Schumacker’s strategy
Teach my students about performance character. Setting high expectations and doing everything in your power to meet them.
Create classroom policies that promote performance character. Permit revisions and re-takes and establish common classroom expectations.
Partner with parents. Share my approach at open house and Math Night.
Teach goal setting. Students set quarterly and bi-weekly goals and utilize goals and accomplishments sheets.
Students utilize goal partners. Provides support and increases student accountability.
Publicly display success. Create and display posters to display positive behaviors and successes.
Develop individual student contracts. Partner with struggling students and their parents to increase chances of success.
BEAVERCREEK — Mark Schumacker was absolutely, positively not going to be a teacher.
“My mom was a teacher, and I saw all the work she put in, all the hours, and I didn’t think it was for me,” Schumacker said.
Five college majors later, from accounting to psychology, the Beavercreek native changed his mind. A part-time job at the Kettering Recreation Center helped Schumacker realize that working with young people was exactly what he wanted to do.
But the 36-year-old, who lives in Centerville with his wife and two children, is not just a teacher; he is an award-winning teacher. Schumacker was recently selected as the first recipient of the EUREKA Educator of the Year Award by the Better Business Bureau of Ohio’s Center for Character Ethics. He was chosen for the statewide award as a result of his efforts to integrate character education into his seventh-grade math curriculum at Ankeney Middle School.
“Mark is an excellent teacher, but what sets him apart is that he makes every student feel exceptional regardless of their abilities,” said Pat Shannon, Beavercreek City Schools assistant superintendent for pupil services. “My own daughter had him, so I know firsthand what a wonderful role model he is.”
But Schumacker, in his 12th year at Ankeney, did not set out to be a role model or win awards or even teach math for that matter.
“Some teachers go into education because they have a passion for their material,” Schumacker said. “For me, it’s about trying to reach as many kids as I can. The thing I have a passion for is character education.”
Schumacker has focused his efforts in recent years on performance character.
“It means each student trying to achieve at the highest level possible,” he said “I help them set goals, focus and reach a little higher.”
While Schumacker is modest about his achievements and this recent recognition, Ankeney principal Nick Verhoff cannot help but brag about his seventh-grade math teacher.
“What makes Mark a truly great teacher is that he will find any way possible to meet the needs of every kid in his class,” Verhoff said. “He connects with them and he advocates for them. They know he is in their court.”
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