June 2010: Message from the Director

Congratulations on the completion of another school year!

As the school year officially comes to an end, many of you are closing down classrooms and reflecting on the successes and challenges of a year gone by. Soon, you will begin preparing and planning for what is sure to be a new school year filled with even greater success.

Although it may sometimes seem that no one notices, your students and their parents do realize the profound impact you have had on their lives. For some students, you see these changes immediately over the course of the year. For others, your lessons may not hit home until years later, at which point they will look back and remember where the initial seed was planted… right there in your classroom. For many teachers, that is the most rewarding part of the job, knowing that those transformational moments will occur in their students’ lives, even if they are never around to see it. In this way, you are truly a hero for your students, providing them with the tools that they will need now and later in life. Heroes come in many forms, and while most of us have heroes in our own lives, it can be hard to think of ourselves as a hero for another.

Be sure to review this month’s lesson plan which helps you and your students share your thoughts about what makes someone a hero and, subsequently, to develop a plan to become a hero for someone else. This is one lesson that you and your students will have a lot of fun with. Also, be sure to review our Today in Education section, where we highlight interesting articles about other teachers all over the country, including an article this month on a school principal from New York who challenged his staff to teach poetry using texting.

I wish you the best during the summer and hope that you find some well-deserved time to relax and recharge. Be on the lookout for Leadership Link to return the first week of September.

A Lesson on Heroism

When we think about the role of heroes in our lives, many of us look to famous, popular or very influential people. Some of these people may very well be heroes, but the most important heroes are those that directly influence our lives. The dictionary defines a hero as “a person of distinguished courage or ability … admired for brave deeds and noble qualities … role model, ideal …” (excerpts, Webster, Unabridged, 2nd edition, 2001). Sometimes a hero can simply be a person of integrity, someone who is compassionate and possesses moral courage, or someone who does what he or she knows is right.

How can we be heroes ourselves? How can you encourage your students to be heroes? Our lesson plan this month will help you and your students share existing thoughts and ideas about heroes, explore heroic qualities and construct a plan to become someone's hero.

Click here to view this month's lesson - “A Lesson on Heroism."

To learn more about how to empower your students to realize their own potential to effect positive change and for additional resources on the power of positive role models, visit www.myhero.com.

Have you used our lessons in your classroom? Please click on “Comment” below to tell us all about it!

Teaching with Texting

At New York’s Chester Middle School, Principal Ernie Jackson challenged his staff to teach poetry using text messaging. He then gave an old version of a state test to those students who texted in summaries of the poems and to those who learned the poems in a traditional manner. The results were amazing! Find the results and more in the full article available here.

Teaching Financial Responsibility (and Math) at an Early Age

Janice Belcuore's New Jersey classroom is learning addition and subtraction in a fun and creative way. Throughout the school year, the student’s learn all about personal banking by earning a “salary” from their assigned job, paying their bills and balancing their checkbook. Read the full story here.

Creating a Virtual Stock Market in the Classroom

Elementary and middle school students in two San Jose schools beat hundreds of other schools in a stock market game. Their money was virtual, but the companies and stock prices they invested in were real. Using $100,000 in their virtual market account, they researched companies they knew and invested in stocks they decided would perform the best. Click here to read the full story.

NYLF Alumnus Dreams of a Career in Law

As an alumnus of the fall 2006 National Youth Leadership Forum on Law, Joshua Lastine has already set himself on the path toward doing great things in the field of law. Joshua is currently a junior at the University of Northern Iowa, majoring in Economics with a minor in English Literature. His desire to take on leadership roles in college has lead him to become the President of the UNI Pre-Law Club, serve as a representative to the College of Business President’s Council, hold various leadership positions within the Student Admission Ambassador Organization and become a vital member and programming planner for the Economics Club. Through his involvement with Student Admission Ambassadors, he has been able to share his knowledge of the campus and love of his school with prospective students by giving tours and being an ambassador.

Joshua’s accomplishments also extend to the classroom, as he has made the Dean’s List for four semesters and received various university scholarships. Just this past month, he submitted a paper to the Lawrence Jepson International Economic Essay Contest and received second place with his entry entitled International Overpopulation and Economic Policy. As Joshua approaches his senior year he is focusing on law school and has begun the rigorous preparation for the LSAT. He doesn’t yet know where he would like to attend law school, but is interested in entertainment and sports law and will be looking at schools with strong programs in intellectual properties law.

Joshua credits the Forum on Law for helping him to realize his full potential as a student leader, while also giving him the necessary tools to succeed in college. One of his fondest memories from the Forum was visiting Georgetown Law School and sitting in on one of the live classes. We wish Joshua the best of luck in his future as he pursues what is sure to be a successful career in the field of law!

Join Us at the National PTA® Convention

We will be exhibiting at the 114th Annual National PTA® Convention and Exhibition in Memphis, Tennessee on June 10-12, 2010. For more information, visit www.pta.org/convention

Celebrate Flag Day – June 14th, 2010

Although Flag Day has been celebrated in communities and states since the late 1800s, it wasn’t officially established by the Proclamation of President Woodrow Wilson until May 30th, 1916. President Truman signed an Act of Congress designating June 14th of each year as National Flag Day on August 3, 1949. Read more about the history of Flag Day here.

Lessons and activities to help you celebrate Flag Day in your classroom are available here.