Letters May 2006

Volunteer resources
I just read with interest "Volunteer Tutors" by Betty Erickson (March 2006). It is always a question how to help those low readers when schools are short on money. I find the idea of using trained volunteers intriguing. I was wondering if there is any way I could find out how Ms. Erickson modified the Lesson Record for Volunteers to fit the kindergarten level.
Lynette Powers
Kenosha, WI

Editor's Note: In response to Lynette's and several similar requests, lesson records and prompt sheets for grades K-2 volunteer classroom tutors are now available on our website at www.teachingk-8 .com

Workshop shopping
Peter Barnes' article on "Finding a Good Workshop" (February 2006) was very informative and accurate. I agree that some professional development workshops seem to be never-ending and not very useful. Others I've attended were very helpful because they gave ideas about teaching writing, reading and using activity-based lessons. As Peter Barnes stated in his article, most of these informative workshops were taught by former teachers.
Christine R. Muller
via e-mail

Memory lane lesson
I found Allen Raymond's March 2006 Publisher's Memo, "The Good Old Days," to be quite an interesting read. I had similar experiences when I first got out of college way back in 1996. I graduated with an elementary education degree but didn't feel like teaching right off the bat. I moved to New York City to play drums in a jazz trio. Well, I didn't play as much as I wanted, starved on a musician's diet and found out New York wasn't the place for me. I moved to Atlanta and I've taught kindergarten for the last five years. I still play in a jazz trio, and the kids love it when I bring in my drum set. At five years old, anything loud is just fine with them!

The memo was inspiring and made me reflect just how things have a way of working themselves out in the end.
Brad Buckner
via e-mail

May, 2006, Vol.36, No.8