Vote for Lynn Parris ABCTE Teacher of the year http://tgli.de/KfT

       Vote here!   http://tgli.de/KfT        

Lynn Parris was hired by our charter cyber school part time in 2004 as a shipping and receiving clerk. In the spring of 2005 Lynn was brought on as an English teacher after our existing English teacher unexpectedly stepped down from their position. At the time Lynn was running a homeschool support group for over 100 families at her church for several years. She was able to take her educational training and her strong home school teaching experience to fill in the gaps for this need at our school. After she had taught for a year she began to investigate how she could become certified as a teacher at our school. She came across the ABCTE program at one of the first charter school conferences that our school attended. She diligently pursued the opportunity to validate the positive feedback she was already receiving from her fellow teachers and students.

In many ways Lynn is the ideal choice for this award. Her first career was as a homemaker for 25 years. She has worked tirelessly to home school all five of her own children which four have already graduated from college, and two are teachers. She has a passion for education that extends beyond any normal career interest. Her parents both have post graduate degrees from college, and they have instilled in her a high value for education. Mrs. Parris is a hero among her students that she has mentored for the past 6 years. She takes the time to respond to their individual needs as if they were being schooled in her home. She is a true pioneer in a new form of education where her unique experience and talents have been used to harness learning in cyber setting.

Lynn Parris teaches at a cyber charter school in Pennsylvania. The name of the school is Pennsylvania Leadership Charter School. She has provided instructional leadership at our school for the past six years in language arts. In the past three years Mrs. Parris’s Language Arts classes have received the highest proficiency scores in our school on the state mandated achievement test. (Pennsylvania System of School Assessment, “PSSA”) 
She has also been successful on raising the skill level of the lower level of students in her classes. She has been teaching the 8th grade for six years. She has mentored a new 7th grade teacher this year. The students in this 7th grade Language Arts class have now reached the same level of proficiency on the PSSA test. She loves literature and passes her love for reading onto her students. She is also passionate about teaching students to express themselves through the written word.

Mrs. Parris has also demonstrated much dedication to her profession. She has assisted and helped plan leadership retreats, trips and activities since 2006. She has initiated and facilitated a book club for two years that has captured the interest of many cyber students who are typically apathetic toward group interaction. These activities would be considered extra curricular at our school. They help to promote a positive school culture of participation and engagement that stems a tide of apathy among many cyber schooled students. These types of activities are beyond the normal job description of a teacher. In June, July and August when many teachers are resting she has been pursuing a graduate degree in English and Administration.

In summary, it is my sincere hope that you will consider this nomination for the ABCTE teacher of the year award. It is hard to imagine that the person who conceived of this program to have a better poster person to validate the vision and goals of the American Board for Certification and Teacher Excellence. Mrs. Parris has pioneered the instructional leadership and teacher excellence that is at the heart of the program’s mission. Her students have validated her instruction by achieving proficiency in literacy and writing. Please consider Mrs. Parris’s nomination for The ABCTE teacher of the year Award.

My future endeavor & communication as a school administrator

When I was young my mother would always tell me, “Patric, you are a people person”. You will find a job somewhere, somehow working with people, and you will do fine. I am now 54 years old, and I have discovered that Abraham Lincoln, like me was influenced by his mother more than anyone else.

Lincoln used humor to persuade people to his point of view. He was a word miser and poet. He thought out every word before he spoke publicly. He realized who his audience was and made it his goal to connect with every person. I do not have Lincoln’s incredible gifting. His communication skills represent a life investment of verbally reading and telling stories aloud. In my role as a future administrator I must dedicate myself to study people, and the stories that motivate and persuade them.

He had ingenuity that required initiative. Lincoln started at the bottom as a young lawyer traveling a circuit. In his travels to protect the rights of individuals he became an advocate of the system that protected them. When I am a principal I will manage by walking around. As I talk to people I can tell them directly how their contribution fits into our school system.

Innovation requires risk. Paula Evans, an administrator that we studied in this class, took on risk, but she was not willing to broaden the vision to include all stakeholders. Lincoln did this by going back to the fundamentals of how the country was formed i.e. The Declaration of Independence. I need to research and discover the history of my school and the foundation of its values. I need to be able to ignore elements of our history, like slavery, that must be changed, and persuade people to values that will prepare our students to enter a global market place of uncertainly and change.

