"My students and I are partners in learning," says Alice Janke, who teaches third- and fourth-graders at Keeler Elementary School in Redford. In an effort to encourage students to pursue reading projects through the summer months and to prepare them for the reading assessment tests that the State of Michigan administers to all fourth-graders, Ms. Janke has developed the W.E.B. (Wonderfully Exciting Books) program. During the last weeks of the school year, Ms. Janke introduces a number of novels that she purposefully does not complete. By orchestrating a cliff-hanger situation, she gives students an incentive to complete the books on their own. Summer correspondence helps her to track their progress. As the coordinator of the annual school-wide National Reading Month activity, she invites parents to read favorite childhood stories with her classes. Ms. Janke was named 1995 Teacher of the Year by the Redford Union Board of Education.
