From the BCCT. Congratulations!
Teacher surprised, honored by $25,000 award
Goodnoe Elementary second-grade teacher Maryann Molishus said she’s still deciding what to do with the money.
By RACHEL CANELLI
Maryann Molishus come on down! She’s the next recipient of the 2008 Milken National Educator Award. The nine-year Council Rock elementary school teacher became the latest $25,000 award winner Monday morning as officials travel the country announcing more than 70 educators during surprise school-wide ceremonies. So far, Molishus is only the second teacher chosen from Pennsylvania, administrators said. “I’m still shaking,” Molishus said after the assembly at Goodnoe Elementary School in Newtown. “I’m just really honored because there are so many good teachers in our district. And the kids are still buzzing. It’s nice to share it with them.”
Per Milken rules, the awards must be kept secret until names are announced, so no one knew, officials said. So, when the entire school, including Molishus’ second-grade class, packed the school’s gym, the students and staff thought they were there for an assembly with the Pennsylvania Department of Education.
Instead officials called Molishus’ name.
“I really like to celebrate all students,” said Molishus, 39, of Churchville. “I enjoy learning with them, sharing in their excitement and trying different things like technology. It’s important to integrate that into programs because the children become so engaged and learn valuable lessons. It’s fun to come to school.”
Each year, the grants are given to teachers and principals in an attempt to attract, develop, motivate and retain talented educators. While they are ceremoniously presented with large checks during the school-wide assemblies, the teachers get the real money in Los Angeles, Calif., in April.
The winners can use the money any way they want. Previous recipients have paid for their children’s or their own education, purchased equipment for their schools, established scholarships and funded adoptions, officials said.
“There are so many good things that teachers are doing aside from one award,” said Molishus, mother of two daughters. “It’s really important to show that teachers are doing wonderful things, and that’s the point of Milken.”
In the early 1980s, education reform pioneer Lowell Milken created the awards program to acknowledge educators. Since then, more than 2,300 kindergarten through 12th-grade teachers nationwide have been recognized, according to foundation representatives.
The educators are unknowingly nominated by a blue-ribbon panel in their state. They must demonstrate the following: effective instructional practices, accomplishments beyond the classroom, leadership and motivation, administrators said.
Most recently, Molishus said she and her pupils presented a video conference with five other schools.
She said she doesn’t yet know how she’ll use the money, or celebrate her award.
“Maybe I’ll cancel homework tonight,” Molishus said.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
What Does A Superintendent Do?
From the Richmond (Va.) Times Dispatch
Do schools need superintendents: It's a Calling, Not Just a Job
By STEWART D. ROBERSON, TIMES-DISPATCH COLUMNIST, Sunday, Nov 09, 2008 - 12:05 AM
As two of the four school boards in the metro Richmond area search for new public school superintendents, I have been asked to provide some perspectives about the role American of the superintendent in a modern school district today. I welcome this opportunity to share some thoughts about the complex nature of this key leadership position while noting that the relationship superintendents in Richmond enjoy as colleagues can be fairly characterized as a model of regional collaboration.
The success of our relationship is found in how we share many common experiences and beliefs as the chief executive officers and chief educational leaders of the school districts and communities we serve.
How has the role of superintendent evolved through the history of public education?
Since its introduction in the early 1800s, the position has evolved incrementally, becoming more extensive, complex, and demanding. The phases of evolution have included emphases upon the superintendent as teacher-scholar, organizational manager, democratic statesman, applied social scientist, and communicator. It is safe to assume that, today, all of these skills can be called upon any day of any year.
Twenty-first century superintendents receive great scrutiny from parents, teachers, board members, and elected officials. They are held responsible for the progress and achievement of students in their district's schools. The superintendent who is effective is one who finds this scrutiny and accountability personally and professionally fulfilling.
