Thought provoking Thought

Sphere: Related Content "If you are living out of a sense of obligation you are slave." - Dr. Wayne Dyer

A Column By Richard Reynolds

Sphere: Related Content Autographs Written by Richard Reynolds Commentary from Richard Reynolds At birth every person has a clean slate with the ability to do something great. Some people would say that there are social and economic factors that prevent a person from achieving great things. I believe just the opposite that one can add value to their name through the life that they live. Last summer, my son and I participated in the Southeastern Conference Football Media Days at the Wynfrey Hotel in Birmingham. "Participating" may be stretching things because it was more like asking for autographs and allowing my son the opportunity to meet some famous and not so famous sports leaders. At that time the season was just starting with great promise for every team, every coach and every institution. Every autograph, one could say, had equal value and what made the difference in the value would be the coming performance of each individual. Isn't that like life? We each start out on equal footing given a name at birth. The value of that name is determined not by what our parents or grandparents did but will be determined by the legacy of the life that we live. What is your name worth? Here the term "worth" has no relationship to money but has the connotation of the value of one's life because of the good that one has contributed to this world. What have you contributed , what are you contributing to this world and what will you contribute in the future? Above is a column written by Richard Reynolds the writer of this blog. It is posted at www.claynews.net The small paper uses this as an avenue to compete with the larger papers with news in between its editions.

Quote to Ponder

Sphere: Related Content "Life is a play. It's not its length, but its performance that counts." - Seneca

Helping a student make the transition from school to the work world...

Sphere: Related ContentTips for Completing an Employment Application Gone are the days that you clean yourself up, make a trip to the downtown corporate office and complete the employment application with paper and pen, hoping to make a great impression on the receptionist so she will tell the recruiter how sharp you looked and how wonderful you sounded. Things have definitely changed. No more paper applications or resumes printed on white paper, or early visits to the company’s recruiting office. Now, we have to impress companies on-line with our computer skills. So if you have just found yourself in the job market again or maybe it is the first time you have ever completed an application, you will want to start to think about some of the things listed below: 1. It is time to gather facts. Write information down so that you will have it available each time you complete an application. Some things you will want to write down will be:Employment history including company names, addresses, telephone numbers, managers’ names and dates of employment.Volunteer work history with professional or community organizations including the organization’s name, address, telephone numbers, dates of service and the names and contact information of some of the organization officers with whom you worked.Personal and professional references including names, addresses, telephone numbers and email addresses.Personal information such as education. 2. Decide which companies you want to work for, do some internet research and get to know what those companies have to offer, and then decide what you can offer those companies. Many people say there are lots of jobs “out there,” but there is still a great deal of competition for the really good jobs. Your job is to explain clearly why you are the best candidate for their jobs. 3. Check the names on all your email accounts to be sure they sound professional. When you were in school it may have been fun to have a cute email account name. But employers will not be very impressed by some of the names that were cute to you in school. Remember, you are trying to convince the company that you are the best professional employee they can find. 4. What does your blog or other networking sites say about you? Like it or not, more and more companies are researching your blogs to learn more about you. Some comments and pictures will not be the sort of things you want a future employer to see. 5. Read the instructions on the application carefully and follow them exactly. Not only do the hiring managers use the employment application as a means to find out employment information, they are also seeing how you work. If you have many words misspelled, use poor English, or don’t complete the application thoroughly, then they may think that is how you will do the work if you come to work for them. 6. Be neat and thorough with your answers, and be honest. 7. What you put on this application will be the first time the recruiter has a look at what you have to offer and will decide if you are a good match for the position you are applying for. 8. If you are allowed to attach a resume to the application do that also, because sometimes the resume will give more information than you put on the employment application. 9. Complete the application in detail. The hiring manager may not look at your resume or call you if they are not impressed with your application. Avoid saying “see resume” because the recruiter may just skip to the next application. Make the recruiter’s job easier if you want to get the job of your dreams!

The Changing Landscape of Education

Sphere: Related ContentThe Department of Education reports that between 1994 and 2004, the number of English language learners (ELLs) increased in the United States by 65 percent. With the U.S. Census projecting the country’s population to swell to over 415 million by 2050, the number of ELLs will rise.

Safety in the school ...is it possible?

