Great Grammar Video for Students to Watch

Here is a fun video to impress upon your students the importance of using correct grammar. Click on the link below....

 Great Grammar Video

It's Teacher-Share Time...Share Your Great Ideas!

Hello Teachers!

I hope you are have a restful summer. I have been sporadically, as I'm sure some of you have also been, working on lesson plans and preparing in general for the upcoming school year. Innovative and interactive lesson plans seems to be one of the main priorities in improving classroom instruction while following the state's curricula.

So, come on, creative and dynamic K-12 teachers out there...share a few of your best class activities, projects, tips that you have found to be successful and exciting for your students!

Tips for Teachers: Projecting a Professional Image

One of the complaints made by teachers is the lack of public respect for the profession. While it is virtually impossible to cause a one-hundred-eighty degree change in public opinion overnight, there are certain things that any teacher can do to hone their image inside and outside the classroom. Consider the following tips:

1)      Identify the various instructional strategies you use regularly in the classroom and structure your classroom accordingly. Most elementary teachers have this skill down to a science, but our secondary-level colleagues tend to trail in this respect. Classroom decorations should no longer serve just for aesthetics, but as daily teaching and resource tools for students. Allow your instructional strategies to dictate the order and décor of your classroom. For example, if you utilize journal writing, perhaps you can create a journal station, complete with writing tip posters and a bin for students’ journals. If vocabulary is pertinent in your classroom, create an interactive word wall in a visible area around your classroom. Invest in or create your own posters that display information or resources that are specific to your curriculum.

2)      Communication is pertinent! Create and maintain multiple avenues of communication for the convenience of your students and parents. Remember, the countless hours of effort and preparation for what you do in the classroom is best expressed through those who experience it first and second hand. Encourage students and parents to email you through your school or other specified email address. Create a class website that is email accessible, has homework and project assignments uploaded, and update it regularly. Respond to your email promptly by checking your email account at least twice on weekdays and at least once on weekends. Advertise through word-of-mouth, parent letters, class website, and classroom posting, your email address, class website URL, and the dates and times when you are available before or after school for tutoring or parent conferences.

3)      Show empathy with parents and maintain professionalism. Every teacher receives a few emails, voice mails, or parent conferences a year where the parent(s) is obviously displeased about the status of their child’s grades or social interaction due to the account that their child described to them with vigor and passion. Remember to put yourself in their shoes. Their feelings rarely stem from just the incident at hand. As human beings, our boiling point is often fed through a variety of factors that is brought to its pinnacle by the last factor. As a professional, you should avoid using vulgarities in response to the parents’ and/or child’s vulgar language. Should a parent become extremely irate or indicate intimidation tactics, you should only agree to have or continue to have a face-to-face conference in the presence of an administrator.

4)      When approaching a parent-teacher conference via phone or face-to-face, you should be conscious of a few things as a professional. First listen intently, without interrupting, and maintain open body language. While listening, identify the main issues that you need to address. Once you have calmly addressed the main issues with a sense of empathy, offered a hand of “good will” such as outlining a plan of communication between you and the parent to monitor the situation as needed. Ultimately, parents want to feel like they are heard, understood, respected, and that their child has a quality learning experience with reasonable opportunities for optimum performance.

5)      Be organized! Teachers have hectic schedules throughout the school year, however, you should make the time and effort to create a practical organization system that is easy to maintain. When others enter your classroom and take a look at your desk, they should not feel a sudden urge to pop an aspirin and lay down on a couch. Having a messy teacher’s desk and work area also tend to create a domino effect of students, parents, colleagues, and administrators questioning your ability to recall information, retrieve documents, or executing basic teacher accountability tasks.

6)      Identify your strengths, interests, and focus on developing them through professional development workshops. Resist the professional trap of attending and being involved in everything that is offered. Remember, a jack-of-all-trades-but-master-of-none approach may eventually work against you. A teacher that is considered the faculty’s expert in one or two areas may appear more indispensable than a teacher who is has a little knowledge about a plethora of things. Once you feel you have exhausted your development in one or two areas, slowly begin to expand your knowledge in another area or two. For example, if you are a science teacher and your strength is biology, seek to collaborate with other biology teachers to create innovative biology-based lesson plans and present this at a departmental meeting. Take your favorite unit(s) and expand it/them to create assemblies with famous guest speakers or offer academically intense long-distance field trips that are offered to other science students. Attend science teacher workshops and local, regional, and national science conferences whenever possible.

