Three Items

I. On the Road Again

I took advantage of Stark County's early voting last Friday (at the court house here in Dickinson) because I knew that I would be out of town all day yesterday (Election Day) and today for work: I accompanied 29 education majors on a field experience to New Town, ND where they served as student aides in the public schools. We left on a charter bus at 5:30 A.M. yesterday and spent all day in the elementary, middle, and high schools. We spent the night at the Four Bears Lodge, where we also ate supper and breakfast. At the end of the school day today, we drove home through the rain, making it back by 4:30 P.M. before the nasty weather began!

The population of the student body in schools on the Fort Berthold Reservation is more diverse (both ethnically and socioeconomically) than that in Dickinson's schools, so this field experience was enlightening for the education majors in many ways. It was also pretty fun because the DSU students got to teach lessons and interact with students one-to-one both days. I'm friends with the elementary school principal and the school district superintendent there, so I enjoyed getting to see them again, too. I'm exhausted, but it was a good trip.


II. Meeting with Teachers

The girls' parent/teacher conferences were yesterday, so Susan had to attend them without me; but she filled me in tonight, and the teachers seem to think that everything is going well with our daughters in their classrooms. Their report cards certainly couldn't be better. Each of the girls was tested and identified to receive instruction in the Gifted and Talented Program, so they leave their classrooms some times of the day for small-group work with the Gifted and Talented teacher--but the same Gifted and Talented teacher works with all three girls, so that meant just one additional stop last night for Susan.

The school recently administered some NWEA assessments, so our daughters' results on those tests were available, too. Their math, language, and reading skills are above their grade levels, according to NWEA. That matches what we see in the results of their Accelerated Reader tests, too (to determine at what grade level each of them is able to read). Once a teacher at our children's school has taught a Moberg, she can be sure that the administration will place future Mobergs in her classroom, too (Abigail's teacher had Suzanna last year; Hillary's teacher had Abigail two years ago). However, Susan said that the teachers were good about not comparing one daughter to another, instead talking only about the girl currently in the class and her unique strengths and areas to work on.

I must say, for as much as those kids read and tend to their homework each night, I'd have been very surprised to hear anything less flattering from the teachers.


III. Playing with Adults

There is a handbell choir at our church, and the director asked Suzanna if she'd like to join and learn to play handbells. They rehearse Wednesday nights, and tonight was Suzanna's first time with them. I asked her to tell all about it:

"I said, 'Yes!' It works out really well with my schedule because at 6:30 P.M. Wednesdays is when it starts, and that's when Hillary has church choir, so I'm there at the church anyway. Handbell choir goes from 6:30 to 7:30 P.M., but I have my own church choir from 7:00 to 7:45 P.M., so I get to play with the handbell choir for only a half-hour. However, at my first half-hour, I think I learned tons. I know which three bells are mine, and I know what the notes are for those three bells. My three bells are high B, B flat, and C. It's really fun because I'm getting to meet lots of other people, and I'm learning how to play bells at the same time. There is a middle school-aged girl and one high school-aged girl in the handbell choir, too, but the rest of the bell ringers are adults."