Sandy Weitzel, middle school instructional assistant, was named the December Porcelain Apple Winner for Mineral Point Middle School.
The following was written about her by Dan Rhode:
“The role of education assistants has changed massively. Originally assistants were tasked with bulletin boards, correcting papers and ‘helping the teacher.’ In Mineral Point the role of assistants has expanded. They are also responsible for behavior management, helping accommodate students in the regular classroom, as well as helping to manage complex medical needs including feeding and changing students with multiple disabilities. The typical assistant in Mineral Point is Hoyer Trained, Google Basic certified, CPR/AD certified, and trained in nonviolent crisis intervention to de-escalate students with complex and sometimes dangerous behavior. They don’t just correct papers anymore!
Sandy Weitzel was awarded the apple by last month’s winner, McKenzy Brown, because she excels as an educational assistant. Her job varies from day to day but in a typical day: she starts her day helping transfer a student from a wheelchair to a stander. She works with 8th graders in regular education classes of Science, Language Arts, Social Studies and Reading. She then helps these same students during their study hall to keep them caught up in their school work, helping front load content and vocabulary from classes and helps them prepare for assessments. She also helps students in Mrs. Brown’s Read 180 class. She ends her day helping students in wheelchairs get dressed and ready to go out into the cold Wisconsin weather.
Sandy is admired in the middle school for her organization skills. She helps students stay on track by monitoring assignments and helps them understand directions and the content taught in class. She keeps staff organized by informing everyone of upcoming assignments, projects, test and quizzes. She also helps design study guides for students.
For Mrs. Weitzel, working at the Mineral Point School district is more than just a job. She is active in the Cornwall exchange program. She has travelled, hosted and helped organize the fund raising and logistics for this trip. She can also be seen at many Mineral Point sporting events taking tickets. She is also active helping others though her church.”
(Photo and article by Joelle Doye)