There are not many times in our lives when people go to the effort to recognize the work of others. It takes time and commitment on their part to submit paperwork, look up documentation, and move such applications forward. I am so thankful to my colleagues back home in Iowa who took the time to honor me at our recent Iowa Talented and Gifted Association State Conference. Thank you ITAG for presenting me with the Distinguished Service Award. Words can not express my sincere gratitude.

Thank you to colleague and ITAG Past President, Doreen Underwood who presented me with the award, and to colleage and fellow board member Debra Mishake for the introduction to both Doreen and to me. And thank you to my many friends who took a moment to step up to the screen to send their greetings for this electronic platform presentation.

I also want to thank my friends and colleagues here at GLCA in Portugal who took the time to gather for this honor and fill the role of my family had I been back in Iowa to physically receive the award.  Thanks to Cal and Joyce Voelker, our GLCA administrator for providing desserts for the celebration, Beau and Valerie Moore for donating the church building space, the Beattys’ and Rachevskys’ for the beautiful flowers, and all who attended.  I also want to thank my husband, Chuck, who has allowed me to follow my dreams in this career, as well as for the pizza for the group celebration.

Your attendance, both electronic and in person, recognition, and support helped to make this very special award even more meaningful. I thank the Lord for the skills, friendships and connections that all came together for this very special tribute.

Linda

All of us have moments of learning or being reminded of the importance of carefully reading directions. This skill is even more important in a multi-age classroom of two grades. In this setting students need to learn some independence. They need to recall earlier instruction and follow instructions during work time while the teacher is presenting information to the other class, grade, or group. I was finding that the majority of mistakes on assignments were made because students were not carefully reading directions. I tried having them number the directions looking for multiple steps. The students would number them and then continue to only answer the first one.

So, what to do? What I had tried wasn’t working. So instead, I suspended the reading curriculum,  pulled out my GoldieBlox kits, and gave the students the task of putting the kits together without help. They had to read the directions to find success at the end.

The kids had fun. Problem solving was enjoyed by all, and hopefully I will be finding that I have more careful readers in the classroom!