   7)      Learn to say “no” when you are asked or volunteered to become involved in a variety of activities, committees, and projects. Keep focused on your responsibility to consistently provide a quality learning experience in your classroom and of your professional goals. Limit your participation in activities, projects, and others’ agenda that are not mandatory and may compromise your priorities. When others begin their pitch take a deep breath, listen, and take the time to think about it before committing yourself. In the long run, you will be appreciated for your quality of instruction and dedication to your students much more than your last-minute agreement to chaperone the soccer team road trip that will return to the school grounds at midnight on a Tuesday.

8)      Do you have plenty of great ideas for your classroom or beyond, but the school’s lack of funds is a major hindrance? Organize fundraisers and begin grant writing. Many school districts offer grant writing courses for any interested faculty members. If you are timid about such a venture with which you are unfamiliar, join forces with equally motivated colleagues once you are made aware of guidelines and procedures by the administration.

9)      Join a few professional organizations and be an active member! Once you have identified your professional interests and goals, find the organizations that will provide you with resources, support, and opportunities to prepare for professional advancement. For example, if you are an English teacher who is interested in advocating for teachers and an eventual advancement to administration, you may consider joining organizations such as the National Association for Teachers of English (NATE), the local, state, and national teacher’s union, and the American Association of School Administrators (AASA). Remember to keep your main priorities in focus and only join the number of organizations that you can maintain an active status. You want to be more than a card holder. You want to have name recognition within the organization.

10)   Surround yourself with colleagues who are sincere, positive, and proactive in their career as a teacher. Form an alliance that is supportive and informative of professional development and opportunities. Shy away from colleagues who are uninterested in improving their instructional strategies or who view faculty meetings and professional development workshops as prime opportunities to “tweet” or update their Facebook status.

11)   Have you completed intense professional development workshops and received graduate credit or certification of some kind? Display your certificates! Inexpensive sign holders or picture frames can display to your students and their parents alike that you have gone above and beyond the basic requirements for teacher certification to provide a quality learning experience in the classroom. Equate the effects of your displayed certificates to that of entering your family doctor’s office and seeing his or her certificates displayed on the wall.

12)   At the end of each school year it is important to critique your performance. Did you accomplish your professional goals? Did you establish and maintain the optimum learning environment in your classroom? How could you improve your instructional and professional strategies for next year?

13)   Seek to be consistent and fair in classroom management. Gone are the days when students enter your classroom with respect for you simply because you are the adult assigned as their teacher. Therefore the first few weeks of school are critical for establishing yourself as an impartial, firm, but fair teacher in the eyes of your students and their parents. Failure to attend to this aspect of your job can result in a slippery slope of classroom management disaster! Once you have established yourself as a consistently fair teacher, you must consciously work to maintain this image under times of extreme pressure and stress throughout the school year. This is important for high school teachers, especially, since high school students have a tendency to have long-lasting memories for teachers who they deem as unfair, partial, or inconsistent.

14)   And last, but not least, dress professionally! Adhere to the professional dress code for your school. Avoid wearing clothing that is too tight or too revealing. Dress yourself in clean and neat clothing. Avoid wearing excessive or flashy jewelry. These things tend to be distracting to all around you. In short, dress in a way that would not embarrass yourself or your colleagues as a professional, if a member of your state legislature toured your school as part of an assessment to give teachers a raise.

 In summary, quality still trumps quantity. It is not how many activities with which you are involved, it is the quality of your service to the few areas that you seek to master. Do your job…and do it well. The great news is that many teachers already implement these tips daily and are regarded in high esteem within their classroom, their faculty, and abroad!
~ LaNora M. James, Ed.D.

