Pi Lambda Theta Sacramento Chapter Newsletter (May 2007)
Pi Lambda Theta Post
District V
Sacramento Chapter
On the Web at : www.pltregionV.org
Email : pltsacramento@yahoo.com
Volume 25, Issue #4
May 2007
Dates at a Glance
More information about these events can be found in this newsletter!
*2007
* June 12th (5-7pm): End of the Year
Celebration
Salad Bar Potluck
* Help us plan the upcoming year and
get acquainted with some of your
fellow members!
*July 8th, 15th, 22nd: CARWASHES!
* July 26th: Biannual Conference in
Virginia
* Fall : "Wine and Wisdom" Social
Event
Meet Our New Members!
Deanna Kigar is a newly credentialed teacher through the Natomas Evening Multiple Subject Teacher Preparation program at Sacramento State University. She has been involved in education for many years serving as PTA secretary, instructional assistant, media technician, and even room mother! She has a daughter, 17 years old at El Camino and a son in the 8th grade at Arcade Middle School. Deanna is looking forward to meeting local Pi Lambda Theta members and becoming involved in the Sacramento chapter.
Greta Scholtes is a recently credentialled teacher through the multiple subject program at CSUS. She has worked in the SanJuan Unified district for the last three years as a guest teacher, and is currently interviewing for a position in the Natomas District and SanJuan Unified. Her fondest teaching memory is teaching in Africa. She is looking forward to working on community projects with other members.
Regina Friedrich is a Phase 2 in the Rio Linda cohort for the Sacramento State Credential Program. She is currently student teaching in a first grade classroom at Regency Park in the Rio Linda Unified School District. She is excited to network and participate in Phi Lambda's events!
Nicol Huntington will graduate from the CSUS 2-semester credential program May 25! She has been Student Teaching in the Folsom-Cordova Unified School District in 2nd and 5th grades and has volunteered at Mission Avenue Open Elementary in the San Juan Unified School District for the last five years. She is looking forward to getting to know more local educators through involvement in Pi Lambda Theta.
Christie Mac Rae is currently attending the Sac State Teacher Credential Program in the Rio Linda School District. Ms. Brown, her fifth grade teacher, is her inspiration for what a great teacher should be. She wants to share her love of learning with all her students and help them become life-long learners.
Last Meeting's Minutes
On April 18th, we met to initiate new members, install new officers, listen to two amazing speakers, and inform everyone on where our chapter stood financially, program-wise, and committee-wise.
Here are the minutes from this meeting:
Treasurer's Report:
The chapter currently holds $2,765.46 as the total sum in our account. The financial breakdown of this year's fundraiser profits are as follows: $50.00 (Denio's Garage Sale), $294.00 (Donations for Childrens' Book Project), $435.24 (Borders' Book Wrap), $557.55 (Car Washes).
*Ideas for upcoming fundraisers: another car wash, repeating the Borders gift wrap, or perhaps participate in a craft faire.
* The 2007 Pi Lambda Theta scholarships will be awarded to members attending the 2007 Leadership Conference.
Committee Call To Action:
* Newsletter:
Kristin Yarbrough would like to see more contributions from other members. Read any excellent articles on education? Special Thanks to Carolyn Reese for her contribution to this month's newsletter! Email Kristin directly at: pltsacramento@yahoo.com
* Phone Tree:
Like keeping members involved? Carolyn Reese needs your help to keep the members in your area updated on what's going on with Pi Lambda Theta! To help her with the phone tree, please email her directly at carolyn_davis_reese@hotmail.com !
Next Meeting: Potluck!
When: Sunday, June 3rd (1-4pm)
Where: Rita Jones' House (4084 Arenzano Way El Dorado Hills, CA 95762)
This will be the end-of-year "salad bar" potluck & celebration for all of our members as well as an opportunity to talk about and plan out the year ahead.
