Tag Archives: teaching

Classes and Courses, Teaching

Phew! Quick notes…

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low batteryHere’s a few quick notes… the past few days have been a blur of “let’s get stuff done!” I’ve continued to work on setting up Abbot Village Press… including an online store! Part of this is in anticipation of final release of the “Maine Real Estate Law and Rules Handbook.” We’re still in the “final proofing” stage thanks to a minor oops on my part, but I fully expect to have it completed and released by the end of next week.

In addition to taking some time out for a re-charge, it seemed important to give a quick update and share a few thoughts. As things evolve, there may be some minor confusion with things looking a little strange, but the plan is to make this site even more about education and personal growth. To that end, I’ll be moving some of the resources regarding books and publishing to the Abbot Village Press website. Of course there will be plenty of links that should make things easy to find.

With the development of Abbot Village Press it will now be possible to order any of my books directly from the publisher through the Square Market (our online store). Of course you can still order from Amazon and Kindle as well as a number of other resources such as Barnes and Noble. You did hear me say the word for this year is “evolve,” right? Well, we’re evolving!

By the way, the PVAEC catalog is out–I’m not sure exactly when I received mine because I haven’t dared venture down the driveway for a while! I haven’t felt trapped, I’ve been too busy!

Anyway, check it out and discover lots of opportunities to evolve! We have two substitute teacher courses coming up soon, plus the popular two night class on how to start your own blog/website using WordPress. Real Estate licensing courses also begin in February so things are starting to get busy! It’ll be spring before you know it!

 

Classes and Courses

Substitute Teacher Class scheduled in Dexter and Dover

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This fun one-day program is designed in collaboration with PVAEC to prepare people interested in serving as a substitute teacher or ed tech.  There will be plenty of “hands on learning” that will include important classroom management techniques and teaching strategies. We’ll also cover some legal aspects and help you develop your own “sub pack” of resources and an action plan that will get you started on the right foot! If you’ve been subbing, this is a great opportunity for a “refresher” and some new ideas. The workshop is based on Utah State University’s STEDI Program and attendees will earn a certificate recognized by PVAEC member districts. One student comments, “…very engaging with a lot of real life scenarios. I came away with new information even after subbing for a year.” The program is taught by Walter Boomsma, an experienced substitute teacher and adult educator. An optional recommended text containing educational strategies and classroom activities will be available for $25.

The fee for this one day class is $10 and the class is being offered twice:

  1. Tuesday, January 28th at Dexter Regional High School Dexter starting at 9 AM and ending at 4 PM.
  2. Tuesday, February 11th at Penquis Higher Education Center (Dover Foxcroft) starting at 9 AM and ending at 4 PM

For additional information or to register, contact PVAEC at 564-6525 or visit their website to sign up online. For questions about course content, email “Mr. Boomsma.”

Help spread the word! Download this flyer/poster:  Flyer – Sub Course 2014

Personal Growth, Teaching

Ten Commandments for Teachers

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How could I not be interested in a site called “Brain Pickings?” (Brain Pickings is a human-powered discovery engine for interestingness, culling and curating cross-disciplinary curiosity-quenchers, and separating the signal from the noise to bring you things you didn’t know you were interested in until you are.) A recent post offered Ten Commandments for Teachers as offered by Bertram Russell  in 1951. I’m not sure I’d limit these to teachers and I’m having a lot of trouble picking a personal favorite!

  1. Do not feel absolutely certain of anything.
  2. Do not think it worth while to proceed by concealing evidence, for the evidence is sure to come to light.
  3. Never try to discourage thinking for you are sure to succeed.
  4. When you meet with opposition, even if it should be from your husband or your children, endeavor to overcome it by argument and not by authority, for a victory dependent upon authority is unreal and illusory.
  5. Have no respect for the authority of others, for there are always contrary authorities to be found.
  6. Do not use power to suppress opinions you think pernicious, for if you do the opinions will suppress you.
  7. Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric.
  8. Find more pleasure in intelligent dissent than in passive agreement, for, if you value intelligence as you should, the former implies a deeper agreement than the latter.
  9. Be scrupulously truthful, even if the truth is inconvenient, for it is more inconvenient when you try to conceal it.
  10. Do not feel envious of the happiness of those who live in a fool’s paradise, for only a fool will think that it is happiness.