BEGIN Project

Summer Institute – Save the Dates

The Conflict Prevention, Management, and Resolution course for teachers will be our 3-day BEGIN Summer Institute this year. It will be offered on June 11, 12, 13 in Denton and June 18, 19, 20 in Wichita Falls. Mentors and BEGIN alumni are invited to participate in this exciting hands-on program.

Kay Elliott and Dr. Linda Galindo will present the Conflict Prevention, Management, and Resolution course, and they structured the 3-day program to be highly engaging and interactive. We think that you will find this course very applicable to such areas as:

• Classroom Management
• Interaction with Parents
• Interaction with the School Administration
• Personal and Professional Interaction with Peers

Due to the popularity of this program, participants would typically pay hundreds of dollars to attend; however, as a BEGIN scholar/mentor, the Conflict Prevention, Management, and Resolution course will be free to you! Registration will be coming soon.

BEGIN Chats

Thanks so much to those of you who attended our chat on Tuesday, March 24. We’d like to thank Rodney Wilson for acting as moderator. We discussed modifications for Gifted Students and some excellent ideas were shared.

Everyone chatting with us finds it an easy and valuable experience. There is always good participation from the mentors, but we’d like to encourage more scholars to attend. We’re trying to cover topics that students might not get enough information about (or any at all) from college classes. The chats provide a great opportunity to “pick the brains” of these experienced teachers in order to become better prepared for your first teaching experience.

We encourage all scholars and mentors to join in. Mentors, please extend a special invitation to your scholar(s) and attend our next chat with them. If you need help with your login/password or instructions on how to chat, feel free to contact me at Lemoyne.Dunn@unt.edu

Our next chat will be late in April. We hope to see you there.

Applications for Next Year

Current BEGIN scholars do not need to reapply to continue next year in the BEGIN program. All you will need to do is sign an ADDENDUM to your original BEGIN contract.

There will be a Pizza and Scholarship Information meeting at MSU 5:00 - 6:30 pm in the Clark Student Center Wichita I and II.

Please, let your friends know this scholarship is available. We have over 30 more scholarships to give for the 2009-2010 academic year. Information and the application can be found on the BEGIN website.

April Mentor Corner

When this month rolls around, every teacher needs some humor. Maybe this story I found from the Mason Street School- San Diego County Historical Days Association- will elicit a little smile.

By: cogdogblog | See this photo on flickr

1. Teachers will fill lamps, clean chimneys and trim wicks each day.
2. Each teacher will bring a scuttle of coal and a bucket of water for the day’s use.
3. Make your pens carefully. You may whittle nibs for the individual tastes of children.
4. Men teachers may take one evening a week for courting purposes or two evenings a week if they go to church regularly.
5. After ten hours in the school, the teacher should spend the remaining time reading the Bible and other good books.
6. Women teachers who marry or engage in other unseemly conduct will be dismissed.
7. Every teacher who smokes, uses liquor in any form, frequents pool or public halls, or gets shaved in a barber shop will give good reasons to suspect his worth, intentions, integrity, and honesty.
8. The teacher who performs his labors faithfully without fault for five years will be given an increase of 25 cents a week in his pay - providing the Board of Education approves.

This is a constant in today’s society: Two million unwanted, unloved, abused children are in public schools - the only institutions that take them all in.

Linda Veach
Mentor Coordinator