes threes and fours.

He asked if he could become a police officer.

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