ND Teacher of the Year -- From Williston -- My Home Town -- Not A Bakken Story

The following is a quick personal note I sent to a former educator and administrator in Williston. Much more could have been written and it certainly could have been better written, but I have to move quickly this morning.

Here is the note:

Dear D------

I was very, very impressed with this article and the teacher:

http://www.willistonherald.com/articles/2010/12/06/news/doc4cfd16480e40c043488745.txt; the link is now broken; a new link here.)

“American education, however, is still lagging far behind in its speed,” she said. In the digital storyboard ‘Pay Attention,’ viewable on TeacherTube, one student is quoted as having to ‘power down’ upon walking into school.”

As you may know, I now substitute at the middle school and high school level and really enjoy it.

I see the same things that Karen Toavs sees.

Her comment that it takes a lot of planning (on the teacher's part) is very, very true.

She did not talk much about discipline in the classroom, the biggest problem for a substitute. She did not talk about the importance of parents being involved. I am glad she did not. Those issues need to be talked about but can be addressed in a different venue, a different time. I think she would look at those two issues as "it is what it is" and the individual teacher in the classroom has to deal with the cards she is dealt. If the children do not have parental involvement, that's the way it is. She seems to have moved beyond that and thinks deeply (and articulates it very well) about what students really need.  You get the feeling she has really put herself in the shoes (into the mind) of an eighth grader.

The Williston public school system deserves a lot of credit for sponsoring a teacher as Ms Toavs.

So, that was my note.

One last comment: I think the average middle school textbook is two inches thick and weighs ten pounds. Our students are issued two textbooks for each class. One they leave at home and that remains in the classroom. The books are simply too heavy to lug around. It is truly incredible. Tablet (iPad) technology is here; it will be interesting to see how many decades go by before school boards are willing to move to tablet technology. (And, no, I do not hold any financial interest in Apple, Inc.)