Directions:
*Highway 50 to El Dorado Hills Blvd. (exit B) which goes back under the freeway
*Turn onto Serrano Parkway and go about 2-3 miles
*At the top of the 2nd hill, turn right onto Villagio
*The Gate number is #7394
*Take the first right onto Brogan
*Then the second right onto Arrenzano
*Her house is on the bottom of the hill on the left
***To RSVP, call Ryan (916) 320-6178***
Car Washes!
When: July 8th,15th, & 22nd [10am - 4pm]
Where: Rite-Aid Parking Lot [8368 Elk Grove Florin Road Sacramento, CA 95829]
What to Bring: Buckets and Sponges to Wash, Towels to Dry, and we will provide the rest! Don't be shy, we need people to wash, dry, collect money, advertise, etc! Bring the family, it's always a blast!
Contact Kristin (916) 479-0462!
A Word from Your 07-09 Pi Lambda Theta Board
Ryan Renee Holoubek teaches 7th grade Life Science at Rolling Hills Middle School in El Dorado Hills. She graduated from Sac State with my multiple subjects credential in Dec 2005 and through subbing discovered middle school. As the new President she hopes to accomplish these three things: increase membership for our chapter, arrange exciting workshops and guest speakers at our meetings, and organize events that have a lasting effect on the children in our community.
Carolyn Reese, Vice President, received her BA and Teaching Credential through CSUS. She is a teacher with the El Dorado County Office of Education Charter Community School, Home Study Academy. She teaches grades 7-12 in Pre Algebra, Geometry, Physical/Earth Science and English 3. She also works as a Case Load teacher with 10 students as their primary Home Study Teacher. As Vice President Carolyn hopes to encourage members to become more involved in our chapter by seeing the big picture of PLT.
Jennifer Holmes is a recent graduate of the teacher credentialing program at CSUS--Rio Linda. In January, she began working as a Title I Resource Teacher within the Rio Linda Union District. Since joining Pi Lambda Theta, she has participated in several activities. As the current co-treasurer, she desires to direct and appropriate funds to benefit both educators and students within the Sacramento region.
Toni Raney is a charter member of Sacramento 541, Pi Lambda Theta. She has served our chapter as vice-president in the past and has been treasurer for several years. In 1980 she was named Teacher of the Year for the Folsom-Cordova Unified School District. She continued her education at Sacramento State University, obtaining 4 more credentials and a Masters in Education by 1981. She has focused the last 20 years of teaching in the field of Special Education.
Kristin Yarbrough, Secretary, is a newly credentialed teacher through the Blended Elementary Teacher Education Preparation (BETEP) program at Sacramento State University. She is currently substitute teaching throughout the Elk Grove and Washington Unified School Districts. As our secretary, she hopes to open the lines of communications between all of Pi Lambda Members in our chapter and beyond!
Get Involved!
What is the one thing that is keeping you from being more involved? We'd like to help!
Please email Kristin at pltsacramento@yahoo.com
Top 8 Reasons Why Non-Teachers Can Never Really Understand Our Job
By: Beth Lewis
Contributed by Carolyn Reese
Or, Why Nobody Enters Teaching Just For The Vacations
Believe it or not, I once had an older family member approach me at a party and say, “Oh, I want my son to talk to you about teaching because he wants a career that’s easy and not stressful.” I don’t even remember my response to this illogical and bizarre comment, but obviously this lady’s cluelessness made a major impression on me. I’m still confounded by this idea even ten years after the incident occurred.
You may have been on the receiving end of similar comments, such as:
“You’re so lucky to have so much vacation time, especially summers off. Teachers have it so easy!”
“You only have 20 students in your class. That’s not so bad!”
“It must be so easy to teach elementary school. The children don’t have attitudes when they’re so young.”
All of these ignorant and annoying comments just go to show that people who aren’t in education simply can’t understand all of the work that goes into being a classroom teacher. Even many administrators seem to have forgotten about all of the trials and tribulations we face on the front lines of education.