Lincoln used technology like the latest types of repeating rifles to introduce change to his generals. I am currently introducing new strategies to formatively assess student’s learning by introducing the concepts through RSS feeds that can be plugged into Moodle courses. (Our learning platform) This is a project that I am collaborating with my principal and several other teachers. This new technology helps teachers to embrace change because they can see the benefit of gaining new tools to make their work more efficient. In the exchange the strategies of formative assessments are also transmitted.

Lincoln used to lock men in a room until they reached consensus. I can tell you a story about a personality conflict that I had with a teacher. We were assigned to travel together to perform PSSA achievement testing 4 ½ hours away from our school. By the end of that trip we would either be friends, or only one of us might return. We became good friends.  Assigning people to work together, in tight quarters, is a great way to unify a team.

Abraham Lincoln and I have something in common. Our father’s died at a young age, and we inherited a great sense of responsibility from our mothers. This responsibility extended beyond his family to his country. Through the skills I have learned in this class and others at Cal. State I have become committed to thinking like a principal. As I continue to learn, I will include my stakeholders in the process of discovering a vision which will prepare us for new endeavors.

Vote: 2010 ABCTE Teacher of the Year Award for Pennsylvania

Please vote for Lynn Parris for ABCTE teacher of the year here. http://tgli.de/KNW You can read her story:-) http://tgli.de/KNV

Please vote for Lynn Parris for ABCTE Teacher of the Year!

 Click on this link and vote for Lynn Parris

Lynn Parris was hired by our charter cyber school part time in 2004 as a shipping and receiving clerk. In the spring of 2005 Lynn was brought on as an English teacher after our existing English teacher unexpectedly stepped down from their position. At the time Lynn was running a homeschool support group for over 100 families at her church for several years. She was able to take her educational training and her strong home school teaching experience to fill in the gaps for this need at our school. After she had taught for a year she began to investigate how she could become certified as a teacher at our school. She came across the ABCTE program at one of the first charter school conferences that our school attended. She diligently pursued the opportunity to validate the positive feedback she was already receiving from her fellow teachers and students.

In many ways Lynn is the ideal choice for this award. Her first career was as a homemaker for 25 years. She has worked tirelessly to home school all five of her own children which four have already graduated from college, and two are teachers. She has a passion for education that extends beyond any normal career interest. Her parents both have post graduate degrees from college, and they have instilled in her a high value for education. Mrs. Parris is a hero among her students that she has mentored for the past 6 years. She takes the time to respond to their individual needs as if they were being schooled in her home. She is a true pioneer in a new form of education where her unique experience and talents have been used to harness learning in cyber setting.

Lynn Parris teaches at a cyber charter school in Pennsylvania. The name of the school is Pennsylvania Leadership Charter School. She has provided instructional leadership at our school for the past six years in language arts. In the past three years Mrs. Parris’s Language Arts classes have received the highest proficiency scores in our school on the state mandated achievement test. (Pennsylvania System of School Assessment, “PSSA”) 
She has also been successful on raising the skill level of the lower level of students in her classes. She has been teaching the 8th grade for six years. She has mentored a new 7th grade teacher this year. The students in this 7th grade Language Arts class have now reached the same level of proficiency on the PSSA test. She loves literature and passes her love for reading onto her students. She is also passionate about teaching students to express themselves through the written word.

Mrs. Parris has also demonstrated much dedication to her profession. She has assisted and helped plan leadership retreats, trips and activities since 2006. She has initiated and facilitated a book club for two years that has captured the interest of many cyber students who are typically apathetic toward group interaction. These activities would be considered extra curricular at our school. They help to promote a positive school culture of participation and engagement that stems a tide of apathy among many cyber schooled students. These types of activities are beyond the normal job description of a teacher. In June, July and August when many teachers are resting she has been pursuing a graduate degree in English and Administration.

In summary, it is my sincere hope that you will consider this nomination for the ABCTE teacher of the year award. It is hard to imagine that the person who conceived of this program to have a better poster person to validate the vision and goals of the American Board for Certification and Teacher Excellence. Mrs. Parris has pioneered the instructional leadership and teacher excellence that is at the heart of the program’s mission. Her students have validated her instruction by achieving proficiency in literacy and writing. Please consider Mrs. Parris’s nomination for The ABCTE teacher of the year Award.