January 17, 2008 from wvgazzette.com Unions suggest path to safer schools By Davin WhiteStaff writer West Virginia teachers and bus drivers are no longer safe on the job, and lawmakers should work to correct dangerous school environments, union groups say. The American Federation of Teachers-West Virginia and the state School Service Personnel Association on Wednesday recommended ways to fix discipline problems, based on a recent survey of service workers and teachers. More than half of those surveyed said they have felt intimidated by a student’s behavior while on the job. Staffers also said the problems are worst at middle and junior high schools. Of those surveyed, 83 percent agreed there needs to be stronger discipline policies or better enforcement. The problems extend beyond the classroom, officials say. “It’s also a problem on our school buses, in our cafeteria, in our hallways,” said Bob Brown, executive secretary of the service personnel group. Judy Hale, president of AFT-West Virginia, said federal law also leads to weak reporting of a school’s discipline problems. No Child Left Behind, the law that guides public schools, flags schools with recurring discipline problems, leading school administrators to underreport real problems, she said. Delegate Ricky Moye, D-Raleigh, has been a school bus driver for nearly three decades. He said that almost any problems he has on the bus could be handled with the child or the parent. “It’s the student that is constantly, every day, doing things” who causes the most problems, he said. The union leaders have four recommendations. Students should be exposed to a bill of rights and responsibilities that outlines what is expected of them. State lawmakers should urge or require that local school districts hold at least two town hall-style meetings a year to draw solutions from parents, students, school employees and others. Also, the unions want principals and school administrators held accountable if they fail to follow the law regarding student discipline. Teachers and service workers would have oversight of a principal’s performance. In place of habitual, off-and-on suspensions for disruptive students, the unions want more alternative schools or placement options to help correct a student’s behavior problems. With the last recommendation, Hale asked lawmakers to dedicate some new money. Gov. Joe Manchin noted in his State of the State address that he wants a commission to determine how best to correct school discipline problems. Lara Ramsburg, a spokeswoman for Manchin, said the commission would have one main objective: “How do we change [the situation] to be the most effective and really make a difference?” The commission also will look at new alternative settings, which Manchin said last year he supported. In November, he heard directly from teachers at an education forum at the Charleston Civic Center. Teachers from across the state sounded off about their dangerous classrooms and failed discipline policies. Manchin also wants to revoke the driver’s license of students who do not maintain a “C” average. Hale said that won’t help in middle schools. To contact staff writer Davin White, use e-mail or call 348-1254. Click to Search for Related Stories in our Library Talk Back: [write to the editor] Sphere: Related Content

Rigor in the classroom and not watering things down is the key to a better education...