So in the interest of bonding together and examining the commonalities that only true teachers can understand, here are the Top Reasons Why Non-Teachers Just Don’t “Get It.” If I’ve forgotten anything, post your thoughts on the Forum.
1. Summers aren’t enough recovery time.
I do believe that every teacher appreciates our vacation times. However, I know from experience that a summer vacation isn’t nearly enough time to recover (emotionally and physically) from the rigors of a typical school year. Similar to childbirth and moving houses, only time away can offer the necessary respite (and memory failure) that allows us to gather the strength and optimism required to attempt teaching anew in the fall. Besides, summers are shrinking and many teachers use this valuable time to earn advanced degrees and attend training courses.
2. In the primary grades, we deal with gross bathroom-related issues.
Even a high school teacher could never understand some of the crises related to bodily functions that a typical K-3 teacher has to deal with on a regular basis. Potty accidents (and more instances too disgusting to reiterate here) are something that we can’t shy away from. I’ve had third grade students who still wear diapers and let me tell you it’s stinky. Is there any amount of money or vacation time worth cleaning up vomit from the classroom floor with your own two hands?
3. We’re not just teachers.
The word “teacher” just doesn’t cover it. We’re also nurses, psychologists, recess monitors, social workers, parental counselors, secretaries, copy machine mechanics, and almost literally parents, in some instances, to our students. If you’re in a corporate setting, you can say, “That’s not in my job description.” When you’re a teacher, you have to be ready for everything and anything to be thrown at you on a given day. And there’s no turning it down.
4. Everything’s always our fault.
Parents, principals, and society in general blame teachers for every problem under the sun. We pour our hearts and souls into teaching and 99.99% of teachers are the most generous, ethical, and competent workers you can find. We have the best of intentions in a messed-up education system. But somehow we still get the blame. But we keep teaching and trying to make a difference.
5. Our job is really serious.
When there’s a mistake or a problem, it’s often heart-breaking and important. In the corporate world, a glitch might mean a spreadsheet needs to be redone or a little money was wasted. But in education, the problems go much deeper: a child lost on a field trip, students lamenting parents in jail, a little girl sexually assaulted on the walk home from school, a boy being raised by his great-grandmother because everyone else in his life abandoned him. These are true stories that I’ve had to witness. The pure human pain gets to you after awhile, especially if you’re a teacher out to fix everything. We can’t fix everything and that makes the problems we witness hurt all the more.
6. Every hour in the classroom is at least an hour of work required outside the normal school day.
Sure, school only lasts 5-6 hours per day. But that’s all we’re paid for and the job is constant. Our homes are cluttered with work and we stay up till all hours grading papers and preparing for future lessons. Many of us take phone calls and emails from parents during our “personal” time. The problems of the day weigh heavy on our minds all night and all weekend.
7. There is zero flexibility when you’re a classroom teacher.
When you work in an office, you can simply call in sick when you wake up unexpectedly ill on a given morning. But, it’s extremely hard to be absent from work when you are a teacher, especially if it happens without notice or at the last minute. It can take several hours to prepare the lesson plans for a substitute teacher which hardly seems worth it when you’re only going to be absent for five or six hours of classroom time. You might as well just go teach the class yourself, right?
8. Teaching is physically and emotionally taxing.
To put it bluntly: Since bathroom breaks are hard to come by, it’s said that teachers have the highest incidences of urinary and colon problems. There are also issues with varicose veins from having to stand all day. Plus, all of the above difficulty factors, combined with the isolated nature of being the only adult in a self-contained classroom, make the job especially grueling over the long term.
So for all you non-teachers out there, keep these factors in mind the next time you envy a teacher for her summers off or feel the urge to say something about teachers having it easy. There are some things about the profession that only teachers can understand, but hopefully this little gripe session has shed some light on the true nature of the job!
