Summer Fun

This summer I have spent a lot of time with Professional Development. I am also exploring a new area of certification . Presently, I am certified in Elementary Education. I am exploring adding deaf education. I 'm researching what is involved now. Of course, there is a lot of information to review. I will let you know how this develops.

Updates

It is summer and school it out. So I have some time off. I worked this past year as substitute teacher so I will spend this summer taking Professional Development Courses. I am currently trying to decide which area of specialization, I will be most effective in. I am seriously considering the area of Special Education -Deaf Education. Even though I have suffered with astigmatism since I was 6 years old, I have never had severe visual impairment. And I feel I could make a difference working with deaf students. I will see how things develop. I will have the summer to decide.

February Update

It is the middle of February, it will soon be Valentine's Day as well as today is Lincoln's Birthday. Monday is President's Day and this morning, I have been watching a lot of information about President Lincoln and comparing him to President Obama. Since I am working as a substitute teacher now as well as an after school instructor, I still have some days off. I had hoped to have an assignment today, but I did enjoy watching Soledad O'Brien on CNN this morning. I also enjoyed watching Dr. Gates program last night on PBS "Looking for Lincoln ". Of course school will be closed on Monday so we will all have the opportunity to observe these men's accomplishments and pay respect to them. With so much emphasis on the Lincoln Memorial and President Lincoln since Barack Obama was elected President, it has caused me to think back on my 9Th grade trip to Washington and learning about Reconstruction in high school and the Civil War and that time period. As a fourteen year old, I was in awe of the large monument to Lincoln when I visited Washington. We entered the building at dusk because even though it was a 4 day trip in the spring it seemed as if every monument had some type of renovation going on. Finally after spending all day at the Washington Monument and not being able to fully view it because of the tremendous amount of construction and renovations going on, we went to Mount Vernon, and then to Arlington. We were tired and some kids left the group before we went to the Lincoln Memorial. But I stayed and we finally got in at almost dark The statue seemed so large in the evening and almost life like even though it was stone. It was a very special moment to a very busy day. I remembered reading about Frederick Douglas and Abraham Lincoln's famous meetings, the Lincoln- Douglas -Debates, the way the Civil War personally struck the Lincoln family because Mrs. Lincoln had family members living in the South. Lincoln was always a fascinating person to study. I enjoyed it and continued to read about him independently outside of school. I can relate to President Obama's personal attachment to him even though we discuss more openly the complexities of his presidency and his life today. Hopefully, I will have more substitute assignments but I did enjoy spending the day thinking about Lincoln.