Sphere: Related Content New York Times January 17, 2008 Urban Schools Aiming Higher Than Diploma By SARA RIMER BOSTON — At Excel High School, in South Boston, teachers do not just prepare students academically for the SAT; they take them on practice walks to the building where the SAT will be given so they won’t get lost on the day of the test. In Chattanooga, Tenn., the schools have abolished their multitrack curriculum, which pointed only a fraction of students toward college. Every student is now on a college track. And in the Washington suburb of Prince George’s County, Md., the school district is arranging college tours for students as early as seventh grade, and adding eight core Advanced Placement classes to every high school, including some schools that had none. Those efforts, and others across the country, reflect a growing sense of urgency among educators that the primary goal of many large high schools serving low-income and urban populations — to move students toward graduation — is no longer enough. Now, educators say, even as they struggle to lift dismal high school graduation rates, they must also prepare the students for college, or some form of post-secondary school training, with the skills to succeed. In affluent suburbs, where college admission is an obsession, some educators worry that high schools, with their rigorous college preparatory curriculums, have become too academically demanding in recent years. By contrast, many urban and low-income districts, which also serve many immigrants, are experimenting with ways to teach more than the basic skills so that their students can not only get to college, but earn college degrees. Some states have begun to strengthen their graduation requirements. “This is transformational change,” said Dan Challener, the president of the Public Education Foundation, a Chattanooga group that is working with the area public schools. “It’s about the purpose of high school. It’s about reinventing what high schools do.” What is required, educators say, is nothing less than revolutionizing schools built for another century, when a high school diploma was a ticket to social mobility in a manufacturing economy, and students with only basic skills could make it into the middle class. But the task is daunting, and the outcome uncertain, experts say. “We don’t know yet how to get everyone in our society to this level of knowledge and skills,” said Michele Cahill, a vice president at the Carnegie Corporation, which, along with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, is financing many of the new efforts. “We’ve never done it before.” Although federal studies show that most students yearn for a college degree, each year tens of thousands will not even make it through high school. In New York City, for example, roughly half the students complete high school though the new small high schools have shown substantial improvement in graduation rates. Of the 68 percent of high school students nationwide who go to college each year, about a third will need remedial courses, experts say. For various reasons, from financial to a lack of academic preparedness, thousands of low-income students drop out of college each year. Fewer than 18 percent of African-Americans and just 11 percent of Hispanics earn a bachelor’s degree, compared with almost a third of whites, ages 25 to 29, experts say. Of families making less than $25,000 a year, 19 percent complete an associate degree or higher, compared with 76 percent of families earning $76,000 per year or more. The innovations range from creating high schools that offer an opportunity to take college courses for credit, to devoting senior English classes to writing college application essays, and holding parties to celebrate students who complete them. New York City has a $10 million grant from the Carnegie Corporation to develop extensive college counseling and connections with higher education institutions at 70 small high schools and three redesigned large ones. Although affluent suburban schools have been increasing academic rigor in recent years, many large urban schools have been organized around the same low academic expectations for nearly three decades, experts say. When these schools opened their doors about a hundred years ago, relatively few teenagers even went to high school, education historians say. Enrollment in high school was not universal until the end of the 1950s. By the 1970s, academic standards were being lowered to make it easier to move large numbers students of different abilities toward the diploma that was considered sufficient education for most, the historians say. Today, however, some states are putting in place more rigorous high school exit exams, and students understand that a diploma no longer provides entry to the middle class. Over the past two decades, the percentage of low-income students who say they want a four-year degree or higher has tripled, rising to 66.2 percent in 2002, from 19.4 percent in 1980, according to federal statistics. And parents are stoking their children’s hopes. “Parents are coming home every day and saying, ‘I’m working and sacrificing so that you can do better than me,’ ” said Melissa Roderick, a co-director of the Consortium on Chicago School Research at the University of Chicago. “Parents want the same thing parents in the past wanted,” Professor Roderick said. “They want their kids to be middle class. The problem is that the economy has changed, so doing better now means going to college. And someone has to help them figure out how to do this because the parents don’t know themselves.” John Deasy, superintendent of public schools in Prince George’s County, said that he wants the students in his overwhelmingly low-income and minority district to have the same academic advantages as students in, say, Greenwich, Conn. So the district has added eight Advanced Placement classes to all 23 high schools, including some in schools that had never offered one. The one high school that has drawn students from the upper middle class already had 26 A.P. classes. “For a long time we believed in the ‘some kids’ agenda,” Dr. Deasy said. “Some kids will go to college, some kids will go to the work force, some kids can go to the military. That’s garbage. We believe that every kid can learn at a high level and that college is for every child.” He added, “If a student chooses not to go to college, that is O.K.” Many of the new efforts involve building close relationships with local higher education institutions. North Carolina, for example, is creating 70 new “early college” high schools, where students can take college classes. A new ritual in Boston schools is College Month, which culminated last fall in “Represent Your Alma Mater Day,” when teachers from kindergarten to high school wore their college T-shirts to work. At Brighton High in Boston, for the first time this year, John Travers, the head of counseling, and his staff visited every freshman English class to begin mapping out the steps toward college: Maintaining a high grade point average. Taking tough classes. Building a résumé. After Mr. Travers’s pitch, 14-year-old Katherine Nunez, who juggles her homework with helping her Dominican immigrant parents at their convenience store, said she was determined to make the honor roll. “My parents talk about it every day — the economy, money makes the world go round,” she said. “If I want to be successful, I have to go to college.” In 2005, 74.2 percent of the graduating seniors went on to post-secondary education: of those, 56 percent went to four-year colleges, 33 percent to two-year schools and 11 percent to advanced training, Mr. Travers said. The colleges at the top of the list: Bunker Hill Community College, the University of Massachusetts at Boston and Massachusetts Bay Community College. Mr. Travers leads students on trips to colleges many of them pass every day on the “T” to high school, but have never visited. “We all went to Bentley on the bus together,” said Rashell Wilson, 18, vice president of Brighton’s senior class. “We had a beautiful tour.” Ms. Wilson and her classmates ride the T over an hour after school to nonprofit programs where they get extra help with tutoring, and with their college applications. They take free SAT prep classes at night. Ms. Wilson is the daughter of Jamaican immigrants. Her mother is a nursing assistant. Her father works in maintenance. “My parents instilled in me from Day One, ‘You’re going to college,’ ” she said. But her parents, she added, have not been to college and so cannot help her figure out how to get there. So she has enlisted the help of her guidance counselor and teachers, her co-workers at the Boston law firm where she has an internship, and any other college-educated adult she can find. She has spent hours researching college admissions on the College Board Web site. “I want a whole lot more,” Ms. Wilson said. “I want to be financially stable. I don’t want to be struggling on $30,000 a year.”

