By Crystal Hayduk
[Under Superintendent Mike Kapolka’s leadership, the Chelsea School District began awarding Portrait of a Graduate (POG) MVP awards last fall as one way district staff can commend each other and highlight the ongoing efforts to incorporate POG competencies into their work with students. Currently, nominations are made by district staff. Beginning in March, there will be two recipients of the POG MVP each month.]
A special surprise awaited Jenni Linde on March 23 when she was asked to remain in her South Meadows Elementary (SME) classroom while her students left. When the fifth-grade teacher was called into the hallway, students were lined up with district administrators and building staff to hear the announcement that Linde was a March Portrait of a Graduate MVP.
“Everyone cheered and they made a tunnel I had to run through,” said Linde. “They were kind and thoughtful in how they presented it to me. Their excitement and how they kept it a big secret was civic-minded.”
As much as Linde appreciated the VIP treatment, she emphasized the importance of the collective effort everyone is making in the school and the district.
Literacy support staff member Katie Spisich is one of the people who nominated Linde for the award, which identifies the work that helps students develop the skills of the 21st century learner: communication, creativity, collaboration, and critical thinking.
She said Linde has had a passion for the POG project since the district began the work, incorporating the concepts into her routine, with the language in every lesson. “Her students are noticing and naming when their peers are acting in a way reflective of the POG,” said Spisich in her nomination. “Her passion for the POG extends outside her classroom walls and into the entire building at South Meadows. She continually seeks out ways to collaborate with staff members and build their capacity to embrace the POG. Her leadership with this project among both students and staff is second to none.”
Linde was hired to teach middle school health and physical education (PE) 22 years ago after graduating from Adrian College. Since then, Linde earned a master’s degree from Marygrove College, taught health and PE for third through eighth grades, and general education in fourth and fifth grades.
“Due to changes over the years, you don’t always get to choose exactly what you’ll be doing,” said Linde. But the changes have all been positive ones. Linde loves how fourth and fifth graders are developing independence and understanding. “I’m a solid anchor for them during these years of growth when they are beginning to figure out who they are.”
Linde was an anchor for a young Andrea Hollandsworth, a former student whose title is now “Mrs. Bates” to her own fifth graders. From teacher and coach to mentor and colleague, Linde has played a pivotal role in Bates’s life. “Mrs. Linde was my sixth grade PE teacher, my JV basketball coach, and my varsity softball coach,” said Bates.
Bates said Linde’s students love her for bringing “… fun, excitement, and passion to her classroom.” Even though POG is relatively new to the district, the competencies aren’t new to Bates because Linde has been living them for the 22 years she’s known her. “She continuously looks for ways to grow as an educator and puts her students first as the driving force for what she is doing. She models the importance of growth by going outside her comfort zone.
“One of the things that sticks out to me about Jenni is her love of team. On softball spring break trips, she taught her teams the value that each person contributed to the whole and that is a life lesson that resonates with me to this day. The concept of team is hard to grasp as a 16 year old, but Jenni found ways to instill it in her players. Today, as one of her former players, I get to work alongside her as a colleague and see her live out that truth she taught me years ago.”
Linde’s diligence as a teacher-leader to build professional development for staff and to model the competencies in her classroom has been instrumental in bringing POG to life for the students at SME. “You can tell the students and staff are developing an understanding of the different competencies of the POG with the verbiage they use, how they incorporate it into their daily work, and reflections they have on different situations,” said Bates.
Linde recently moved to Chelsea to be sure her two sons can live in the community and receive their education here. “This place is phenomenal, the people here work so incredibly hard, and the collaboration is amazing,” she said.
A few of Linde’s students shared their favorite ways to learn about POG competencies. Enzo said putting POG words in their student definitions helps him learn what they mean. Opal appreciates Mrs. Linde’s respectfulness of students’ needs by noticing those who are shy and need help— even if they don’t ask for it. Finally, Lucas believes seeing the “Word of the Week” from the POG tree is important.
Outside of school, Linde keeps busy with her sons, who between the two of them are involved in football, wrestling, hockey, and baseball. She works to help her children develop the POG competencies, too, because she really believes in it and feels blessed to be teaching it.
Stacie Battaglia, SME principal, said Linde uses her passion for POG to empower her students to use and understand it. “She’s created a classroom of collaboration and supportive advocates,” she said. Linde led POG initiatives “…by helping create a scope and sequence for the competencies which can be used in our third through fifth grade classrooms daily across the curriculum.
Jenni is truly an advocate, not only for her students and colleagues, but for this district and its efforts to bring the Portrait of a Graduate to life.”