And now that we’ve got most of the complaints out of the way, keep an eye out for a future article that will celebrate the positive side of teaching!
http://k6educators.about.com/od/classroommanagement/a/8understand.htm
District V
Sacramento Chapter
On the Web at : www.pltregionV.org
Email : pltsacramento@yahoo.com
Volume 25, Issue #4
May 2007
Dates at a Glance
More information about these events can be found in this newsletter!
*2007
* June 12th (5-7pm): End of the Year
Celebration
Salad Bar Potluck
* Help us plan the upcoming year and
get acquainted with some of your
fellow members!
*July 8th, 15th, 22nd: CARWASHES!
* July 26th: Biannual Conference in
Virginia
* Fall : "Wine and Wisdom" Social
Event
Meet Our New Members!
Deanna Kigar is a newly credentialed teacher through the Natomas Evening Multiple Subject Teacher Preparation program at Sacramento State University. She has been involved in education for many years serving as PTA secretary, instructional assistant, media technician, and even room mother! She has a daughter, 17 years old at El Camino and a son in the 8th grade at Arcade Middle School. Deanna is looking forward to meeting local Pi Lambda Theta members and becoming involved in the Sacramento chapter.
Greta Scholtes is a recently credentialled teacher through the multiple subject program at CSUS. She has worked in the SanJuan Unified district for the last three years as a guest teacher, and is currently interviewing for a position in the Natomas District and SanJuan Unified. Her fondest teaching memory is teaching in Africa. She is looking forward to working on community projects with other members.
Regina Friedrich is a Phase 2 in the Rio Linda cohort for the Sacramento State Credential Program. She is currently student teaching in a first grade classroom at Regency Park in the Rio Linda Unified School District. She is excited to network and participate in Phi Lambda's events!
Nicol Huntington will graduate from the CSUS 2-semester credential program May 25! She has been Student Teaching in the Folsom-Cordova Unified School District in 2nd and 5th grades and has volunteered at Mission Avenue Open Elementary in the San Juan Unified School District for the last five years. She is looking forward to getting to know more local educators through involvement in Pi Lambda Theta.
Christie Mac Rae is currently attending the Sac State Teacher Credential Program in the Rio Linda School District. Ms. Brown, her fifth grade teacher, is her inspiration for what a great teacher should be. She wants to share her love of learning with all her students and help them become life-long learners.
Last Meeting's Minutes
On April 18th, we met to initiate new members, install new officers, listen to two amazing speakers, and inform everyone on where our chapter stood financially, program-wise, and committee-wise.
Here are the minutes from this meeting:
Treasurer's Report:
The chapter currently holds $2,765.46 as the total sum in our account. The financial breakdown of this year's fundraiser profits are as follows: $50.00 (Denio's Garage Sale), $294.00 (Donations for Childrens' Book Project), $435.24 (Borders' Book Wrap), $557.55 (Car Washes).
*Ideas for upcoming fundraisers: another car wash, repeating the Borders gift wrap, or perhaps participate in a craft faire.
* The 2007 Pi Lambda Theta scholarships will be awarded to members attending the 2007 Leadership Conference.
Committee Call To Action:
* Newsletter:
Kristin Yarbrough would like to see more contributions from other members. Read any excellent articles on education? Special Thanks to Carolyn Reese for her contribution to this month's newsletter! Email Kristin directly at: pltsacramento@yahoo.com
* Phone Tree:
Like keeping members involved? Carolyn Reese needs your help to keep the members in your area updated on what's going on with Pi Lambda Theta! To help her with the phone tree, please email her directly at carolyn_davis_reese@hotmail.com !
Next Meeting: Potluck!
When: Sunday, June 3rd (1-4pm)
Where: Rita Jones' House (4084 Arenzano Way El Dorado Hills, CA 95762)
This will be the end-of-year "salad bar" potluck & celebration for all of our members as well as an opportunity to talk about and plan out the year ahead.