Working Together for the Good of Students and the Community

Sphere: Related ContentLeadership Networking: Relate, Collaborate, and Get Things Done- Second in a series...Relationship Skills Can Be Learned Effective relationships allow leaders to accomplish more than they can alone. So what can you do to build and improve relationships at work? Here are ten behaviors that will make a difference. Choose the positive. Good relationships are based on handling problems in a positive way. Avoid creating adversarial relationships or alienating others. Be a diplomat. Negotiating, giving feedback, sharing news and making decisions all require good timing and common sense. Be mindful of the whole picture and make your points at the most appropriate time. Find common ground. Shared goals, similar challenges or areas of agreement are great starting points for accomplishing work and building relationships. Work to find common ground when dealing with conflict or complexity. Keep cool. Can you handle an unfair attack from peers with poise? Are you steady when tensions are high? Keep your cool and avoid being defensive or counter-attacking. Avoid isolation. Don't limit your associations and relationships. Learn to relate to all kinds of individuals tactfully, from shop floor to top executives. Find ways to talk with staff members who are older or more experienced than you, as well as those who are younger. Expand your view. Strive to understand others' perspectives and needs. Listen. Active listening is essential. Listen carefully to different peoples' needs at all levels in the organization - both when things are going well and when they are not. Share information. Communicate well and communicate often. Keep people informed of future changes that may impact them. Involve others. Encourage direct reports to share ideas and information. Involve others in the beginning stages of an initiative or decision. Work to gain commitment of others before implementing changes. Your relationships will improve when people are motivated to work together. Be realistic. Recognize that every decision has conflicting interests and constituencies. Good relationships won't prevent conflict or disagreement. However, with strong relationships, you can work through challenges from a platform of cooperation, trust and respect. Keep It Simple When it comes to relationships, sometimes a small change makes a big difference. You can begin to build more effective relationships if you choose to: Be aware. Start paying attention to how you interact with coworkers. When you start to look at your relationships, you can begin to see the effect your behaviors have on those around you. Be present. Don't stay in your world and wait for people to come to you.Walk around, shake hands and get to know people. Ask them what they are working on or how they are doing. Be human. Listen to people and engage them on a personal level. Be genuine and open with others by sharing information about yourself.

Young Son of Birmingham Radio Host Drowns

Sphere: Related ContentYoung Son Of Birmingham Radio Host Drowns In Swimming Pool Sunday, Jan 20, 2008 - 07:32 PM By Associated Press BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) - The 2-year-old son of a popular Birmingham radio personality has drowned in a residential swimming pool in Shelby County.In a statement, Sheriff Chris Curry says the child, William Bronner Burgess, the youngest son of Rick and Bubba Show co-host Rick Burgess, was pronounced dead last night at Children's Hospital.Shelby County 911 received a report at 7:24 p.m. Saturday of a possible drowning, according to the sheriff. Deputies and North Shelby Fire and Emergency Medical personnel responded to a house on Indian Crest Drive in Indian Springs Village.The sheriff says a preliminary investigation indicates that this is a tragic accident and he extended "deepest sympathy" to the Burgess family.

What is in your vocabulary?

Sphere: Related Content We use words and phrases without realizing what we saying many times...how many cliches do you use? Or how many "buzz" words do you use which have long ago lost their effectiveness and meaning? Today's post is short with the point of allowing the words to penetrate the grey matter between our ears. Notice that it is not the length of the words but the quality of the words used that matters! For the quality to be there the brain must be activated...is yours activated or is it on "cruise control?" Read these and see the impact that a few well chosen words can have... The three great essentials to achieve anything worth while are, first, hard work; second, stick-to-itiveness; third, common sense." --Thomas Edison,inventor and businessman One of the hardest tasks of leadership is understanding that you are not what you are, but what you're perceived to be by others." --Edward L. Flom,CEO of Florida Steel Do what you feel in your heart to be right -- for you'll be criticized anyway. " --Eleanor Roosevelt,former first lady and American political leader If toast always lands butter-side down, and cats always land on their feet, what happens if you strap toast on the back of a cat and drop it?" --Steven Wright, comedian, actor

Sphere: Related Content “True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others at whatever cost.”-Arthur Ashe

Vocabulary Power Word- teach to your family!

