Tree Apples

I have been doing some family tree research of late and I have to say, I admire those folks who put so much time and effort into compiling their family's history because it is a lot of work. I have spent hours in the last few days looking at family trees in search of connections. Connections that take me back centuries, into places I can only imagine and while the journey is sometimes tedious it is always one in which I lose myself. Time seems to stand still when I am clicking on tree after tree, hint after hint in search of another interesting tidbit of family history. And to think, the time spent is measured in nano seconds because we have the almost instant results of the internet. Gone are the days of spending weeks, months and even years waiting for the smallest pieces of information to fill in the branches of a family tree. The detective in me finds it fun to ferret out the who's who of our families.

In my latest foray into the back stories of our (spouse and mine) extended family I found that I am related to Daniel Boone. Yes, that Daniel Boone. Oh, I know, many are numbered in that relationship -- I've read of gigantic Boone Family reunions with thousands of attendees -- so my discovery is not a terribly big one. I do feel just the littlest bit special and when I told my husband of my venerable family connection, the pronouncement was met by a skeptical look and an "Oh, yeah." which lacked, too much, enthusiasm. But, like I told him, there were fewer people on the continent at the time and it was a small place. Really, it was. The settlers who had made the perilous journey to the shores of the North American Continent were concentrated in few places in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Settlement of the vast middle of the continent was still a thing of the future save for a very few brave and possibly foolish white men. I figure the chances of being related to those who, early on, made a name for themselves -- good or evil -- are relatively high if you have ancestors who were among some of the earlier settlers. Besides, families tended to be rather large, with lots of siblings to go on to parent their own rather large families thus making the possibility that our family hangs out in the same tree more likely.

History. That's what it is all about, history. One of my favorite subjects and that of my undergraduate degree. Without history we suffer ignorance and a lack of illumination in our lives. With history we can stumble into the future generations with surer footing than without. With history we can see the mistakes of the past and try to prevent them replaying. With history humans should be able to make reasoned decisions and judgments today and tomorrow -- if they do and will is entirely up to them. But, it can be argued that without history humans could create, free of previously proven impossibilities new innovations. Without history humans might . . . Naw! Wouldn't work unless our memories were wiped clean after every thought and then nothing would get done so it is all about history.

Central Oregon Apples

Spent the weekend in Central Oregon. Sunriver and Bend to be more precise. My sister-in-law has some very generous friends who shared their Sunriver vacation home with our families. It was a nice getaway that didn't require airline and hotel reservations. The guys golfed the two nearest courses while us girls shopped -- real and window. In Sunriver I picked up the prettiest pair of pearl and silver earrings for myself and could hardly wait to wear them. Funny how when I travel I spend on things I would never buy at home. It's like I give myself permission to shop when I am out of town.

It had been years since I'd spent any time wandering Bend and the place has really changed. We'd taken a brief trip there during a softball tournament in the late 90s but the Bend I remember was the place I visited almost yearly while I was growing up. My Grandma Stuart, Aunt Leatha and Uncle Howard lived in Bend so our family traveled north from California to visit. I can remember the walk to the park down the street from my Aunt's house on Galveston. We would watch the ducks and geese resting on the grass (or snow depending on the time of year) and gliding on the water. Sometimes we walked on, into the center of town to peer into the old storefront windows. I loved that the place was filled with evergreens; the air smelled of pine and reminded me of camping in the forest.

I didn't notice that fragrance on this visit but the city is nice and the people friendly. If you get a chance to visit Bend, Oregon take it and try to make a little side trip to Sisters. Sisters is kind of amazing looking. The community has done the place up like an old western movie set only prettier and with paved streets. I plan to go back to Sisters soon to check out all the cute shops and restaurants, maybe a day trip.

The mountains in the not so far distance are beautiful and seeing them made me realize that I need to stop taking all this beauty around me for granted and start appreciating the view. The drive over and back was a real treat too. We go the Mackenzie River route which is just gorgeous, so green and cooling on a summer day. I understand why so many cars were on the road -- people love to visit this area.

Official Apples

On July 7, 2010 myself and a guest teacher colleague made our way to the Oregon Education Association offices in Portland, Oregon for a meeting of the Oregon Teacher Standards and Practices Commission. The reason for our trek to that particular meeting was to question a proposed change in the teacher licensing process. The proposal switches from a minimum number of days worked over the life of the license to a professional development requirement for all teacher license (nothing is changing for those holding a Substitute Teacher License) renewals in the state. At present only a contracted teacher must fulfill continuing professional development to renew their license. Before you start voicing your assertions that a good teacher should seek CPD let me stress that professional development is NOT a bad thing.

No, not a bad thing except that upon first hearing about this proposed change for guest teachers seeking to renew their teaching license what came to mind was logistics - purely logistics. How in the world would the 400 or so guest teachers I represent be able to fulfill a proposed twenty-five (25) professional development units in each year of the life of their license? We guest teachers don't have a guaranteed source of income so paying for professional development seminars and workshops is out of reach for most of us. There are free continuing professional development opportunities available to teachers so I breathed a sigh of relief only to suck it back in when I realized that every guest and unemployed teacher in the state would be seeking low and no cost PDU's -- all at the same time! Locally, we have a fantastic resource for PDU's through the parent association. They have done a wonderfully complete job of meeting the many and varied needs of their teachers' when it comes to CPD but to add 400 guest teachers to the number of professional educators taking advantage of the classes they provide would, undoubtedly, cause strain on the program. The Eugene Education Association likely would not be able to meet the added demand.

And, what kind of paperwork nightmare would this change in the renewal requirement lead to for the already over worked TSPC offices in Salem? Not my problem but that thought led me to hope this proposal would lose it's appeal when the commission gives it enough consideration and scrutiny to realize the burden it would place on their office staff. Since contracted teachers have their CPD 'passed on' by their administrators (in this district) nothing but the PEER form with the appropriate box checked is necessary for license renewal. Guest teachers have no administrator to 'sign off' on their PDU's so how will the 'proof' of completion be verified? Well, TSPC plans to audit 10 percent of the guest and unemployed teachers claims statewide. I guess two thousand (give or take) is less a burden than more than twenty plus thousand audits of PDU requirements met but still a burden.

Long story short, the meeting on July 7th put my mind at rest, a bit. The Commissioners seemed amenable to allowing at least some of the days worked in the classroom to count as professional development -- as it should. The kind of classroom experience guest teachers get by going from school to school, classroom to classroom, grade level to grade level is invaluable. As I pointed out to the Commission, that classroom experience is so rich that every contracted classroom teacher should have to spend at least a few days in the same capacity as a guest teacher; called at 6 AM and dispatched to an unfamiliar school, classroom and grade level. That isn't going to happen but I felt my statement had some positive (for the guest teacher's argument) impact on at least a few of the commissioners. We also found out that the definition of professional development is very broad and includes many opportunities for guest and unemployed teachers to fulfill the seventy-five to one hundred twenty-five PDU's required in the license renewal proposal. That being the case I feel certain all guest teachers who want to keep their teacher license -- and not opt for the Substitute Teacher License thus avoiding the PDU requirement -- will be able to with only the expense of time. Definitely doable for most of us.