Benjamin Brazeau
Educator
Beyond the Classroom
Equitable Access to Technology
Service trip to Canton Mississippi
Service trips to Canton, Mississippi to assist those in need. This family had water flood their home with every rain. We built them a new home.
Service trips to Canton, Mississippi to assist those in need. This family had water flood their home with every rain. We built them a new home.
Project Starfish
Project Starfish is an organization designed to help those in financial need with some of the things they need. The group exists through the generous donations of community members who support the mission of helping others. Students in need are identified and provided with the monetary means to participate in school functions, or other activities that allow them to feel connected to their school community. There is one important expectation for those who receive assistance, and that is a service project. Students are expected to pay it forward. They perform an activity that will benefit the school or community as a way to return the positive gesture they have been endowed. I have been a member of this group for the past few years, since it started at the high school, and have seen the benefits first hand to the students and our school.
Social Problems Service Projects
When I arrived at Little Chute, I was handed a number of courses to teach, many hadn't been taught in many years. One of those was Social Problems, a course as I understood it was to examine issues facing the world today. I took this as an opportunity to build upon our districts goals and initiatives to get our students involved within their community. During the terms that I taught this course, I included a course requirement to perform a service project. This could be done as individuals, small groups or as a class. I was amazed at some of the efforts of our students, the response from students and community, and the connect to others that this made in our students.
Students during one term organized a spare change drive where they collected over change from students, teachers and staff at the high school at the end of lunch. They did this over the course of just a few short days, and were able to raise over $400 they donated to the local food pantry.
Another class organized a movie night where we showed the movie "UP" to raise money for the boys and girls club.
Computer loan program
Technology is an amazing tool! It allows the user to accomplish a multitude of tasks, learning new information, creating new products, demonstration of understanding, communication and sharing ideas with others, sometimes around the world. It has created dramatic changes in the educational environment. Most of the changes that have occurred I believe have been positive, however with the desire to integrate more technology, we have created a situation where some students might be unintentionally left behind. I became aware of this issue at Little Chute when one of our counselors mentioned to me that I had a couple of students in my class that didn't have access to computers at home, and even more had significant financial issues. These issues were impacting their ability to keep up with assignments and projects in class, and thus impacting their overall education. It just so happened that at that time we were remodeling one of our computer labs. The IT staff was going to recycle the computers that they were replacing, so I had an idea. After working with our administration, counselors and IT staff, we created a computer loan program for students experiencing financial need who also needed access to computers at home. Student are able to use the computers at home while they are members of the Little Chute Area School District. When they are done using the computers they return them and the school recycles the used computers just as they would have done years earlier. This program has allowed many families and numerous students, access to information that they otherwise may not have been able to utilize in the completion of school tasks and the learning process.
Coaching
Coaching is an extension of teaching, in both you are passing your knowledge on to others in an attempt for the student to apply that knowledge to their future success. In college I had a fellow student say that he wanted to go into teaching so that he could coach. I went into coaching so that I could teach. I have been given opportunities to work with student athletes at a level where the teaching of basic skills, concepts and teamwork are most prevalent. I have been fortunate to have good kids to work with, and this has allowed me to have successful seasons.
I took my first coaching position while in college; I volunteered to coach a Kiwanis Youth basketball team. This experience really helped me focus on the important aspects of coaching. The score was never kept during the games, so how well the third and fourth graders did was measured on their execution of their skills. I learned to focus on their skill development like my youth basketball coach had done with me.
The next opportunity I was given to coach was while student teaching at East Troy. I was able to work with the track team, focusing on the pole vault. I had no experience with the pole vault prior to this, but I did spend much time watching videos, talking to other coaches and soaking up any opportunity to learn. At the end of the season, every vaulter had improved considerably and I had one vault 12’6” and place 7th at the state competition. The next year while substitute teaching in the spring I was able to continue working with the vaulters on occasion. I was also given the chance to coach 9th grade girls softball. I was the head freshman coach, and Junior Varsity assistant. This was my first experience coaching girls, and with all of its new challenges, I was very happy to have been given the opportunity.
Football – I have been fortunate to have been given the opportunity to coach football at four different schools. My first opportunity was to join the very successful program at Marinette under a hall of fame coach, Joel Hanner. In the two years that I was there the varsity team only lost 1 regular season game. I was a freshman assistant coach and was responsible for coaching the offensive and defensive line, as well as defensive coordinator. The freshman over the course of those two years didn’t have nearly the success of the varsity, but did have winning records both years. Some of the most important lessons about coaching and teaching I learned from coaches Hanner and Tim Stauss. Lodi was my next coaching assignment. I had the same responsibilities here as I did in Marinette, however I had moved up the Junior Varsity level. I coached at Lodi for one year and then was able to coach at the Junior Varsity level at Sun Prairie. I again coached the offensive and defensive linemen. Following our move to Green Bay, I was afforded the opportunity to work with a hall of fame coach, and an amazing staff at Notre Dame Academy. I worked at both the freshman and JV levels at Notre Dame. During that time I also coached the Wisconsin Blaze, a semi-professional football team which is part of the Great Plains Football League. This was an opportunity to work with adults who still have a passion for football and it allowed me to experience a higher level of coaching.
In 2007 I was hired at Little Chute and in my first year worked with the freshmen and varsity programs. After that year I became a full time varsity assistant working with the offensive line. In all of these assignments I had to adjust and adapt to new systems and new techniques. Every program taught different schemes and I was able to learn these rather quickly and implement them to the athletes I worked with. I have been fortunate to work with three great programs and in each of these experiences has allowed me to help student athletes as well as grow and improve as a coach.
Basketball – I have had several opportunities to coach basketball. The first opportunity came when I was in college, I coached a third and fourth grade team through the local recreation league. When I began teaching in Marinette I was able to assist the boys program as an assistant freshman boys coach. I coached the B-team, working along side Bruce Parkovich, an outstanding basketball coach who taught me the finer points of man to man defense. The following year I was given the head freshman girls job the following year. I found that coaching young ladies was a change from the boys program, but I truly enjoyed the experience, and I came away from it a better coach. It made me aware of the complexities of coaching young people and how each individual will react differently to praise and criticism. My next assignment came in Poynette where I took my second teaching position. I was the freshman boys coach for three years. In that time I have had two very successful programs in terms of wins. The last year the team didn’t win many games, but each and every player made great strides of improvement. I also grew as a coach learning from each and every game. At Poynette I also have the role of Varsity Assistant helping the Varsity coach during games and practices to improve the varsity squad. Notre Dame had a coaching vacancy come available during the basketball season my first year there, and I filled in as the freshman boys basketball coach. This was a challenge because I had to get to know the players and the system quickly. In the end it was a successful season.