As a constitutional officer, the superintendent is the chief executive of the school board and the CEO of the large enterprise called a school district. The school board is the board of directors and sets the tone for the teamwork, which is essential for a productive school board/superintendent relationship. For this relationship to be most trusting and effective, the board embraces its policymaking role while supporting the superintendent as the chief executive, as stated in the state's and school board's job description for superintendents.
How is a superintendent like a chief executive officer?
A school district is often the largest and most complex business in the community -- transporting more people than public transportation, feeding more people than all the restaurants in the community combined, managing more square footage than most of the businesses in the community, and processing, literally, millions of e-mails daily. A school district is frequently the largest employer in the community. It is positioned, too, as the largest educational services provider -- which is, of course, our central mission.
How is the superintendent a chief educational leader?
Clearly, the educational leader role is the one which makes the superintendent position unique in our society. Effective superintendents view the position as a calling, not just a job. The opportunity to lead a school district stirs a passion. Few roles in our society offer this opportunity to help children plan for a future in which the ideals and needs of individual learners, this nation and, increasingly, our world, are advanced.
While a school district will always be a direct reflection of the community it serves, the superintendent's role is to help envision what "could be," consistent with the values and aspirations of the community. Indeed, superintendents believe that public education is the bedrock of American democracy.
A leading educator once said, "If you think you're powerful, you're delusional. However, as superintendent, you are in a position to make inherently powerful connections." A superintendent who is functioning at a high level is playing the role of democratic leader, even at a time when there is a complex mix of changing values and economic realities.
The superintendent is expected to form fruitful relationships with countless stakeholders simultaneously, while embracing the diversity of backgrounds, thoughts, and needs found in the community. Superintendents with an eye on the locality's future see themselves as accepting a moral responsibility, working to master the skills of connection, communication, collaboration, community building, child advocacy, and curricular choices.
How do you do what you do?
I perceive sometimes that others are glad that they are not expected to manage the complexities of an educational enterprise. Indeed, some acknowledge that the required time, energy, human process management, and ambiguity tolerance, particularly in politically charged and high-stakes testing arenas, would be extremely frustrating to them if they were expected to lead in the public domain.
Sometimes, folks argue that their notions of quick fixes can be panaceas to complex educational challenges. I frequently assert that "flash-in-the-pan" decision-making is usually successful only at capturing, momentarily, the public's awe. It rarely, if ever, results in long-term, positive institutional change.
A successful superintendent knows that he/she must bring a skill set which is focused upon balancing the influences of stability and change, requiring the commitment of considerable physical and mental energy, and recognizing that true, positive change occurs if the superintendent stays in place for several years, while always nurturing a culture of continuous improvement across the community.
Finally -- and most importantly -- a superintendent, like any human being, relies heavily upon the love and support of his/her own family to strike a healthy personal balance while performing this 24/7 role.
How do you make decisions?
Our most visible decisions as superintendents (such as closing schools on snow days) are those that have an immediate impact upon families and the regional economy. My favorite explanation of how such decisions are made is that I rely upon faith, intuition, and a great staff to accumulate the best available data to make the right decisions at the right time in support of our children and colleagues.
Effective decisions made for the long-term, though, must include the entire community's voice and a vigorous consensus if we want to truly make a difference in the lives of all the children whom we are called to serve.
Do schools need superintendents: It's a Calling, Not Just a Job
By STEWART D. ROBERSON, TIMES-DISPATCH COLUMNIST, Sunday, Nov 09, 2008 - 12:05 AM
As two of the four school boards in the metro Richmond area search for new public school superintendents, I have been asked to provide some perspectives about the role American of the superintendent in a modern school district today. I welcome this opportunity to share some thoughts about the complex nature of this key leadership position while noting that the relationship superintendents in Richmond enjoy as colleagues can be fairly characterized as a model of regional collaboration.
The success of our relationship is found in how we share many common experiences and beliefs as the chief executive officers and chief educational leaders of the school districts and communities we serve.
How has the role of superintendent evolved through the history of public education?
