By Michelle Martin
Staff writer
Peter Martinek-Jenne stood in front of a class of 5- and 6-year-olds, armed with a marker, and asked them what they knew about Martin Luther King Jr.
The kindergartners proceeded to come up with everything from the fact that he was born in Georgia to the idea that he wanted people to get along “peacely.” Martinek-Jenne listened to each contribution and wrote them all down, asking the children to guess many of the words as he wrote them.
The students, gathered on a carpet with pictures of the solar system, next to a “reading house” constructed of cereal boxes and masking tape, paid close attention, raising hands and offering thoughtful answers.
“He taught people that their skin color didn’t matter and that they were all the same inside,” Elizabeth said softly.
“I want you to repeat that, so I can write it down exactly,” Martinek-Jenne told her. “That’s important.”
Then the 23-year-old teacher settled down to read a story about King, with a quick detour to explain what authors and illustrators do.
“In order for the kids to learn, they have to have fun,” Martinek-Jenne said. “You get them all ready to have fun, and you just slip the learning stuff in.”
Martinek-Jenne began his teaching career at the Sacred Heart Schools last fall, becoming that rarest of teacher species: a male kindergarten teacher.
According to the National Center for Education Statistics, less than 25 percent of private or parochial school teachers were men in the 1993-1994 school year, the last year for which statistics are available. Anecdotal evidence shows most of those male teachers clustered at the upper end of the elementary years. Even Martinek-Jenne said he had only three or four male peers—out of more than 100 classmates—in his elementary ed classes at Loyola University-Chicago.
When he started studying education, he did not expect to be a kindergarten teacher. But the more time he spent in classrooms, he said, the more he gravitated to the smallest students.
“I just found that I related best to the youngest age group,” Martinek-Jenne said, seated on a knee-high chair. “Now I can’t imagine not being in a classroom of 5-year-olds every day. I enjoy being able to act silly and act like a 5-year-old.”
Martinek-Jenne came by his vocation honestly. His mother teaches kindergarten in a public school in Cleveland, Ohio. Even his wife, Anna, teaches preschool at St. Gertrude School, also on the Far North Side.
Sacred Heart Sister Kitty Costello, the kindergarten coordinator at the Sacred Heart Schools, said Martinek-Jenne brings a different perspective to staff meetings, and brings different qualities to his teaching.
“It’s a great addition, both to our kindergarten team and for the kids’ sake,” Costello said. “It’s a real gift. It’s not easy for men to come into elementary education. You have to be so careful.”
Martinek-Jenne said even his mother warned him to be careful to avoid anything that might make anyone think there was a hint of impropriety, but that has not stopped him from showing his affection to his students.
“They’re little kids,” he said. “Sometimes they need hugs.”
At the beginning of the year, he said, his students’ parents were surprised to find out he would be the teacher—partly because of his sex, and partly because he was a late hire, to replace another teacher.
But he obviously allayed any fears. The parents planned a party for him and his wife to celebrate the birth of his son, Ronan, Dec. 8.
For Martinek-Jenne, whose father died when he was 12, being a kindergarten teacher means he can serve as a positive male role model.
“There are so many families that don’t have a male role model at home,” he said. “It means so much to have a male that loves you, and I can have a positive influence on these kids.”
Martinek-Jenne appreciates the ability to share his life with his students and their families, he said, just as he appreciates the opportunity to share his faith through prayers and service projects. A product of Catholic elementary school, high school and college, he chose to teach at Sacred Heart after spending a semester as a permanent substitute in the Chicago Public Schools.
“I worked here in the after-school program when I was in college,” he said. “I really liked it, because the kids were so responsive.”
And since he began teaching full time, the students have continued to respond.
Before recess, Martinek-Jenne stood in the coatroom with his students, tying shoes, zipping coats, and figuring out which boots went on which feet. Through it all, he reminded them to say please and thank you, reminded them to bring their lunches, and traded words of affection.
“Pryor said ‘I like you, Mr. Martinek-Jenne,’’ he said. “And I know he meant it.”
