Showing posts with label Kansas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kansas. Show all posts
Friday, January 16, 2009
7 Things You Don't Need to Know About Me!
You don't need to know these 7 things about me for two reasons:
1.) If you know me, you have probably already figured these out
and
2.) Most of these 7 things remain arcane, yet deeply held passions or ideas that I hold.
But that kind of reasoning has never stopped me from attaining a goal before.
Since I was tapped to share in this meme by my wonderful colleague and friend, Anne Mirtschin, from Australia, it seems that I'm wondering: What are 7 things people don't need to know about me? After several false starts, I've listed 7 things and named 7 other colleagues to share this meme.
1. The desert plains of North America would be a favorite place to live. I enjoy the low humidity and cool nights, as well as traveling to nearby mountains for respite in the hottest times of the year. I especially like New Mexico for its lovely landscapes, rich history and relatively small populations when compared to other mountain states.
2. Gardening and caring for the environment have been a passion of mine, since I was a toddler. Recently I completed the Master Gardener program offered through our Kansas State Extension service. This is a national model, yet it was offered for gardeners in Neosho County, Kansas where I live. My cohort forms a team who will work to encourage more participation in our southeast Kansas area and complete volunteer public gardening works to give back to the Master Gardener program.
3. As a citizen of present day United States of America, I like to talk about the founding fathers' foresight in organizing our country and establishing traditions that continue to serve us well. Next to the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States of America and the American Bill of Rights, my favorite American historical documents are the Northwest Ordinance and the Land Ordinance of 1785. The founders used these documents to establish firmly held beliefs about democracy. These laws were the blueprint for the public land survey system. They also helped establish the people's right to public lands for various uses, including government and schools.
4. I enjoy discussing topics that others believe arcane.
5. Besides reading and gardening, collecting is a favorite hobby. Over the years, I have focused on various items, including fossils, minerals, furniture, glassware and other items like stamps. The longest running collections I have are the minerals and fossils. I enjoy leading fieldtrips and have developed several daytrips and week long tours of our region. One of my favorites is the Volcano Tour, while another is the Sun and Stars Tour. One of my favorite fossil hunting sites is in Peru.
6. I appreciate irony and even a sardonic sense of humor at times. I agree with the beloved American humorist, Will Rogers when he said, "Everyone is ignorant, only in different subjects."
7. My Personal/Professional Learning Network continues to encourage me to push my skills to match my abilities, and I need that. I work well in groups. If I could, I would like to meet my colleagues in the World of Matter. They all make me think, cheer me on and push me to see opportunities and possibilities.
Here are several colleagues that I'm selecting to share in the 7 Things You Don't Need to Know About Me meme:
Malinka Ivanova
William Chamberlain, aka Mr.C: Thanks! We are all enjoying your contribution to the "7 Things" meme. One colleague especially appreciated that you correlated #6: "I love art, music, video games, movies, and books." with #1: "I have a very short attention span." Personally, I don't see how you can teach and NOT have a wandering attention span!
Sherry Crofut
Joyce Seitzinger
Dr. Mark Stock
Amanda Marrinan
Lori Sheldon who has always wanted to be a teacher. Read this engaging contribution to the "Seven Things Meme".
Linda George
Allison Kipta
Elizabeth Holmes
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Making the Rounds
Well, I made the rounds again today! No, I am not a doctor, a manager or a farmer. I am a teacher.
In the World of Matter, I live in Kansas, the first Land of Oz. At various times, I make a special effort to find teachers who also live in Kansas and use technology of all sorts.
This may just be me, but I find it is easier to find teachers on the other side of Earth, who have similar interests, than those living in my state. What has your experience been?
To find like-minded people, I look in the places where I live in the World of Electrons, for instance: Twitter, del.icio.us, Classroom2.0, TappedIn, and Diigo. Today, I found five people, living in Kansas, who teach and use technology. Some are not in the classroom each day, but they all have their roots in education. They also meet the use of technology criteria.
Why do I do this? I made this search part of my professional development plan. I want to help end teacher isolation in my state... in my lifetime. I hear about teachers in other states and countries meeting new area teachers and forming expansive collaborations in the World of Matter and Electrons. I think that is wonderful. What do you think?
To join with other Kansas teachers, to collaborate and share our past, present and future experiences would be a wonderful personal and professional goal to acheive. Kansas teachers have various opportunities to collaborate through area educational networks, yet they don't use them...even when they join.
How do you find like minded teachers in your state, region, or province in the World of Electrons?
Friday, March 14, 2008
Where Others Fear To Tread
Through Fear by Martin Gommel
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License
This terrible disservice and governmental disrespect, in California, for their children and those dedicated to teaching them, reminded me of a similar experience that happened to me early in my teaching career. Fortunately, the majority of the teachers in the state where I taught stood together in the face of (seemingly) more powerful groups. No one is more powerful than those dedicated to a righteous cause to help the teachers who teach our children.