Directions:
*Highway 50 to El Dorado Hills Blvd. (exit B) which goes back under the freeway
*Turn onto Serrano Parkway and go about 2-3 miles
*At the top of the 2nd hill, turn right onto Villagio
*The Gate number is #7394
*Take the first right onto Brogan
*Then the second right onto Arrenzano
*Her house is on the bottom of the hill on the left
***To RSVP, call Ryan (916) 320-6178***
Car Washes!
When: July 8th,15th, & 22nd [10am - 4pm]
Where: Rite-Aid Parking Lot [8368 Elk Grove Florin Road Sacramento, CA 95829]
What to Bring: Buckets and Sponges to Wash, Towels to Dry, and we will provide the rest! Don't be shy, we need people to wash, dry, collect money, advertise, etc! Bring the family, it's always a blast!
Contact Kristin (916) 479-0462!
A Word from Your 07-09 Pi Lambda Theta Board
Ryan Renee Holoubek teaches 7th grade Life Science at Rolling Hills Middle School in El Dorado Hills. She graduated from Sac State with my multiple subjects credential in Dec 2005 and through subbing discovered middle school. As the new President she hopes to accomplish these three things: increase membership for our chapter, arrange exciting workshops and guest speakers at our meetings, and organize events that have a lasting effect on the children in our community.
Carolyn Reese, Vice President, received her BA and Teaching Credential through CSUS. She is a teacher with the El Dorado County Office of Education Charter Community School, Home Study Academy. She teaches grades 7-12 in Pre Algebra, Geometry, Physical/Earth Science and English 3. She also works as a Case Load teacher with 10 students as their primary Home Study Teacher. As Vice President Carolyn hopes to encourage members to become more involved in our chapter by seeing the big picture of PLT.
Jennifer Holmes is a recent graduate of the teacher credentialing program at CSUS--Rio Linda. In January, she began working as a Title I Resource Teacher within the Rio Linda Union District. Since joining Pi Lambda Theta, she has participated in several activities. As the current co-treasurer, she desires to direct and appropriate funds to benefit both educators and students within the Sacramento region.
Toni Raney is a charter member of Sacramento 541, Pi Lambda Theta. She has served our chapter as vice-president in the past and has been treasurer for several years. In 1980 she was named Teacher of the Year for the Folsom-Cordova Unified School District. She continued her education at Sacramento State University, obtaining 4 more credentials and a Masters in Education by 1981. She has focused the last 20 years of teaching in the field of Special Education.
Kristin Yarbrough, Secretary, is a newly credentialed teacher through the Blended Elementary Teacher Education Preparation (BETEP) program at Sacramento State University. She is currently substitute teaching throughout the Elk Grove and Washington Unified School Districts. As our secretary, she hopes to open the lines of communications between all of Pi Lambda Members in our chapter and beyond!
Get Involved!
What is the one thing that is keeping you from being more involved? We'd like to help!
Please email Kristin at pltsacramento@yahoo.com
Top 8 Reasons Why Non-Teachers Can Never Really Understand Our Job
By: Beth Lewis
Contributed by Carolyn Reese
Or, Why Nobody Enters Teaching Just For The Vacations
Believe it or not, I once had an older family member approach me at a party and say, “Oh, I want my son to talk to you about teaching because he wants a career that’s easy and not stressful.” I don’t even remember my response to this illogical and bizarre comment, but obviously this lady’s cluelessness made a major impression on me. I’m still confounded by this idea even ten years after the incident occurred.
You may have been on the receiving end of similar comments, such as:
“You’re so lucky to have so much vacation time, especially summers off. Teachers have it so easy!”
“You only have 20 students in your class. That’s not so bad!”
“It must be so easy to teach elementary school. The children don’t have attitudes when they’re so young.”
All of these ignorant and annoying comments just go to show that people who aren’t in education simply can’t understand all of the work that goes into being a classroom teacher. Even many administrators seem to have forgotten about all of the trials and tribulations we face on the front lines of education.
