By KERI CHAMPION

Staff Reporter

RESERVE-Legendary thinker and teacher Socrates once said, &#8220I cannot teach anybody anything; I can only make them think.” That is the philosophy that Yong Suk Lowery shares and lives by in her classes everyday.

At least one student says that she proves that philosophy to them every day.

&#8220Ms. Lowery teaches us so much more than just math. She helps us visualize the problem by illustrating stories that apply to the problem. For example we learned binary code interpretation as a supplement to expanded notation so we could see how the concepts are used in the real world. Much of what we learn doesn’t even come from the book it comes from her lectures and illustrations,” said Charles Shifflett, a student in her advanced math class.

Lowery is the head of the math department at East St. John High School and has been chosen as one of four teachers in the United Sates to help develop and review instructional materials for the ACT. Lowery has a double bachelor’s from Southeastern and has been teaching for nine years. She teaches both Algebra III and honors math classes.

70 applicants from 24 states were seeking the position, which will allow Lowery the opportunity to implement some of her innovative teaching methods into the instructional design of the ACT, the nationally recognized exam for college admissions.

Shifflett says that Ms. Lowery has been an inspiration to him to perform better and give everything his best effort. He said she expects all of her students to exceed the everyday expectations and that she won’t accept anything less her students’ best.

As a matter of fact when Shifflet took her Advanced Math Class the first time in his junior year, he failed. When Ms. Lowery asked if he did his best, he honestly replied to her that he had not. So to redeem himself he retook the class and even took her Advanced Math II class, in which he is now enrolled.

&#8220Ms. Lowery is so special to her students. She makes the effort to take a personal interest in them both academically and non-academically. I didn’t want her to be disappointed in me so I took the class again so she could restore her confidence in me,” Shifflett said.

Lowery was required to submit her application and credentials to a national board to be considered for the instructional design team for the ACT tests. Specifically, the team of four teachers will review test instructions and other materials and recommend changes to the ACT board. However, they are not responsible for creating questions for the test.

She will be traveling to Iowa City, Iowa over the summer and spend six weeks working with Classroom Connections for training and to create instructional support materials.

Part of her duties will be to review the Geometry and Algebra I sections of the ACT and then to focus on preparing teaching

Lowery said that it is difficult for teachers to comprehend the excitement, effort, satisfaction and patience that accompany learning unless they themselves participate in a learning environment. She says professional growth depends on the development of a capacity to observe and analyze the impact on students of different learning materials and teaching styles and continue making modifications of teaching methods on the basis of the cues students convey.

&#8220I really believe that as teachers we sometimes forget what it was like to be learning something new, and I hope this opportunity to learn new things as part of the ACT team will help me better understand my students and really reflect on what I can do to make them understand me when I am teaching,” she said.