Since its introduction in the early 1800s, the position has evolved incrementally, becoming more extensive, complex, and demanding. The phases of evolution have included emphases upon the superintendent as teacher-scholar, organizational manager, democratic statesman, applied social scientist, and communicator. It is safe to assume that, today, all of these skills can be called upon any day of any year.
Twenty-first century superintendents receive great scrutiny from parents, teachers, board members, and elected officials. They are held responsible for the progress and achievement of students in their district's schools. The superintendent who is effective is one who finds this scrutiny and accountability personally and professionally fulfilling.
As a constitutional officer, the superintendent is the chief executive of the school board and the CEO of the large enterprise called a school district. The school board is the board of directors and sets the tone for the teamwork, which is essential for a productive school board/superintendent relationship. For this relationship to be most trusting and effective, the board embraces its policymaking role while supporting the superintendent as the chief executive, as stated in the state's and school board's job description for superintendents.
How is a superintendent like a chief executive officer?
A school district is often the largest and most complex business in the community -- transporting more people than public transportation, feeding more people than all the restaurants in the community combined, managing more square footage than most of the businesses in the community, and processing, literally, millions of e-mails daily. A school district is frequently the largest employer in the community. It is positioned, too, as the largest educational services provider -- which is, of course, our central mission.
How is the superintendent a chief educational leader?
Clearly, the educational leader role is the one which makes the superintendent position unique in our society. Effective superintendents view the position as a calling, not just a job. The opportunity to lead a school district stirs a passion. Few roles in our society offer this opportunity to help children plan for a future in which the ideals and needs of individual learners, this nation and, increasingly, our world, are advanced.
While a school district will always be a direct reflection of the community it serves, the superintendent's role is to help envision what "could be," consistent with the values and aspirations of the community. Indeed, superintendents believe that public education is the bedrock of American democracy.
A leading educator once said, "If you think you're powerful, you're delusional. However, as superintendent, you are in a position to make inherently powerful connections." A superintendent who is functioning at a high level is playing the role of democratic leader, even at a time when there is a complex mix of changing values and economic realities.
The superintendent is expected to form fruitful relationships with countless stakeholders simultaneously, while embracing the diversity of backgrounds, thoughts, and needs found in the community. Superintendents with an eye on the locality's future see themselves as accepting a moral responsibility, working to master the skills of connection, communication, collaboration, community building, child advocacy, and curricular choices.
How do you do what you do?
I perceive sometimes that others are glad that they are not expected to manage the complexities of an educational enterprise. Indeed, some acknowledge that the required time, energy, human process management, and ambiguity tolerance, particularly in politically charged and high-stakes testing arenas, would be extremely frustrating to them if they were expected to lead in the public domain.
Sometimes, folks argue that their notions of quick fixes can be panaceas to complex educational challenges. I frequently assert that "flash-in-the-pan" decision-making is usually successful only at capturing, momentarily, the public's awe. It rarely, if ever, results in long-term, positive institutional change.
A successful superintendent knows that he/she must bring a skill set which is focused upon balancing the influences of stability and change, requiring the commitment of considerable physical and mental energy, and recognizing that true, positive change occurs if the superintendent stays in place for several years, while always nurturing a culture of continuous improvement across the community.
Finally -- and most importantly -- a superintendent, like any human being, relies heavily upon the love and support of his/her own family to strike a healthy personal balance while performing this 24/7 role.
How do you make decisions?
Our most visible decisions as superintendents (such as closing schools on snow days) are those that have an immediate impact upon families and the regional economy. My favorite explanation of how such decisions are made is that I rely upon faith, intuition, and a great staff to accumulate the best available data to make the right decisions at the right time in support of our children and colleagues.
Effective decisions made for the long-term, though, must include the entire community's voice and a vigorous consensus if we want to truly make a difference in the lives of all the children whom we are called to serve.
Happy Veteran's Day!
Lost in the Election Day to Thanksgiving Day rush is Veteran's Day. It's usually defined by the consumer bargains available to the pre-pre-Christmas shopper.