So in the interest of bonding together and examining the commonalities that only true teachers can understand, here are the Top Reasons Why Non-Teachers Just Don’t “Get It.” If I’ve forgotten anything, post your thoughts on the Forum.
1. Summers aren’t enough recovery time.
I do believe that every teacher appreciates our vacation times. However, I know from experience that a summer vacation isn’t nearly enough time to recover (emotionally and physically) from the rigors of a typical school year. Similar to childbirth and moving houses, only time away can offer the necessary respite (and memory failure) that allows us to gather the strength and optimism required to attempt teaching anew in the fall. Besides, summers are shrinking and many teachers use this valuable time to earn advanced degrees and attend training courses.
2. In the primary grades, we deal with gross bathroom-related issues.
Even a high school teacher could never understand some of the crises related to bodily functions that a typical K-3 teacher has to deal with on a regular basis. Potty accidents (and more instances too disgusting to reiterate here) are something that we can’t shy away from. I’ve had third grade students who still wear diapers and let me tell you it’s stinky. Is there any amount of money or vacation time worth cleaning up vomit from the classroom floor with your own two hands?
3. We’re not just teachers.
The word “teacher” just doesn’t cover it. We’re also nurses, psychologists, recess monitors, social workers, parental counselors, secretaries, copy machine mechanics, and almost literally parents, in some instances, to our students. If you’re in a corporate setting, you can say, “That’s not in my job description.” When you’re a teacher, you have to be ready for everything and anything to be thrown at you on a given day. And there’s no turning it down.
4. Everything’s always our fault.
Parents, principals, and society in general blame teachers for every problem under the sun. We pour our hearts and souls into teaching and 99.99% of teachers are the most generous, ethical, and competent workers you can find. We have the best of intentions in a messed-up education system. But somehow we still get the blame. But we keep teaching and trying to make a difference.
5. Our job is really serious.
When there’s a mistake or a problem, it’s often heart-breaking and important. In the corporate world, a glitch might mean a spreadsheet needs to be redone or a little money was wasted. But in education, the problems go much deeper: a child lost on a field trip, students lamenting parents in jail, a little girl sexually assaulted on the walk home from school, a boy being raised by his great-grandmother because everyone else in his life abandoned him. These are true stories that I’ve had to witness. The pure human pain gets to you after awhile, especially if you’re a teacher out to fix everything. We can’t fix everything and that makes the problems we witness hurt all the more.
6. Every hour in the classroom is at least an hour of work required outside the normal school day.
Sure, school only lasts 5-6 hours per day. But that’s all we’re paid for and the job is constant. Our homes are cluttered with work and we stay up till all hours grading papers and preparing for future lessons. Many of us take phone calls and emails from parents during our “personal” time. The problems of the day weigh heavy on our minds all night and all weekend.
7. There is zero flexibility when you’re a classroom teacher.
When you work in an office, you can simply call in sick when you wake up unexpectedly ill on a given morning. But, it’s extremely hard to be absent from work when you are a teacher, especially if it happens without notice or at the last minute. It can take several hours to prepare the lesson plans for a substitute teacher which hardly seems worth it when you’re only going to be absent for five or six hours of classroom time. You might as well just go teach the class yourself, right?
8. Teaching is physically and emotionally taxing.
To put it bluntly: Since bathroom breaks are hard to come by, it’s said that teachers have the highest incidences of urinary and colon problems. There are also issues with varicose veins from having to stand all day. Plus, all of the above difficulty factors, combined with the isolated nature of being the only adult in a self-contained classroom, make the job especially grueling over the long term.
So for all you non-teachers out there, keep these factors in mind the next time you envy a teacher for her summers off or feel the urge to say something about teachers having it easy. There are some things about the profession that only teachers can understand, but hopefully this little gripe session has shed some light on the true nature of the job!
And now that we’ve got most of the complaints out of the way, keep an eye out for a future article that will celebrate the positive side of teaching!
http://k6educators.about.com/od/classroommanagement/a/8understand.htm