I faced the most frightening experience early in my teaching career when our teacher professional group recommended a one day walkout to let the Louisiana state legislature know what the effect of our finding jobs in other states would do to their schools.
Amazing! I thought. I just started teaching two years before. Why me? Why should I get involved. I could be fired for participating in the walkout, but our salaries were a pittance compared to teachers in other states. For instance, my salary was 30% less in Louisiana than it would have been in Kansas, at that time. Just as today, teachers made thirty to fifty percent of what other college graduates with similar training were making.
The members of the Lousiana state legislature appeared deaf to requests from schools, teachers and the public, so there we were. A statewide teacher's walkout was called, and the state's school administrators figured out that a majority of teachers really were prepared to meet at the state capitol, in Baton Rouge, and take our case directly to the legislature.
Some of the teachers in my school were only teaching as a hobby or to occupy their time. It seemed to me that they were not as effective as they could be if they had dedicated more effort to their teaching. They could hide within the status quo, so they were definitely opposed to the teacher walkout. The other teachers, mostly the more experienced teachers who really dedicated themselves to their work, were going to the state capitol, in Baton Rouge.
Even though I knew that the walkout was right, I had to think about whether I would participate. A few days before we were to converge on the state legislature, I decided that I would go to the state capitol, supporting my students, my community, myself and my peers.
Right up to the Friday afternoon before we were going to walkout, during the following week, the press was reporting that the teachers could face firing if they walked out. It didn't matter, we were determined. When the governor realized that thousands of teachers would walkout, he called off school for the entire day.
Since school was closed all over the state, the problem of firing thousands of teachers was averted, but we still had not achieved our goal: convincing the legislature that teachers were serious about the necessary pay raise.
On the day of the proposed walkout, I traveled for hours to get to the state house, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Being there was a humbling experience that I will never forget. There really were thousands of teachers. Everywhere, on the streets, green spaces, sidewalks and other flat spaces. As far as the eye could see, there were teachers.
We had come to show our support for those Louisiana legislators who were trying to do right by the the children of Louisiana. There were speeches, group discussions, and most people had their signs. It was a truly historic, appropriate use of the right to assemble and petition the government with grievances. Teachers made their point, and the very next year we received an increase in the base salary.
The teachers in California can always make their point TOGETHER. When they work together, teachers can achieve any goal in education. When they really listen to each other....not just talk at each other.
Listening is a skill that teachers must constantly hone. By doing so, we will successfully achieve our goals for the future of education with the help of our real network.
Teachers go where no one else will go. They work with all children where they find them, and take them where they know they should be.
Teachers follow when others will not answer the calling. Everyone says that they would love to teach, but they usually admit that they couldn't stand up to the rigors and economic distress of the teaching life.
Teachers expand their families to include other people's children, spending hours grading or working at home each evening, weekends and holidays with their school family.
Teachers do what no other professionally trained college graduate will do today: TEACH, yet even when our ranks are dwindling and our hopes for semi-autonomy seem far, far, away...maybe even in another galaxy, states like California are committing unspeakable acts that further undermine teacher confidence in the public system.
What are these unspeakable acts? The continuing destruction of the California Public School System. Watching from another state, this story of California teachers seems like a Greek Tragedy, water torture or death by pinprick, but now it seems that so many multiple pinpricks have created gashes in the California educational
system.
Teachers are being ripped from their students, and students are being displaced, all in an effort to squeeze ten percent cuts from the already distressed public school system.
What can we do to help California teachers survive this unnatural disaster? We can connect with our social networks, and lend our support to our colleagues in California. We can find organizations that will help us support teachers in some way that will work for the California teachers.
I would like to ask these important questions, as a starting place for discourse about this crisis in California Public Schools:
Can the teachers being laid off depend on their peers who aren't being laid off?
Can they depend on their unions?
From a distance, it doesn't seem that they can. This is a sad time in our public life as many teachers think they only are looking out for themselves. In my experience, as a teacher, this tactic is not reliable in the long run. When they ignore injustice in their ranks, it really makes the bystander teachers more vulnerable, because the governmental agents learn that no one will complain if more children, teachers and communities are mistreated.
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
RoadTrip Through Kansas
On the road to Wichita, KS. Then I will travel to Topeka, KS. Need professional development point transcript from Wichita Public Schools, USD#259. Must turn this transcript in with my licensure update application and, of course, a $36.00 fee. When I first started teaching in KS, the certification application fee was $5.00 dollars. What can I say? A lot of water passed under this bridge.
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