What you missed at October's Meeting

If you weren't able to join us at October's meeting of the RFArea REA, here is what you missed.

Greeting some of the new members who joined us at the West Wind:

Ethel Johnson welcomes new member
Jean Loudon (River Falls High School)

Evelyn Johnson gets to know new member
Jean Siebold (CESA, Whitehall/Arcadia,
Menomonie, and River Falls)

Members Tony Pedriana, Bob Pionke, Doug Johnson,
and Jane Harred welcome new members Gorden Hedahl (UWRF
Speech/Theater Arts), Jeanette Potts (MN public schools special
education), and Glenn Potts (UWRF Economics)

Members Ruth Wood, President-Elect Bernie Brohaugh,
and Karen Brohaugh chat about upcoming events.

Panel Discussion of Newly Retired Teachers on Their Teaching Careers and Perceptions of Wisconsin Education

Panelists Jean Siebold (CESA, Whiehall/Arcadia, Menomonie, River Falls),
Vicki Cobian (New Richmond), Jean Loudon (River Falls), and Jean Ritzinger
(River Falls)

Panelists shared with members their perceptions of teaching in Wisconsin.  Speech therapist Jean Siebold just completed her 41-year career, though she still substitutes occasionally.  While she enjoyed her work with the children,  the political climate in the state, with the pressures placed upon teachers and school districts, brought her to her decision to retire.  Vicki Cobian, a native of Ellsworth and a graduate of UWRF, spent 18 years teaching in New Richmond.  She pointed to the 13  trips she made with her students to Washington D.C. as one of the highlights of her career.  Jean Loudon gave an accounting of her varied career:  from a high school teacher for six years, then an arts administrator, an Alverno College admissions counselor, a family literacy program director in Alaska, and then a high school teacher again for the last 15 years of her career.  While she enjoyed working with motivated and high-achieving honors students, she realized that her special gift was teaching the C and D students, reinventing ways to help them succeed.  Jean Ritzinger, who returned to college after helping her husband through school and raising her children, spent her career teaching 7th grade language arts.  She pointed to the middle school forensics program she initiated for those students who were not athletic and wanted to be part of a team at school.  Having her students all take part in performing A Midsummer's Night's Dream was also one of her accomplishments.  

All the panel members agreed that a teacher's job has become much more complex over the years.  First, technology has certainly changed the way subject matter is taught.  Jean Loudon pointed out that over the past 40 years, there certainly has been a paradigm shift so that no one can teach the way they did at the start of their careers.  Vicki observed that many younger colleagues mistakenly stereotype experienced teachers as resistant to technology, but such reluctance may come from those teachers being more willing to question the usefulness of the latest software or hardware in teaching the content.

Other factors affecting the lives of teachers and students are standards and testing.  All agreed that standards--and the Common Core--are a good thing to bring greater consistency to the curriculum from classroom to classroom and district to district.  But the constant changes to those standards don't help students know what the expectations are that they need to meet or teachers who must constantly shift with the political and professional winds tinkering with the standards.  Testing, again, is not an evil in itself, but it does seem to be taking up more and more time, sacrificing content to testing.  Vicki Cobian noted that part of her teaching assignment at the end of her career was a class specifically devoted to teaching students how to take standardized tests.  Jean Loudon observed that she found merit in formative testing, not just summative--helping students to understand what they did and did not know or comprehend.

As Jane Harred stated at the end of this lively and informative discussion, what seems to be working well in Wisconsin schools are the teachers.

To Continue the Discussion:

On November 5 at 10:30, RFArea REA will host a book discussion at West Wind.  Tony Pedriana will lead a conversation on Amanda Ripley's The Smartest Kids in the World and How They Got That Way.  (You have find a review of the book from The New York Times at this link.)  Please join us.  Even if you haven't read the book, you'll no doubt have something to contribute.  These book discussions are fun and enjoyable.

Finally, you missed the installation of the new RFArea REA Officers:

From left to right:  retiring Secretary Ethel Johnson, President Bernie Brohaugh,
Vice President (and former President) Marylin Plansky, Treasurer Laura
Zlogar, Legislative Chair Jane Harred, and Secretary Larry Harred.