Sphere: Related Content Bellicose (BEL-ih-kohs) adj. - belligerent, ready to make war Example: The jeering, BELLICOSE crowd demanded the coach's retirement.

How Podcasting works...

Sphere: Related ContentPodcasting...What's all the Hype? by Tammy Munson Podcasting . . . . What's all the hype? Well, podcasting can get confusing easily, that's for sure. However, really it's a lot simpler than one thinks in the beginning. Podcasting is simply a means by which to distribute audio or video files. Podcasting actually came from the words broadcast and Ipod because of the popularity of the Ipod and this being a new way that information and music was being broadcast to the world. Podcasts are dispensed over the Internet. These can be radio shows or video productions. The podcasts are placed online where they can be downloaded or listened to via a virtual player such as a multimedia player either on the website itself or on a person's personal computer. Many people also download the files and then transfer them to a MP3 player such as an Ipod. It is really quite easy and can be done without your having to do much of anything the computer and the Ipod recognize each other and actually sync up on their own. Podcasts also give you the ability to subscribe to them and in some cases can even be downloaded automatically on a schedule through a podcast feed. One of the ways to do this is with a program such as Itunes. Itunes gives you the ability to search their database of podcasts and find something in your area of interest to download. You then subscribe to the feed and automatically get a new file when the podcast feed is updated. There are podcasts out there on virtually every topic from parenting to car repair. Most podcast are done by ordinary people on topics that they are passionate about, many podcast are talk show style but there are also music podcasts out there as well. Many well-known people are now also using podcasts to advertise and promote themselves, their platform or even their products or services. It is much easier than one might think to record and create your own audio podcast. If you have a low end, inexpensive microphone you can easily record digital audio via your personal computer. A recording software is also useful, and there are free versions such as Audacity available online for download. This software allows you to quite easily edit the audio and then to save it and export it as an MP3 file for use elsewhere. If you already have a website you might also already have server space available or you can purchase space to house your audio files on a website such as Audio Acrobat. Finally, an RSS feed is created for the files and a download link is made available where others can download and/or listen to the audio online. Podcasting a fast growing phenomenon that almost anyone can take advantage of...and that's what all the hype is about! Filed under: Entrepreneurship , Internet Website Profile About Tammy Munson Tammy Munson, owner of New Media VA, is a work at home mom to 2 girls, ages 9 and 6, and proud Army wife to her husband SPC Munson. She and her family reside near Alexandria, VA. She is co-owner of Business and Learning and co-organizer of the WAH Expo. To find out more information about her, please go to www.tammymunson.com

How people learn best

Sphere: Related Content I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand." - Chinese Proverb

