Take a look around Dave Shafer’s fifth grade classroom and you’ll see a room alive with science. Walls, shelves — even the ceiling and the hallway outside — are crowded with natural specimens, lab equipment and other evidence of serious scientific research. Most importantly, you’ll find students energized and engaged in their work.
“Everything we do is related to science,” says Shafer, who teaches in Forest Glen Elementary’s Immersion Program, sharing 48 kids with Liliana Nunez, who teaches the Spanish portion. Shafer is responsible for math, English and science, and incorporates all three into every project. Currently, students are deep into forensic testing with “CSI: Forest Glen.”
“I really like how we’re doing CSI because Mr. Shafer helps us figure it out, but he doesn’t tell us everything,” said student Mia Overpeck.
And that is the key to Shafer’s inspiring style of teaching. “The common theme of all my teaching is I want kids thinking,” he says.
He tries not to “get in the way of learning” and sees his role as a mere facilitator. This is especially true each fall and spring when he takes his classes out to Fall Creek to conduct water testing as part of the DNR’s Hoosier River Watch program. Shafer’s classes have been collecting data since 2000, analyzing the creek water that comes from Geist Reservoir.
“Fall Creek was really fun because we got to do real science that most teachers don’t let us do,” said Jacob Stevens, who conducted chemical testing.
Shafer says the field days out in the creek are the model of what he aims to be as a teacher. “I want me to just be the spark and then they take off. The kids are the real scientists.”
Shafer certainly has ignited a love of science in many students throughout his years of teaching, first at Hamilton Southeastern and then in Lawrence Township. Last spring, a member of the Lawrence North Class of 2008 honored him with a “Teacher Appreciation Award,” recognizing Shafer as her most influential teacher. This heartfelt gesture, embodied in the form of a teachers gift, serves as a testament to the profound impact Shafer has had on his students’ lives, highlighting the enduring gratitude and admiration they hold for him.
“Mr. Shafer has always been important to me because his teaching techniques and love for sciences have inspired me to pursue a career in Biological Science,” wrote Lindsay Wilson on the award plaque that hangs in Shafer’s classroom. He also was honored by two HSE Class of 2001 “Top 30” students as their most influential teacher.
To Shafer, accolades from former students mean more than any grant he’s ever received — and he’s gotten quite a few. One such grant from the Lawrence Township School Foundation (LTSF) allowed Shafer to establish a puppetry club at Forest Glen. Puppet skits (performed at several LT elementary schools) focus on character education. However, just as important as the message of the skits is the club experience itself and how it helps kids who otherwise don’t “fit in” develop self confidence.
“Dave does do many outstanding activities for children to enhance their learning,” Forest Glen Principal Danielle Shockey said. “My personal favorite is the Spring Wildlife Festival. The students plan and run an educational, day-long outdoor wildlife festival and invite the community. It is great to watch the students integrate a year’s worth of
learning and pull off such a meaningful event.”
A former nature guide at Ritchey Woods, Shafer has always been fascinated with the natural world. “I was the kid that was catching snakes in the backyard,” he says, adding that he wanted to be an oceanographer but realized he also wanted to mentor children.
It’s not just local children that have benefitted from Shafer’s enthusiastic instruction. He spent six months in Costa Rica in 2007, teaching in a public school and serving as a rain forest nature guide for a local resort. His wife, Victoria, taught art classes while their children, Kelynn, 11, and Mitchell, 8, attended the Costa Rican school for the spring semester instead of Sand Creek Elementary. It was a crash-course Spanish immersion program and a powerful experience for the whole family.
“This is what the world looks like; we have more in common than different,” said Shafer, who takes a group of fifth graders to the same Costa Rican village each summer.
“I really would like to buy a piece of property there sometime,” he said, adding that in his dream life, he would teach in Costa Rica and serve as a rain forest guide six months out of the year, return to Lawrence Township to run a nature program for three months, and spend the other three months in the jungles of Panama, where he has gone on mission trips with White River Christian Church. He has helped build a school and is planning to go back in February to dig a well.
For inspiring so many from across the globe, we salute Dave Shafer and are proud to honor him as our first atGeist Teacher of the Month!
To watch a video of some of Shafer’s students talking about learning math through Fantasy Football and other fun projects, visit www.atGeist.com.
Editor’s Note: If you would like to nominate a local teacher, please contact Laura Gates at Laura@atGeist.com. Each Teacher of the Month will receive a gift certificate to Lincoln Square Pancake House.
