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HIGHTSTOWN: Helping students overcome their science phobias

By Doug Carman, Staff Writer
   Doris Grelis has seen a lot of new equipment come into her classroom since her teaching career started.
   The Hightstown High School physics and chemistry teacher noted the projector mounted in her classroom’s ceiling. At the corner was a large interactive board. And behind her was a lower-tech white board, which still was a rarity when she began teaching at the school in 1983.
   But to show one of her physics lessons, the East Windsor Regional School District’s Teacher of the Year — and nominee for the Mercer County Teacher of the Year — prefers to use an unused, outdated textbook, pulled out of a stack stashed in one of the closets. Then she goes for a paper clip, holds them at equal height, and lets them both go.
   Anyone paying attention in her class would know that the light paper clip and the heavy textbook would hit the ground at the same time. And the physics wizards reading this article will know the objects are accelerating to the ground at 9.8 meters per second, squared.
   ”You try to come out from different approaches,” Ms. Grelis said of her teaching style, particularly for those who may not understand or be fascinated with her subject matter. “They can read their textbook and you can try to explain it to them differently … you can try a kinesthetic, hands-on approach … modeling, giving quick demonstrations. You have to do them over and over again.”
   EWRSD Assistant Superintendent Deborah Feaster said Ms. Grelis was selected from eight nominees, who were nominated by colleagues and then chosen by a committee consisting of past award winners, parents, board administrators and community members. In the application, Ms. Grelis said she held a belief that all students can learn.
   ”Many students are science phobic,” Ms. Grelis wrote to the committee. “I try to encourage students to believe in themselves and to simply do their best and not to quit.”While Ms. Grelis described her students’ ability to learn as her belief, administrators at the school and the district said she made those beliefs a reality.
   ”Doris inspires the love of learning science in all students of all backgrounds and abilities,” Ms. Feaster wrote in an e-mail.
   Ms. Feaster said Mercer County’s Teacher of the Year will be selected “very soon,” but she did not have information on the date that the award would be given.Hightstown High School Principal Alix Arvizu described Ms. Grelis’ presence in the classroom as “very nurturing” for her students, and supportive of veteran and newer teachers alike.
   ”She’s very versatile,” Ms. Arvizu said. “She’s very well deserving of the title.”
   Ms. Grelis said she was “honored and surprised” to be named the district’s Teacher of the Year, and that whether she eventually becomes Mercer County’s Teacher of the Year or not, she feels “I already won.”
   But she said the greatest award to her was to instill in other students a love of learning.
   ”That’s very rewarding as a teacher, to show students, ‘yeah, they can do it,’” Ms. Grelis said.