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PDK Member Teaches Global Sustainability
Julia Morton-Marr is teaching global sustainability awareness to students from all over the world. Morton-Marr joined PDK International five years ago, and she has been teaching for more than 49 years. In 1993 she founded the International Holistic Tourism Education Centre (IHTEC) and its flagship program, International School Peace Gardens. IHTEC provides educational programs that educate young people about global sustainability.
Just last year Julia visited Hilo’s Connection New Century Charter School to educate students about the importance of peace gardens and their multidimensional aspects, such as biodiversity and societal integrity. She is an avid believer that one person can make a difference to change the world. Morton-Marr’s next step is bringing awareness of IHTEC‘s new project, Creature Corridors Millennium, which will link schools to recreational trail organizations with a focus on planting food sources that will support species.
Morton-Marr hopes other PDK members will become involved in global sustainability. To learn more about Julia’s work and IHTEC, visit www.ihtec.org.
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PDK Las Vegas Chapter, Entravision Provide PSAs in Spanish
The PDK Las Vegas chapter is reaching out to the Spanish-language community with the help of Entravision Communications Corporation, a Spanish-language media company that owns television and radio stations in cities with large Hispanic or Latino populations.
A growing number of Hispanic and Latino children in schools has created a growing need for more Spanish-speaking educators. Members of PDK’s Las Vegas chapter and PDK Regional Representative Kathleen Andreson had an opportunity to share research on this topic with Christopher Roman, vice president and general manager of Entravision. That led to a partnership between Entravision and the Las Vegas chapter, including members Vicki Kilbury and Alana Rico, to create PSAs in Spanish to reach out to the Spanish-speaking parents in the community. Rico, an English Language Learner specialist at Petersen Professional Development School in Las Vegas, delivers the message in the 30-second PSAs. |
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PDK members presented an award to Entravision to thank them for their help with the Spanish-language PSAs. Back row (left to right): Alana Rico, the PDK member who is featured in the PSAs; Adriana Arevalo, Entravision’s news director and anchor; Alejandra Sierra, who helped produce the PSAs for Entravision; and Entravision General Manager Chris Roman. Front row (left to right): Vicki Kilbury, a PDK Chapter/Member Liaison and researcher on this project; Regional Representative Kathy Andreson; and Barbara Johnson, past president of Las Vegas chapter and the member responsible for recruiting Alana into PDK. |
“It has benefited the Hispanic community by giving out important information that informs the parents on current educational issues, such as NCLB, Internet safety, registration, and immigration status,” she said.
The PSAs might also draw new members to the chapter, as other educators view them and learn about PDK.
“With continued exposure we hope to draw educators of diverse backgrounds, including Latinos, to the Las Vegas chapter,” Kilbury said.
The PSAs and connection with Entravision are only the beginning, according to Tritt.
“Now that Alana’s PSAs have seen the light of day, our new charge is to use this success nationwide to bring more Hispanic teacher talent on board,” Tritt said.
Andreson agrees.
“This is an important project that can be duplicated in other areas by other PDK chapters,” she said. “We really need to reach out to the Latino community and Hispanic educators in particular.”
To view the PSA, click here.
PDK Member Finds Recruitment, Retention Strategies That Work
As a university-affiliated PDK chapter, the University of Southern California chapter has tapped into the classes of new and matriculating students in the master’s and doctoral programs to recruit new members.
“We think that our chapter will not only keep USC students connected to their alma mater, but also help them further their careers in a collegial settings,” said Lisa Regan, the chapter’s vice president of membership. |
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Regan joined PDK International fewer than five years ago and has gone from being the newsletter editor for her chapter to her current position. The chapter’s membership committee is trying new initiatives, such as identifying mentors for new members who are not sponsored directly by existing members, challenging current members to recruit new members, and attending orientations and classes of new doctoral and graduate students at the university. In fact, six out of seven new members in a recent month were the result of Regan and fellow PDK chapter board member Nick Nichols attending the doctoral orientation and discussing PDK and the benefits it has to offer to doctoral students.
Regan, the secondary literacy and English language arts coordinator for Local District 6 of the Los Angeles Unified School District, found another strategy that works, too.
“A few years ago, we began offering a beautiful cardinal-and-gold satin sash for purchase to members in good standing to wear with their ceremonial caps and gowns at commencement,” she said. “In the spring semester, we bring the sash to graduate classes to encourage students to join our chapter so they can purchase and wear the sash at graduation. We went from an average of five to eight new members a year to 20 to 25 new members over the past few years as a result.”
The USC chapter is also partnering with the San Fernando Valley chapter in its recruitment efforts. Those teachers, who are recruited through direct mail campaigns and new teacher orientations, can choose which chapter to join based on their geographic location.
In addition to these responsibilities, Regan is co-chairing the Los Angeles mega Chalk WalkSM with Sharon Kaiser, the Chapter/Member Liaison for the Los Angeles area.
“I was excited about the possibility of working more with other PDK chapters in the area,” Regan said. “I also realized that the Chalk WalkSM is a fantastic opportunity to create greater awareness for the events and activities our chapters produce that support the great teachers in our communities.”
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PDK Member Teaches Community Involvement
Joseph Cofield is teaching his students the importance of civic engagement through FEA activities. As a social studies and computer science teacher at Bonita Springs Middle School for nine years, Cofield has the unique opportunity of mixing service projects with classroom learning. Just last year, he and his students refurbished 150 computers to give to students at their school who did not have computers at home. Adding to that accomplishment, the FEA students were able to raise $1,500 for the Ronald McDonald house through collecting soda tabs and $300 for scholarships through a recycling program. Besides these projects, he ensures that his students participate in Read for the Record and monthly literacy programs. His students were recently awarded a regional grant from region G to purchase new children’s books for the elementary schools. |
Cofield said he joined PDK because he was “looking for something that goes beyond. One hundred years of Phi Delta Kappa is outstanding.” He has been a member for five years and has participated in many things through chapter 1152, as well as taking part in the PDK International Travel Program’s trip to China. He said that his experience in China assisted him greatly this past year, as he had two Chinese students and was able to identify with these students and help them make the transition to the U.S. educational system. Cofield was awarded the Professional Educators Network of Florida State Educator of the Year award in 2008. |
Education Dean Creates "Engaged College"
M. Jayne Fleener is the E.B. "Ted" Robert Professor and dean of the College of Education at Louisiana State University. As dean, she has developed initiatives and supported faculty and partnerships to address community needs in the areas of education, health, and wellness. Emphasizing coherence among teaching, research, and scholarship, she has created an engaged college by leveraging resources and expertise to advance the university flagship agenda through collaborations that have an impact on local educational and wellness contexts.
Fleener is the newest Chapter/Member Liaison for region C. She is excited about this new role and hopes to work with others, including her faculty, to change the face of education in Louisiana and nationally. Fleener is a strong believer in college and school administrators working together to create a community that fosters educational growth and sustainability. As a CML in southern Louisiana, she also has the unique task of reinvigorating chapters that were affected by Hurricane Katrina. |
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Fleener comes from a professional education household. She always knew that she would be part of a professional education organization, and having grown up in Bloomington, Indiana, her affiliation with Phi Delta Kappa has always been a source of pride. Joining PDK as an assistant professor at the University of Oklahoma, she feels PDK allowed her to “immediately resonate with the community feel of participating in a group with teachers, administrators, and university personnel.”
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