Middle school teacher thrives inside and outside the
classroom
Shari Vanderpool, a sixth grade teacher, is known for many
things at Marguerite Maze Middle School where she teaches math and
language arts. To some she is simply the
”
animal lady
”
– the teacher other teachers turn to when they encounter birds,
reptiles, squirrels or the occasional stray dogs or cats they need
out of the their classroom.
Middle school teacher thrives inside and outside the classroom
Shari Vanderpool, a sixth grade teacher, is known for many things at Marguerite Maze Middle School where she teaches math and language arts. To some she is simply the “animal lady” – the teacher other teachers turn to when they encounter birds, reptiles, squirrels or the occasional stray dogs or cats they need out of the their classroom.
To students she is an advocate, a teacher and a friend. She amkes jokes, and presents her lessons in such a way that students have a good time when they learn. When they graduate, they want to return and see if she’s still teaching and find out what she’s up to.
She is the advisor for Club Live, the largest club at Maze. She’s the volleyball coach and one of the organizers of the Soaring literary magazine.
“I often joke that I’m a jack of all trades and a master of none,” Vanderpool said. “When I started teaching I got asked to volunteer for something and I kind of have this problem where I can’t say no, so I keep taking on more and more.”
It is Vanderpool’s dedication to her students and their extracurricular activity that makes her stand out in the eyes of her peers and the administrators at Maze. Which is exactly the reason that Vanderpool was selected as Maze’s teacher of the year for this past year.
“It’s because she’s just an excellent teacher and she’s so flexible,” Maze Principal Bernice Smith said. “She does so many outside student activities. She would help out anyone, staff or student. She spends so much time on campus, it’s like she lives here.”
Vanderpool doesn’t really live at Maze, but she could with the amount of time that she spends on campus.
“I just get involved,” Vanderpool said. “It started when I was still at my first school [Fremont]. First it was a talent show that needed someone to organize it. Then it was a talent show and a student carnival.”
Club Live, the club that Vanderpool advises is all about promoting healthy choices. It’s the middle-school version of the high school club Friday Night Live (FNL), which promotes anti-drug and alcohol messages.
“Club Live is really less about the advocacy and more about group activities. The kids go to Great America, Disneyland. This year we went to the Lawrence Hall of Science in Berkeley.”
But Vanderpool also has a passion for volleyball. It’s a sport that she could really connect with as a girl and that passion has stayed with her through adulthood. Now she coaches both the boys and girls teams at Maze and is also involved with an adult league.
It’s hard to believe that Vanderpool is actually a shy person when you meet her, with all her involvement in school activities. But she said that at staff meetings she’s the quiet one in the back of the room.
“I think it’s just different in the classroom,” Vanderpool said. “With the kids, I think I’ll do almost anything I can to make the subjects come alive.”