Today is the 90th anniversary of the end of the first "war to end all wars". OK, we all know how that turned out, but let's pause to remember the sacrifices made by that generation of American warriors and all the generations past, present, and, unfortunately, future.
Here's a story from CNN where a photographer is racing time in an effort to photograph surviving WWI vets across the world. Only ten remaining veterans are known to still live.
Are you happy living in America where we still have some Constitutionally protected freedoms? Then go thank a vet.
Photographer races clock to honor last few World War I vets
(CNN) -- Photographer David DeJonge plans to capture a vanishing bit of history Tuesday on a trip to Arlington National Cemetery near Washington.
There he hopes to photograph 107-year-old Frank Buckles -- one of the few men still alive who fought in World War I. Buckles will lay a wreath at the grave of Gen. John J. "Black Jack" Pershing, who led U.S. forces in Europe in World War I.
The visit comes 90 years to the day after the end of World War I, an occasion that led to Veteran's Day in the United States and Armistice Day in other nations.
For DeJonge, it's a poignant reminder that time is running out in his quest to find and photograph the few surviving veterans of the war, which raged from 1914 to 1918.
"In my view, America has missed the boat in documenting this part of history," said DeJonge, a portrait photographer from Zeeland, Michigan. "It was such a pivotal moment in global history."
He has raced the clock for the last two years to photograph the dwindling number of surviving World War I veterans, a mission he embraces with a keen appreciation for the ticking clock: Eight of 12 veterans he has photographed in the last two years are now dead.
"It's a tragic loss - a tragic loss for the project and for global history," he said. "These are the last breaths of the last souls who witnessed one of the most horrific wars this world has ever seen." Video Watch photo sessions with remaining veterans »
DeJonge knows of only 10 living veterans worldwide who fought during World War I.
Four live in Britain, two in Australia, two in France and two in the United States -- Buckles and 108-year-old John Babcock of Spokane, Washington, who served with Canadian forces during World War I, DeJong said.
Each week or month that passes, it seems, brings news of an aging veteran succumbing before DeJonge can find the time and money to photograph him.
Not long ago, he said, two Jamaicans who fought with the British during World War I died. The last known German, French and Austro-Hungarian veterans died in the last year as well.
"These are the last of the last," he said.
DeJonge said he first became interested in photographing war veterans in 1996, when he worked on a project to chronicle U.S. veterans of several wars. The subjects included two men who served during World War I.
He tried to interest a photography organization in a national project to document the remaining U.S. World War I vets -- about 600 were alive in the mid 1990s, DeJonge said -- but that didn't happen.
So he set out two years ago to try to do it on his own. DeJonge has received some financial help here and there, he said, but has paid most costs himself.
"I have paid about $100,000 of my own money," he said.
He spends about half his time at home in Michigan, taking photographs to earn his living. He spends the other half conducting research, traveling to points distant or photographing aging vets.
"I have an incredibly supportive wife," he said.
He is trying to find money and time to take pictures of two vets in Australia and two in France, he said. And he would love to check out unconfirmed reports of an elderly man in the Ukraine who says he served with the Russian military during what also is known as the "Great War" and "The War to End All Wars."
In March, he donated nine portraits of World War I vets that the Pentagon plans to display permanently. He traveled to Washington that month with Buckles, who drove an ambulance in Britain and France during the war as a corporal in the U.S. Army.
In a White House ceremony in March, President Bush paid tribute to Buckles, who said he lied about his age and enlisted at age 15.
"Mr. Buckles has a vivid recollection of historic times, and one way for me to honor the service of those who wore the uniform in the past and those who wear it today is to herald you, sir, and to thank you very much for your patriotism and your love for America," he said during the March ceremony.
DeJonge and Buckles plan to drive Tuesday from Buckles' cattle farm in Charles Town, West Virginia to Arlington National Cemetery near Washington.
The photographer said he feels "just an unbelievable respect" for men and women who served their country. And he savors the living history lessons they provide.
