In a matter of weeks, some 130 students will enjoy the many amenities of Yavneh Day School’s renovated campus at the Addison/Penzak Jewish Community Center in Los Gatos.
There’ll be a new music room, library and playground plus access to the JCC’s swimming pools, not to mention the return of an unprecedented educational partnership: the teaching team of Carole Siegel and Paula Stokes, who double as mother and daughter.
“I didn’t know exactly what to expect,” says Siegel, who last year accepted her daughter’s offer to be her second-grade teaching assistant. As it turned out, Siegel has loved almost every minute of it.
The kids enjoy this teaching team as well. “They seem to think it’s funny,” Stokes says. “They were confused at first because I’m the ‘boss’ — the primary teacher in the classroom, even though I’m younger.”
To her older counterpart, one of the kids said, “You’re Mrs. Stokes’ new girl, but you’re also her mother. So how does that work?”
According to Joni Quintal, the day school principal, it works quite well. “When I think of Paula-Carole, I think of teamwork,” Quintal says. “It just flows.”
The team’s skills intertwine. Stokes says her mother can predict what it is that she needs, sometimes even before Stokes realizes that she needs something.
“When I work with my mom, it’s almost like having another me in the room,” Stokes says.
“But she’s much more organized than me,” Siegel confesses. “And (Paula) is an incredibly passionate person, whether she’s hiking or drawing or cooking or teaching. It’s contagious.”
Truth is, Stokes inherited her knack for arts and crafts from Siegel (Stokes’ grandmother was a commercial artist).
Siegel is a familiar face in the Jewish community, having worked for Jewish Family and Children’s Services for 14 years. She also is a trained social worker and practicing therapist.
Stokes, a Los Gatos native, earned her teaching credential at U.C. Riverside. Shortly thereafter, she worked as a long-term substitute in public schools on the East Coast, before making her way back to the Bay Area. “It’s where my community is,” Stokes says.
Teaching general studies to second-graders has made her a recognizable face at Yavneh.
Since her first year (last year) at Yavneh, Stokes has stretched her creative efforts. “In the past, creative writing was kind of nebulous, without much direction. Kids were expected to know how to write,” she says.
She credits a new program called “Write Time for Kids” that Quintal has ordered for the first through sixth grades. The program breaks down writing in a systematic way, ultimately illustrating to students the structure and purpose of any one paragraph. Stokes helps her students “come up with their own perfect paragraph.”
“Teachers are incredibly influential with kids, teaching them skills that will carry them into adulthood,” Quintal says.
“And even an adult can learn from a child,” adds Stokes.