Parents are from Mars, Teachers are from Venus

From Teachers Magazine January 3, 2008 Published: January 2, 2008 Parents Are From Mars, Teachers Are From Venus Sphere: Related Content I had a great idea the other day. I figure that if someone can make millions by writing a book attempting to explain the complex inner workings of the relationship between men and women, I can make a mint trying to explain the equally complex relationship between parents and teachers. Right? So I wandered over to the Self-Help section of the local bookstore and spent a few minutes browsing through the classic Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus looking for ideas. The first thing I noticed was the book's subtitle: A Practical Guide for Improving Communication and Getting What You Want in Your Relationships. How perfect is that?! Teachers and parents across America will flock to the shelves if I can somehow help them to "get what they want" out of one another, right? And isn't communication the hardest part of the school-child relationship that we share? I've never met a teacher who hasn't been mystified by the actions of a parent at least once a year, and I'm pretty sure that parents can say the same about teachers. Let's face it: We're two of the most complicated groups of people to understand—and for $29.95, I'm willing to be your guide! As part of a new partnership, teachermagazine.org publishes this regular column by members of the Teacher Leaders Network, a professional community of accomplished educators dedicated to sharing ideas and expanding the influence of teachers. After browsing witty chapter titles like "Men Are Like Rubberbands," and "Women are Like Waves," I found what is going to be the title of the first chapter in my book: "Scoring Points With the Opposite Group." My publisher—i.e., the guy down the hall with the only working printer in his room—tells me I should share some of my ideas here to "prime the marketplace." He seems to believe that my book will spread like wildfire through a word-of-mouth, grassroots buying campaign after y'all get a taste of what I've got to offer. So here's an early draft of the key ideas in my first chapter. Scoring Points with Parents (Target Audience: Teachers) Parents rarely intend to be the red-eyed, flame-breathing creatures that you see in your nightmares. There are several things you can do as a teacher if you are hoping to have a positive working relationship with the parents of your students. Begin by: • Recognizing that parents are valuable partners. Do you realize how much collective knowledge parents have about their children? They have spent years nurturing and supporting the students that you've sometimes just met! Yet teachers often overlook parents during the course of the school year. Make an attempt to involve parents in meaningful ways in the education of their children. Ask for their thoughts and advice. Empower them to help make important decisions. Recognize them as experts and treat them as respected equals. Not only will you score points, you'll learn valuable information that will help you to do your job better. • Communicating early and often. All parents are passionate about their children. They want to know what their strengths and weaknesses are. They want to know what is being learned in class and what assignments need to be completed. They want to know how to extend and enrich learning at home, yet often the only source of information is a cryptic conversation with a distracted twelve-year-old—or worse yet, picking through the pile of papers in the bottom of a backpack. (It's grungy down there!) Work diligently to communicate with the parents of your students in meaningful ways. Send e-mails, create Web sites, and host parent nights. Make phone calls—to express concerns and celebrate successes—and you'll surely score points with parents. • Admitting your mistakes. Teachers make thousands of split-second decisions every single day. Who was pushing in the lunch line? Was a child being honest? Did students have enough time to complete their tests? Were the directions for assignments clear? Was I too harsh? There will be times when you make the wrong decision—after all, you're human and this job is hard! There is nothing more damaging to your relationship with parents than to deny this reality. When you make a mistake, apologize and move on. You'll retain the trust of your parents and your own integrity at the same time. Scoring Points with Teachers (Target Audience: Parents) Teachers are rarely the incompetent, bumbling scatterbrains that you see in your nightmares. There are several things that you can do as a parent if you are hoping to have a positive working experience with the teachers of your children. Begin by: • Recognizing that teachers are professionals. The old adage, "Those who can, do, and those who can't, teach," is not only insulting—it is inaccurate. Teachers are generally highly trained professionals with a deep understanding of the content they teach and the instructional methods to make that content approachable for students of different ability levels. While you may not always understand the decisions made by teachers, in the vast majority of cases you can trust their training and experience. You'll score points with your child's teacher by providing him or her the professional respect that you expect to be given in your workplace. • Giving your child's teacher the benefit of the doubt. There are going to be times each year that your child comes home distraught over the actions of a teacher. In any setting where human beings are together for six hours a day, there are bound to be disagreements. When this happens, begin by giving your child's teacher the benefit of the doubt! Make an appointment to hear what happened from the teacher's perspective. You'll sometimes find that your child's version of events was not a "complete disclosure" of the situation, and together you can work out a set of next steps to keep future misunderstandings from happening. • Saying thank you. Teaching is demanding. Imagine spending hour after hour alone in a room with 20 to 30 children who all have different academic, social, and emotional needs. And then imagine working in those conditions year after year with little recognition or praise. Like any profession, the critics of education are often louder than the supporters—and teachers take these criticisms to heart. It can be terribly discouraging to work long hours with little pay in difficult conditions and then to hear only about failures. Take a few minutes each month to thank your child's teacher for something that he or she has done. Your kindness will remind teachers that their efforts are appreciated—and score you serious points! So, what do you think? Does my book have potential? Should I quit now and make a bid for a late afternoon talk show on national television? Watch out, Oprah, here I come! Even if I don't make it big, I hope some of my ideas make sense to parents and to teachers. Anything that I can do to improve the parent/teacher relationship is worthwhile, I figure. After all, we're counting on each other, aren't we? Actually, I'm wrong—it's the children in our schools who are counting on us! Bill Ferriter teaches 6th grade history and science in the Wake County, N.C. schools. A North Carolina regional teacher of the year in 2006, Ferriter writes frequently on education topics. His blog, The Tempered Radical, was named “Best Teacher Blog” in the 2007 EduBlog Awards competition.