Read Across
America
Literary Flights in 2001
Oh the Places You’ll Go!
is the NEA theme for Read Across America 2001.
The book, published in 1990 by Dr. Seuss, offers a wealth of wisdom on setting
goals and meeting challenges with gentle reminders to readers about the endless
possibilities life has to offer.
Morgan Freeman will be chairperson for Read
Across America 2001.
Popular classroom activities include students reading their way
across the map of the United States. Students
can read books that take place in each state, or are written by authors in each state
about each state. As each book is completed a
pin or marker is placed on that area of the map with the idea of reading one book for
every state. Students can earn “miles” for every book they read thus beginning
an imaginary trip across the country.
Log on to www.nea.org/readacross for everything you need to create your own reading
celebration for March 2, 2001. The NEA is
calling for every child to read in the company of a caring adult.
OCEA “Good
Ideas” Grants
By Steve Fargan
The Ormsby County Education Association has set aside $1,000 for
the purpose of making grants to OCEA members or groups of members who did not have the
opportunity to apply for and/or receive a grant from NSEA.
The maximum amount for the grant is $250. (A
member may request less.)
Applications are due to your building representative by February 15, 2001.
Funding for the “Good Ideas” grants has been derived from the OCEA
budget.
The purpose of the “Good Ideas” Grants is to support and encourage
members in the development of innovative teaching techniques, to support current classroom
activities, and to enrich the educational experiences of students.
To be considered for a grant, members must submit proposals designed to:
A. Enrich the education
experiences of students.
B. Enhance professional growth.
Grants will be awarded for the following purposes:
1. To develop a teaching unit or
strategy for classroom use.
2. To develop and present a
workshop for members addressing specific areas of expertise; this may be school-based or
multi-school-based.
3. To create materials that would
serve as prototypes for classroom instruction, (e.g. technology.)
4. To design and teach courses for
other teachers in which they receive credit for re-licensure or placement on the salary
schedule.
A Selection Committee shall review all applications and make recommendations to the
Executive Board.
See the last page of your printed copy of January Quest for an application form,
e-mail OCEA ( ocea@pyramid.net )to request an
application or click on the links below.
OCEA Good Ideas Grants
Click on a link below for more information and an application form.
Page 1 Page 2
(Application)
ALL APPLICATIONS MUST BE RECEIVED BY YOUR BUILDING
REPRESENTATIVE BY FEBRUARY 15, 2001!
Nevada Department
of Education Mega Conference
The
conference—Thinking Outside of the Box to Support Standards-Based Success for All
Students—sponsored by the Nevada Department of Education, is being held March 30, 31
and April 1, 2001 in Las Vegas, NV.
The
conference will bring together teachers, administrators, family members, related services
personnel, paraprofessionals, policy makers and others to discuss legal issues and best
practices as standards-based reform initiatives in Nevada are implemented.
Issues across ages, including early childhood,
elementary, secondary and transition components associated with teaching all students will
be addressed.
There will be a combination of keynote presentations, breakout
sessions, featured workshops, and formal and informal peer networking opportunities.
Six strands will provide a structure for the conference, with
each strand maintaining a focus on sessions that help educators to achieve one of six
nationally recognized, research-based standards for educational leadership.
The philosophy of the conference is that there are many levels of
leadership in our educational systems, and teachers,
administrators, paraprofessionals, family members, policy makers, and others are
essential to increase achievement for all students in an era of standards-based reform.
Participation is limited to 350 registrants. Scholarships are available.
For further information contact Rorie Lackey (rorie@nsn.k12.nv.us)
or phone at (775) 687-9215.
My Summer
Revitalization
By Steve Fargan
This past summer I
attended three different Association related events.
The Men’s Issues Meeting and Representative Assembly were held in Chicago,
Illinois. Summer Leadership was held in
Crystal Bay, Nevada. All were informative,
inspirational and revitalizing.
The Men’s Issues Meeting was a full day conference that was
held prior to the Representative Assembly. One
of the major highlights from this conference was the motivational speaker, Sadie Bolos. Her talk, Achieving
Success Through Change: An Interactive Workshop made for a great start to the day. In addition to being energized I was also inspired
to write out some thoughts. Here is a sample
of what I wrote: “We are judged on the quality of our results, not on the
quality of our excuses.”
I attended two issues
sessions. In the morning I attended Overview of NEA-HCR Programs presented by Ron
Houston. This gave information on the many
National Education Association Human and Civil Rights programs and services. In the afternoon I attended Surviving in a Predominately Female Profession
presented by Dr. Dawn A. Kum-Walks. This
interactive workshop included discussion that led to a greater awareness of the dynamics
present in our schools today.
The Representative Assembly was the first I
have attended. RA is huge! Close to 10,000 delegates were in attendance. Prior to the beginning of RA, I participated in
the annual run/walk, a fund raiser for the NEA Fund for Children & Public Education. Over the next five days 77 New Business Items, 4
Bylaws and 14 Legislative Amendments were brought up, discussed and voted on. I also got involved by joining 6 different
Caucuses and attending the Robert Birle Memorial Dinner.
Presidential
candidate Al Gore addressed the representatives on a festive final day of RA. If you would like more details on RA visit the NEA
website at: http://www.nea.org/ra/.
At the Summer
Leadership Conference I attended issues sessions on
Minority Leadership Training—Understanding Cultural Differences, Enhancing
Compensation Plans, Technology—How To Build a Basic Website, and Restructuring Teacher Licensure Systems.
Minority
Leadership Training—Understanding
Cultural Differences gave me the
opportunity to participate in another presentation by Charles Nelson of NEA Human and
Civil Rights. Charles Nelson presented Diversity Training, one of the best programs at the
Pacific Regional Conference this year.
Another major highlight of the Summer Leadership Conference was
being asked to participate in Lighten Up and Laugh
for the Health of it by Craig Zablocki. In
addition to feeling like I was on the show Whose
Line is It Anyway? I was reminded of the
importance of humor and laughter in the classroom and in our lives.
I would be happy to go into more detail and answer any questions
anyone has on the events I attended this summer.
Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act of 1997
Frequently asked
question: Can you explain how the discipline
changes in IDEA ’97 make it easier to discipline students with disabilities?
Under IDEA ’97, if students bring weapons or illegal drugs
to school, they can be immediately removed to an interim alternative placement, even if
the parents object.If a child is “substantially likely”
to injure himself, herself, or others, school personnel may seek an expedited hearing
before a hearing officer to remove the child to an alternative placement for up to 45
days. This represents a major change in the law. Under
prior law, only a judge could make such a determination, and the removal was limited to 10 days.
The law specifically states that school officials can report criminal acts committed by IDEA
students to law enforcement authorities.
Before a child can be expelled or suspended for more than 10 days
for behavior that violates school rules, the school must determine whether the
child’s behavior is related to the child’s disability.
If it is related, the child may not be disciplined for that behavior. The law specifies how the school is to make
this “manifestation determination.”
Further information can be found at http://www.nea.org/publiced/idea/ideaview.html
.
Science Web Site
By Randall Warner, Junior high science teacher,
Olathe, Kansas
“I have amassed an encyclopedic Web site full
of links to great science sites. There are
three pages full of research links for
students and teachers. There is a large
resource page and my very own Monarch life cycle tutorial with digital images captured in
my classroom . I now have about 70 internal
html files integrated into the site, and well over 1,000 links I work hard to keep
updated. Please visit the site at http://home.unicom/net/~warnerr/
"
Taken from Etools
from the NEA.
