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Welcome to June and welcome to summer! The school year is quickly winding down! Right now, however, you are probably having to "wind up" in order to complete the multitude of lessons, marking, reports and documents that have to be completed before you can begin that richly deserved summer holiday. We hope to provide you with some help in this month's newsletter. We know, of course, that even during the summer teachers do not rest. Many of you will be taking professional development courses. Many more will continue with the study of courses required for more university credits. With this in mind, we also want to provide with some web sites that will assist you with the enhancement of your professional growth. We extend to each of you best wishes for a very relaxing, yet invigorating summer, one that allows you to recharge your batteries so that you will come back to your classroom in the fall ready to meet the challenges that are always presented by the students you teach. We hope that you also check in once again in September to our Vital Knowledge newsletter. We thank you for your interest throughout the year. We look forward to providing you with some valuable information in the fall to enable you to integrate the powerful tools offered by technology into your curriculum. In addition to this newsletter, keep checking Vital Pick's. Because the school year is rapidly coming to a close, we have changed the focus of Vital Pick's. Our daily highlight of teacher accomplishments will continue when the 2001-2002 school year begins. In the meantime we plan to post sites beneficial for teachers on a weekly basis. This month we also have a special gift awaiting you and your students in the Activity section of the Mentor Center. Check it out, and if you have activities that you would like to share with other teachers, please send them along. We'll make sure to post them immediately and to give you credit. Send your ideas to rick@vitalknowledge.com Summer Sun GREAT is the sun, and wide he goes |
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Over the summer you may wish to give some consideration to involving your class in the ePALS program for the 2001 - 2002 school year. ePALS bills itself as the world's largest online classroom community. Over 3,500,000 teachers and students from 191 countries use their free online program. It provides members with the collaborative tools to communicate with students and teachers worldwide. By registering as a new member you will receive access to a wide variety of services including:
Take some time to visit ePALS today! It could be the beginning of special relationships between your students and other students from all over the world. |
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As we head into the home stretch for this school year we thought you might enjoy this inspiring story we surfed across on the web. It serves as an excellent reminder of the powerful impact teachers have on the students they touch on a daily basis. Written by: Sister Helen P. Mrosla He was in the first third grade class I taught at Saint Mary's School in Morris, Minn. All 34 of my students were dear to me, but Mark Eklund was one in a million. Very neat in appearance, but had that happy-to-be-alive attitude that made even his occasional mischievousness delightful. Mark talked incessantly. I had to remind him again and again that talking without permission was not acceptable. What impressed me so much, though, was his sincere response every time I had to correct him for misbehaving - "Thank you for correcting me, Sister!" I didn't know what to make of it at first, but before long I became accustomed to hearing it many times a day. One morning my patience was growing thin when Mark talked once too often, and then I made a novice-teacher's mistake. I looked at Mark and said, "If you say one more word, I am going to tape your mouth shut!" It wasn't ten seconds later when Chuck blurted out, "Mark is talking again." I hadn't asked any of the students to help me watch Mark, but since I had stated the punishment in front of the class, I had to act on it. I remember the scene as if it had occurred this morning. I walked to my desk, very deliberately opened by drawer and took out a roll of masking tape. Without saying a word, I proceeded to Mark's desk, tore off two pieces of tape and made a big X with them over his mouth. I then returned to the front of the room. As I glanced at Mark to see how he was doing, he winked at me. That did it!! I started laughing. The class cheered as I walked back to Mark's desk, removed the tape, and shrugged my shoulders. His first words were, "Thank you for correcting me, Sister." At the end of the year, I was asked to teach junior-high math. The years flew by, and before I knew it Mark was in my classroom again. He was more handsome than ever and just as polite. Since he had to listen carefully to my instruction in the "new math," he did not talk as much in ninth grade as he had in third. One Friday, things just didn't feel right. We had worked hard on a new concept all week, and I sensed that the students were frowning, frustrated with themselves - and edgy with one another. I had to stop this crankiness before it got out of hand. So I asked them to list the names of the other students in the room on two sheets of paper, leaving a space between each name. Then I told them to think of the nicest thing they could say about each of their classmates and write it down. It took the remainder of the class period to finish their assignment, and as the students left the room, each one handed me the papers. Charlie smiled. Mark said, "Thank you for teaching me, Sister. Have a good weekend." That Saturday, I wrote down the name of each student on a separate sheet of paper, and I listed what everyone else had said about that individual. On Monday I gave each student his or her list. Before long, the entire class was smiling. "Really?" I heard whispered. "I never knew that meant anything to anyone!" "I didn't know others liked me so much." No one ever mentioned those papers in class again. I never knew if they discussed them after class or with their parents, but it didn't matter. The exercise had accomplished its purpose. The students were happy with themselves and one another again. That group of students moved on. Several years later, after I returned from vacation, my parents met me at the airport. As we were driving