Teacher, F. E. Bellows Elementary School, Rye Neck, New York

Bill didn’t set out to become a teacher.
But in his mid-30s, some children changed his mind.

Foundations/Motivations: Realized teaching interest as SLC undergraduate
Experiences: Studied childrens’ games, assisted in Early Childhood Center
Results: Teaches fourth grade, encourages independent projects

Foundations/Motivations

After years in retail sales, Bill McKeon decided it was time for a change. At age 35, he went back to school at Westchester Community College. At first, he thought he’d pursue social work. But after a tough field placement, he wasn’t so sure. He transferred to Sarah Lawrence (his sister had graduated from SLC and his wife was attending the College), and, as part of a psychology class, started working in the Early Childhood Center. Realizing that he loved working with kids, he entered the dual-degree (B.A./M.S. Ed.) Art of Teaching program.

Undergraduate:

B.A., Sarah Lawrence College (1995)

Work before Sarah Lawrence:

Retail sales

Experiences

As a returning student who had been in business and was married and about to become a father, Bill sometimes felt out of place at the community college. But in his Sarah Lawrence classes, simply sitting at a round table with his professor and other students—some of them recent undergraduates, some of them veteran teachers returning for their master’s—put him at ease. “I didn’t feel as if I had become a student,” he says.  “It felt like we were colleagues talking about children, not categorizing them, but trying to understand what makes the individual learner learn better.”

Fieldwork:

• Student teacher, fourth grade, Chatsworth Avenue School, Larchmont, New York
• Student teacher, second/third grade, Central Park East School, Manhattan, New York
• Teaching assistant, kindergarten/first grade, Sarah Lawrence Early Childhood Center

Thesis:

“Student-Created and Teacher-Created Games in the Classroom”
Bill studied the games from around the world that children play. Some were games they made up, others were games they chose. He has a particular interest in the evolution of games throughout history. Then he created a game using Cuisenaire rods (rods of different colors and sizes). Both players have the same set of rods, but can’t see each other’s rods. One player arranges the rods in a particular design and then tries to describe in words how the other player can replicate the design. Children learn just how important vocabulary is and how some words can have many meanings. In the end, an observer explains where the players were correct or where they went wrong with the design. “It was very successful, and I have introduced it to each class I’ve had,” Bill says.

Results

Bill earned his teaching stripes and tenure at a new school in Yonkers. It wasn’t the easiest, he admits, with families who weren’t always able to be involved and three principals in three years. He moved on to teach fourth grade in Rye Neck, where he is today. “One of the things I realized at Sarah Lawrence was that you really need to teach children from where their passions are,” Bill says. And so he does. His fourth graders do independent projects based on any topic they love, from basketball to movies. “I’ve seen kids just bowl you over with their presentations,” Bill says, referring in particular to students who never shone academically before. “You just don’t know where it comes from sometimes.”

Further education:

• M.S., Art of Teaching, Sarah Lawrence College (1996)
• Professional development courses

Career:

• Fourth-grade teacher, F. E. Bellows School, Rye Neck, New York (1999–present)
• Teacher, Foxfire School, Yonkers, New York (1996–99)