MenTeach E-News
July 2013
1) Math teacher James Whiteley nominated for Pride of Australia Medal
2) From Rugby to Kids: Tackling the Little Issues
3) MenTeach – New England Annual Reception a Great Success!
4) Student Group Promoting Men Teaching
5) Special Education Doctoral student is Florida’s 2013 Teacher of the Year
6) New Zealand – 7th EC-MENz Summit Report
7) Salaries of up to $99,000 and 12 weeks vacation
8) Op-Ed: We Are in Desperate Need of More Male Elementary School Teachers
9) Nisswa resident one of few men in early childhood education
10) Mister Rogers viral image: The story of the boy
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1) Math teacher James Whiteley nominated for Pride of Australia Medal
He’s the man who made a difference.
When students were ready to drop out of Willetton Senior High School, they decided to try again because of him.
When one girl didn’t attend classes because she had depression, he was the one who rang her at home every day to see if she was all right.
That man is maths teacher James Whiteley, whose lessons in life went way beyond the classroom.
Alexandra Ridgway, 18, credited him with turning her life around.
“As a sufferer of depression I began to withdraw,” she said. Read the entire article: /node/2213
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2) From Rugby to Kids: Tackling the Little Issues
He’s tackling a new career – but this time the team is a whole lot smaller.
Former Sharks NRL star Colin Best has traded football for childcare – and loves it.
“It is so rewarding to see the older kids getting ready for big school,” he said.
“My main involvement is the maintenance and accounts and admin guy.
“It is challenging and rewarding and every day is different. The kids talk away and can be hilarious in what they do and say.”
The father of three children under five owns the Best Kidz Alford Point centre with his wife Emma. Read the article: /node/2216
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3) MenTeach – New England Annual Reception a Great Success!
In April MenTeach – New England held its annual reception at the Massachusetts AEYC Conferrence in Lowell.
Many people didn’t attend because of the lock down in Boston after the bombings related the Boston Marathon. But we carried on despite. This year the MassAEYC asked if we could combine reception and it worked out very well.They were able to award their annual Gwen Morgan Emerging Leadership award and we were able to hand out our awards.
This year we gave out our two awards: The Steve Shuman Award in Support of Men in Early Education and Care –This year to Dr. Edgar Klugman who has been in early education for over to years as teacher, adminstrator, professor and well known expert on play. Ed and his daugther, Kerry (who is also an early educator) had to go past deserted streets in Newton and Belmont to make their way to Lowell. Kerry led us in one of Ed’s well known German drinking songs. Read the full story: /node/2219
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4) Student Group Promoting Men Teaching
Yo, MenTeach! Dr. Bill Strader here! Professor, Early Childhood Education and Facilitator for the Student Interest Forum of NAEYC!
We have had two presentation submissions accepted for DC in November.
We will advocate and send on any of the students who would like to know more about MenTeach!
Men in Early Childhood Education, etc.! Cool? See the link to their Facebook page: /node/2221
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5) Special Education Doctoral student is Florida’s 2013 Teacher of the Year
When pre-K, special education teacher Alexandre Lopes stood on stage at the 2013 Florida Department of Education/Macy’s Teacher of the Year Award ceremony in Orlando the evening of July 12, he fully expected to hear the name of one the other four Teacher of the Year finalists announced as the winner.
Alexandre Lopes, the Florida and Miami-Dade County Teacher of the Year, will next compete for the national title.
When the envelope was read, though, he got the surprise of a lifetime. He’d won. (The Florida Teacher of Year is selected from a pool of some 180,000 candidates.)
“I just went speechless,” Lopes said. “I startle easily, so I see all this confetti fall – I almost fell back. It was overwhelming. I remember seeing my dad in the audience and seeing my principal. I was shaking and crying. I thought of my kids and did what I do best and just was myself.” Read his story and interview: /node/2223
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6) New Zealand – 7th EC-MENz Summit Report
This year’s 2013 EC-MENz summit was hosted by Albert Samuel with his family and the community at the Cook Island Centre, Flaxmere in Hastings. The Summit began officially on Saturday morning with a very warm Cook Island welcome by our hosts.
Adam Buckingham, EC-MENz president, delivered his opening address for the two day gathering celebrating the successes: i.e. Facebook, the creation of an ECmenz brochure, two newsletters, the strategic plan, Sarah Farquhar’s nationwide research and the increase in male participation in NZ ECE. However, he also reminded us of the decrease of men attending at the regional networks, the decrease in EC-MENz membership and the need to build a united pathway to achieve our goals. Read the report: /node/2226
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7) Salaries of up to $99,000 and 12 weeks vacation
Salaries of up to $99,000, 12 weeks holiday and the chance to shape the next generation: they’re the selling points that will be put to WA students to boost the number of men taking up teaching.
In the wake of new lows in male teacher numbers, Education Minister Peter Collier met the heads of the Catholic and public primary school principal bodies this week to map out a plan to stem the exodus.
Mr. Collier said the state’s brightest teachers would be sent into schools to sell the profession to high school students.
He said the teachers would correct misconceptions about the profession, including that it was low paid. Graduate starting salaries would be $60,545 from December. Read the article: /node/2228
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8) Op-Ed: We Are in Desperate Need of More Male Elementary School Teachers
Early in my career, before I was married, I admit that I enjoyed all the comments and attention that came with being a male elementary school teacher. “Awww, that’s so cute” or “You must be sensitive” were ones I heard quite often.
I remember that even in my teacher prep program, there were only three male elementary education students. Carl Bilotta, Corey Serio, and I sat at the same table, back of the room, for most of our methods classes. We were the three “amigos” in the world of the “amigas.” Read his editorial: /node/2231
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9) Nisswa resident one of few men in early childhood education
Bill Cruz is not your average student.
In fact, he’s the exact opposite of the 19-year-old white woman that typically sits in the desk of Jeanette Rydberg’s early childhood classes.
At 47, Cruz is the second man in two decades to graduate from Central Lakes College’s Early Childhood AAS program at the Brainerd campus.
That’s something both he and Rydberg want to change.
There’s an assumption that men don’t belong in the early education field, Cruz said.
“I want to break that stereotype,” he said. “I can be just as loving and nurturing as a female.”
The Nisswa resident didn’t always have such high hopes. Read the article: /node/2233
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10) Mister Rogers viral image: The story of the boy
The boy’s name was Tommy Paulhamus. The “was” should tell you that his story does not have a happy ending. But on the day my father captured the now-iconic image of him with Mister Rogers in 1978, which was widely shared after the Newtown shootings — when he was not yet five years old, living in what was then called the Home for Crippled Children — Tommy was quite happy, indeed.
He was always a happy child, his mother, Beverly Paulhamus, recalled fondly. She was weeks away from adopting him when the photo was taken, and the staff at the Pittsburgh care center, now called the Children’s Institute, had told her about the moment that her soon-to-be-son had met Mister Rogers. See the photo: /node/2235
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