home, Mother asked me the usual questions about the trip - the weather, my experiences in general. There was a lull in the conversation. Mother gave Dad a side-ways glance and simply says, "Dad?" My father cleared his throat as he usually did before something important. "The Eklunds called last night," he began. "Really?" I said. "I haven't heard from them in years. I wonder how Mark is." Dad responded quietly. "Mark was killed in Vietnam," he said. "The funeral is tomorrow, and his parents would like it if you could attend." To this day I can still point to the exact spot on I-494 where Dad told me about Mark. I had never seen a serviceman in a military coffin before. Mark looked so handsome, so mature. All I could think at that moment was, "Mark I would give all the masking tape in the world if only you would talk to me." The church was packed with Mark's friends. Chuck's sister sang "The Battle Hymn of the Republic." Why did it have to rain on the day of the funeral? It was difficult enough at the graveside. The pastor said the usual prayers, and the bugler played taps. One by one those who loved Mark took a last walk by the coffin and sprinkled it with holy water. I was the last one to bless the coffin. As I stood there, one of the soldiers who acted as pallbearer came up to me. "Were you Mark's math teacher?" he asked. I nodded as I continued to stare at the coffin. "Mark talked about you a lot," he said. After the funeral, most of Mark's former classmates headed to Chuck's farmhouse for lunch. Mark's mother and father were there, obviously waiting for me. "We want to show you something," his father said, taking a wallet out of his pocket. "They found this on Mark when he was killed. We thought you might recognize it." Opening the billfold, he carefully removed two worn pieces of notebook paper that had obviously been taped, folded and refolded many times. I knew without looking that the papers were the ones on which I had listed all the good things each of Mark's classmates had said about him. "Thank you so much for doing that," Mark's mother said. "As you can see, Mark treasured it." Mark's classmates started to gather around us. Charlie smiled rather sheepishly and said, "I still have my list. It's in the top drawer of my desk at home." Chuck's wife said, "Chuck asked me to put his in our wedding album." "I have mine too," Marilyn said. "It's in my diary." Then Vicki, another classmate, reached into her pocketbook, took out her wallet and showed her worn and frazzled list to the group. "I carry this with me at all times," Vicki said without batting an eyelash. "I think we all saved our lists." That's when I finally sat down and cried. I cried for Mark and for all his friends who would never see him again. From: Pirks Publishing |
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With summer holidays just around the corner, we suspect you will not be spending a lot of time surfing the net for resources to use in the classroom. Instead, therefore we decided to highlight some web sites you can visit on those rainy days when you are inside. The following are our suggestions of web sites you can visit to help plan your summer celebrations. IVillage.com has great suggestions for summer parties, recipes and health tips. Find food safety tips, gift ideas, how to eat lobster, how to organize like a caterer, and more! How about Fifteen Steps to Celebrate Summer Learning? Here are some tips to continue your child's learning through the summer. You may wish to pass this page on to the parents of your students! Why not celebrate summer with the Beanie Kids? Good tips for summer safety and fun. We think you'll find some great ideas among these 60 great ways to celebrate summer! Education World has great ideas and activities for celebrating summer at home or at school! Kid's Domain has great resources for all times of years, but they have put these pages together particularly for summer! Finally, Billy Bear has put together these summertime fun pages. Lots of great activities! |
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Many teachers take advantage of the summer months to continue developing their professional skills. Here are some sites you may choose to visit for professional development resources: David Levin has put together a collection of sites with a wide variety of professional development resources. So has the North Central Regional Educational laboratory. The California Department of Education has identified sites they feel contain good resources for professional development. The Eisenhower National Clearing House site contains great PD resources for science teachers. Math teachers may want to visit the Math Teacher Link. Was this school year particularly stressful for you? The Los Angeles County Office of Education identifies resources for coping with stress as well as other PD topics. Study Web contains a large collection of resources for teachers of all grade levels and subject areas. Education World has identified a "Summer Reading List" with lots of suggestions to keep you busy on those rainy days. Finally, are you hard at work preparing your year-end report cards? Kathy Shrock has identified sites with comments for report cards that may be useful to you. |
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The quality of student web pages keeps getting better, not only with respect to technology, but also regarding content. They are being developed with a clear purpose in mind. Many are becoming not only local community resources, but also global gems. Not only are students receiving knowledge as they produce their web sites, they are also producing it, much to the benefit of those of us who are fortunate to have the opportunity to visit some of the fantastic sites being produced by them. Visit the following sites to view some of the top student sites that were produced this year: ThinkQuest Junior 2001 Winners: International Schools CyberFair 2001 Winners: Canadian Grassroots Communities Winners: |
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A teacher was giving a lesson on the circulation of the blood. Trying to make the matter clearer, he said: "Now, students, if I stood on my head the blood, as you know, would run into it, and I should turn red in the face." "Yes, sir," the boys said. "Then why is it that while I am standing upright in the ordinary position the blood doesn't run into my feet?" A little fellow shouted, "'It's because yer feet ain't empty." From: Aaaha! Jokes |
