Hello PDK Cyberspace Chapter members and
WELCOME to our Spring meeting!

It's the beginning of Spring, daylight savings is upon us and the first signs of Spring are in the air... Overall, a wonderful time to be alive, AND, it's a great time to be a member of PDK... Just think of all the wonderful things are we can accomplish here, in finding new solutions to educating the children of troubled lands like Afghanistan and the Balkan states; campaigns to increase literacy in the inner cities; book drives to assure that no student goes without books in school... It's all a apart of the PDK experience.

This last year has been rough on many of us, and we seem distracted still, by the events of 9/11 and the current hell that is the Middle East. I know I am.  I watch the events of the day unfold and ask myself, "Can I really make a difference in my field of education, so that we can bring an end to this insanity?"   Then I am drawn to Hiam Ginott... I am reminded that through all of this WE need to remember that WE  DO make a difference.  Ginott writes so beautifully::

"I have come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom. It's my personal approach that creates the climate. It's my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher, I possess a tremendous power to make a student's life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated, and a student humanized or dehumanized."
Hiam Ginott, Author and Teacher

I suggest that we make the same difference in the world around us and in our families.  We are only as strong as our circle of life and our friends.  Here in PDK, we DO make a difference.  Let's celebrate that this week.  We seek to grow our chapter this year and we need everyone's help in doing that.  I ask that you think about what you do as a teacher and member of PDK and share it on the web this week.  Reach out to your circle of influence and seek some new members.  After all, they deserve membership, don't they?

My your Spring be filled with the flowers that bloom in the gardens and classrooms of life...

John  :))  
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John L. Craddock, cossack@gte.net
President, PDK Cyberspace
Walden University

• Officers' reports
• Old business (if any)
• Tokyo meeting
• Membership drive
• Other new business
• Close