Today is the 90th anniversary of the end of the first "war to end all wars". OK, we all know how that turned out, but let's pause to remember the sacrifices made by that generation of American warriors and all the generations past, present, and, unfortunately, future.
Here's a story from CNN where a photographer is racing time in an effort to photograph surviving WWI vets across the world. Only ten remaining veterans are known to still live.
Are you happy living in America where we still have some Constitutionally protected freedoms? Then go thank a vet.
Photographer races clock to honor last few World War I vets
(CNN) -- Photographer David DeJonge plans to capture a vanishing bit of history Tuesday on a trip to Arlington National Cemetery near Washington.
There he hopes to photograph 107-year-old Frank Buckles -- one of the few men still alive who fought in World War I. Buckles will lay a wreath at the grave of Gen. John J. "Black Jack" Pershing, who led U.S. forces in Europe in World War I.
The visit comes 90 years to the day after the end of World War I, an occasion that led to Veteran's Day in the United States and Armistice Day in other nations.
For DeJonge, it's a poignant reminder that time is running out in his quest to find and photograph the few surviving veterans of the war, which raged from 1914 to 1918.
"In my view, America has missed the boat in documenting this part of history," said DeJonge, a portrait photographer from Zeeland, Michigan. "It was such a pivotal moment in global history."
He has raced the clock for the last two years to photograph the dwindling number of surviving World War I veterans, a mission he embraces with a keen appreciation for the ticking clock: Eight of 12 veterans he has photographed in the last two years are now dead.
"It's a tragic loss - a tragic loss for the project and for global history," he said. "These are the last breaths of the last souls who witnessed one of the most horrific wars this world has ever seen." Video Watch photo sessions with remaining veterans »
DeJonge knows of only 10 living veterans worldwide who fought during World War I.
Four live in Britain, two in Australia, two in France and two in the United States -- Buckles and 108-year-old John Babcock of Spokane, Washington, who served with Canadian forces during World War I, DeJong said.
Each week or month that passes, it seems, brings news of an aging veteran succumbing before DeJonge can find the time and money to photograph him.
Not long ago, he said, two Jamaicans who fought with the British during World War I died. The last known German, French and Austro-Hungarian veterans died in the last year as well.
"These are the last of the last," he said.
DeJonge said he first became interested in photographing war veterans in 1996, when he worked on a project to chronicle U.S. veterans of several wars. The subjects included two men who served during World War I.
He tried to interest a photography organization in a national project to document the remaining U.S. World War I vets -- about 600 were alive in the mid 1990s, DeJonge said -- but that didn't happen.
So he set out two years ago to try to do it on his own. DeJonge has received some financial help here and there, he said, but has paid most costs himself.
"I have paid about $100,000 of my own money," he said.
He spends about half his time at home in Michigan, taking photographs to earn his living. He spends the other half conducting research, traveling to points distant or photographing aging vets.
"I have an incredibly supportive wife," he said.
He is trying to find money and time to take pictures of two vets in Australia and two in France, he said. And he would love to check out unconfirmed reports of an elderly man in the Ukraine who says he served with the Russian military during what also is known as the "Great War" and "The War to End All Wars."
In March, he donated nine portraits of World War I vets that the Pentagon plans to display permanently. He traveled to Washington that month with Buckles, who drove an ambulance in Britain and France during the war as a corporal in the U.S. Army.
In a White House ceremony in March, President Bush paid tribute to Buckles, who said he lied about his age and enlisted at age 15.
"Mr. Buckles has a vivid recollection of historic times, and one way for me to honor the service of those who wore the uniform in the past and those who wear it today is to herald you, sir, and to thank you very much for your patriotism and your love for America," he said during the March ceremony.
DeJonge and Buckles plan to drive Tuesday from Buckles' cattle farm in Charles Town, West Virginia to Arlington National Cemetery near Washington.
The photographer said he feels "just an unbelievable respect" for men and women who served their country. And he savors the living history lessons they provide.
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