Trinity
Teacher Honored
Trinity High School is proud to announce that Theology teacher
Bill Frere was recently named one of 32 Chicagoland Golden Apple
Finalists; he is the only theology teacher to be selected as
a finalist. Frere received a BA in Latin and a Masters Degree
in Religious Education from Loyola University in Chicago and
has been in the education field for 30 years; the last 15 of
those have been spent at Trinity High School in River Forest.
"Ten years ago I was probably a creative teacher,"
said Frere. "Since then, my style of teaching has changed."
In 1994, Trinity adopted the International Baccalaureate (IB)
program and block scheduling. Frere began teaching Theory of
Knowledge (TOK), a critical thinking course required within
the IB program, in addition to his World Religions class. "TOK
changed how I wanted to critique and test students, it required
me to become more creative, allowing the testing process to
also be a learning experience for students."
Unlike
any other course students may have taken, TOK is not intended
to provide new knowledge but to increase the students' understanding
of what they have already learned and to help them reflect
upon it. TOK explores various systems of knowledge: belief,
language, logic, truth, history, natural and social sciences,
morality, aesthetics, perception and politics. It encourages
the students to critically examine evidence, see the world
through multiple points of view, make connections, see patterns
and imagine alternatives. "Students have to do something
different with what they have learned on a deeper level. They
are not just regurgitating what we studied in class, but are
doing something new and different with that information,"
explained Frere.
"Mr.
Frere makes class interesting and fun because he opens everything
up for discussion and encourages us to question what we already
know, making us think on a deeper level," said Mary O'Brien,
TOK student and Oak Park resident. "If someone thought
up the perfect teacher in their mind, they couldn't come up
with someone better than Mr. Frere."
Frere
admitted, "I'm not afraid to make a fool of myself in
order to get my point across. Sometimes I'll do a play-on-words
with religious terms and students will laugh and think I'm
corny, but they get the joke and remember the term's meaning."
O'Brien
continued, "I feel I will be much more prepared for college
because I've learned to think critically and analytically."
"It's all about the kids," said Frere. "They
challenge me as much as I challenge them. The atmosphere at
Trinity allows me to teach in a way that makes learning an
active experience not a passive one."
# # #
To
schedule an interview, please contact Jessica Roche at 708.453.8342
or
e-mail jroche@trinity hs.org.
The
Golden Apple Foundation Honors Educators
A
total of 681 teachers from Cook, Lake and DuPage counties
were nominated for the award, which was first presented in
1986. Ten Golden Apple Award winners, selected from the 32
finalists, will be announced in March.
The finalists will be honored Saturday, February 21 at the
Celebration of Excellence in Teaching from 10 a.m. to 1:30
p.m. at the House of Blues, 329 N. Dearborn St. in Chicago.
The Awards selection committee is comprised of more than 70
Chicago-area educators. Two committee members will observe
each of the 32 finalists in the classroom and interview their
principal and selected colleagues, parents and students. The
10 Golden Apple Award winners will be announced on March 10
and March 11. The winners will be honored at an awards ceremony
on May 8 at the Fairmont Chicago hotel, which subsequently
will be aired as a one-hour prime-time special on WTTW/Channel
11.
Each of the 10 Golden Apple Award winners will receive a tuition-free
fall-term sabbatical at Northwestern University; $2,500; a
personal computer from Apple; and induction into the Golden
Apple Academy, which now numbers 180 expert teachers who work
together to ensure that all children have the excellent teachers
they deserve.
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