Top Teachers
Saturday, February 7, 1998
Name: Resi Ditzel
Age: 40
Position: Mililani Mauka kindergarten teacher
Education: University of Hawaii-Manoa
Pastimes: Spending time with son, reading, writing
Not one to wait and see, Resi Ditzel likes to enact change -- fast. Leading the Rainbow Readers
"I'm always looking to do better in the classroom," said the Mililani Mauka Elementary School teacher. Her love of students is the motivation to seek newer, better teaching techniques, she said.
School Principal Betty Mow said Ditzel is very child-oriented. "She makes them feel capable," Mow said. "She really makes an effort to make learning something that's to be enjoyed."
Ditzel has worked with student teachers in her classroom, taught at the UH-Manoa College of Education, keeps abreast of education issues, and is always willing to try new things with her students.
And when she thought her students weren't learning vocabulary words easily enough with current reading material, she wrote two series of her own.
Ditzel's "Rainbow Readers" set consists of eight books of different subjects that use certain words repetitively to help students remember them more effectively. She based several books on son Myca's experiences, and also gleaned ideas from the 11-year-old.
"The slippers book was his idea," she said.
But being a famous novelist isn't in the cards for Ditzel because she could never leave her students. "I can't imagine not being there everyday," she said. "I love my kids ... I always hug them. And sometimes, they don't let go."
Kimberly Fu, Star-Bulletin
