[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 57 (Tuesday, May 6, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E851-E852]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  TRIBUTE TO CINDY THRESHER AND ALLEN WINCHESTER--TWO MISSOURI SCHOOL 
                                TEACHERS

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. JO ANN EMERSON

                              of missouri

                    in the house of representatives

                          Tuesday, May 6, 1997

  Mrs. EMERSON. Mr. Speaker, as we celebrate National Teacher 
Appreciation Week, I want to pay tribute to two very special teachers 
from the Eighth Congressional District of Missouri.
  First, there's Mrs. Cindy Thresher. Mrs. Thresher is Missouri's 1997 
Teacher of the Year recipient. She has taught for 29 years--the past 16 
years at Lucy Wortham James Elementary School in Saint James School 
District.
  Mrs. Thresher is known for her hands-on approach to teaching and 
learning, a style that sometimes requires students to create unique 
learning environments. For example she has transformed her classroom 
into a rain forest, a desert, and the surface of the moon. In these 
projects she involves other faculty members, visitors from the 
community, and most importantly, parents.
  For the past 3 years, Mrs. Thresher has led several statewide school 
improvement initiatives. She's a member of the original group of 
teachers and educators who helped write the ``Show-me Standards''--
Missouri's statewide academic standards.
  Today I also want to pay tribute to Mr. Allen Winchester, a 
government teacher at Gideon High School. Mr. Winchester has inspired 
and pushed students to play an active role in taking pride in and 
attracting new business to their community.
  The St. Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper even highlighted his 
achievements in Gideon. Mr. Winchester has always stressed to his 
students, ``We have all the potential in the world. We just have to 
think big. If you think you can succeed you will. You just can't quit. 
If you can't climb over a brick wall, keep hitting it until it falls. 
Change the way people think.'' With this tenacity he is finding success 
by bringing the real world into the classroom.
  Mr. Winchester refers to his teaching style as ``authentic 
learning,'' which he says trains

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students in the basics and then lets them apply what they've learned. 
His students took that to heart, and in the last year, through their 
efforts, the town of Gideon helped renovate the community from the 
inside out by cleaning up public property and tearing down old 
buildings. To put a new face on this community spirit, Mr. Winchester's 
students erected a new welcome sign, planted flowers, and even created 
an Internet Web page showing off the town and school district to new 
businesses and other visitors.
  Mr. Speaker, with teachers like Cindy Thresher and Allen Winchester 
guiding and teaching our students, our future looks much brighter. I 
commend them and all of our Nation's educators who prepare our children 
today to be the leaders of tomorrow.

                          ____________________