California Educator

February 2016

Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/635847

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Y O U R O P I N I O N S A N D L E T T E R S A R E W E L C O M E ! There is a 250-word limit, and all letters will be edited. If you send photos or other materials, identifications and permissions are required. Letters must include your name along with your address, daytime telephone number or email address. Email editor@cta.org. feedback READER CONTEST: THE PETS OF CTA You know this is one you can't pass up. We're looking for special photos of members and their best friends, be they dogs, cats, birds, fish, reptiles, amphibians, potbellied pigs, gerbils, arachnids — you get the idea. Show us your good side in two or three portraits or action pics, and you'll be eligible to win a $50 gi card for school supplies. Photos should show both member and pet, though we will consider pets alone. Be sure to put "Pets of CTA" in the subject line and include your name, your chapter and your pet's name. Enter by March 25. We'll pick three winners based on creativity, photography and animal magnetism. And we'll run a gallery of entrants in our May issue. ADDRESSING THE TEACHER SHORTAGE We have created the situation that exists now through shortsightedness and an overemphasis on creating the "perfectly prepared teacher." Seriously — do I really need a single subject credential to teach middle school history or language arts? The paperwork and class size overload for special education scares off all but the hardiest souls (and God bless each and every one of you wonderful people!). For the rest of us, the No Child Le Behind years le a legacy of mistrust of the profession in general. My husband and I have four adult chil- dren, and not a single one of them will consider going into teaching aer years of hearing what has happened in my schools. If you want well-trained, excellent teachers, then you need to treat them as the well-trained professionals they are! DEB ADAMS BEHM Alvord Educators Association MOVING PICTURE I am a retired elementary school teacher in my middle 80s. Today I cut out a picture on page 45 from the Decem- ber/January Educator to save. That picture is so poignant, so revealing, so awesome, I get tears in my eyes every time I see it. Though you don't see the older gentleman's face, the child's expression says so much. "Grandfather, did you hurt in that internment camp? What was it like? Were you cold?" The tenderness he feels toward the grandfather is palpable. Of course, I'm buying the book (The Cat Who Chose to Dream, a California Reads recommended book) for the great-granddaughter, and one for me. MARY TOVAR Retired At left, Halle catches up on a past issue. 3 February 2016

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