Parents and Teachers on the Same Page (youtube video clip)

Proactive Parents of Teens Increase the Likelihood of Academic Success

Today's society is so busy and demanding, and even more so for parents of teenagers. Balancing time with church, family, organizations, your teen's sports/activities, and your career keep your days overflowing. Just catching your breath after a long day seems to take priority most days. Because most of your evenings are very similar to this description, communication with your teen's teacher(s) tend to take a back seat on your priority list as the school year progresses. After all, it is time that your teen take more responsibility for their education, right?

After the first few weeks of school and the Back-to-School Night visit, most parents' questions concerning the teen's teacher(s), homework, and learning experience begin to wane to an occasional brief question, perhaps to once or twice a week. Parents, whose child generally succeed in the classroom, often fall into the assumption that things are okay until they receive a shocking revelation from the child's teacher via phone call,  report card, email, or parent-teacher conference that their child has drifted from the expected course of performance.

Most parents react in a flustered manner, very similar to the reaction seen when a major water pipe leak has sprung, grappling to find out where the communication and the connection broke down. The questions gush from every direction...Well, didn't you write down your homework assignment and the due date? Didn't I tell you to ignore those kids who don't mean you any good? Why didn't you ask for help? Why didn't you tell me you needed poster board for a project? Didn't I tell you not to wait until the last minute?!? Why didn't you put your homework in your book bag last night like I told you to? And, to irritate you to no end, your teen stands there with either apathy, dozens of transparent excuses, or a facial expression that indicate their prayer to be miles away from the situation at hand.

Let's face it! Teens usually manipulate their parents by only feeding them certain aspects of their educational experience that benefit them at the moment. Therefore, parents get a skewed impression of what is happening, even in the best possible scenario. So, how do you maintain a healthy line of communication with your teen's teachers while requiring your teen to take more ownership of his or her educational experience? Instead of "smothering mother," think: "big brother." Here are some steps you could take:
1. Be clear (in your own special way) with your teen, before the school year begins, that you will obtain and maintain good communication with his or her teachers.
2. Make a point to communicate to your teen's teacher by the end of the second day of school if your teen has any medical condition or traumatic condition that may impair his or her ability to perform or behave in the classroom. Waiting until a major incident occurs before sharing this information is not a good idea.

3. Attend the parent-student school orientation and make the effort to meet your teen's teachers. A simple handshake, smile, and brief introduction will do. This immediately signals teachers that you are concerned and supportive of what they are trying to accomplish in the classroom.

4. Be sure to attend at least the first parent-teacher conference of the school year. Again, this signals to teachers that you are concerned and supportive.
5. Create a routine for teacher communication (i.e. establish one day every two weeks and the time when you will monitor your teen's progress and contact teachers, if necessary). With so many lines of communication offered online (i.e. email, class/school websites, text messages, blogs, etc) you should never be surprised about your teen's academic progress.
6. Talk to your teen regularly about their assignments, due dates, and their learning experience.
7. Keep a small notebook to log communication with your teen's teachers. Create a chart that includes the date, time, method of communication (i.e. email, phone, conference), topic discussed, and the resolve/outcome. This will help you identify patterns of your teen's behavior.
8. Write down all avenues of communication made available to you (i.e. contact names, emails, class websites, etc) and place them near or on your home phone, cell phone, and home computer for easy access.
9. Ensure that you have access to any online attendance and grade books your teacher or school may offer and check them often. If you have questions about attendance, low grades, or missing grades throughout the school year, contact the teacher immediately via email or via phone during the teacher's planning period. Remember, waiting until report cards are issued to assess your child's progress is reactive.
10. Most importantly, establish and enforce clear and consistent consequences at home for your teen should they demonstrate irresponsibility or their grades drop unnecessarily.

Establishing a foundation for positive and frequent communication with your teen's teachers throughout the school year yields academic success while teaching your teen that they are ultimately responsible for their learning experience.
~ LaNora M. James, Ed.D.

Advocating for Good Grades or Teacher Bullying?

               I have had the distinct pleasure of conversing with numerous teachers from different school districts throughout the United States. One of the benefits of these conversations is realizing that your situation is not unique and that others are fighting the same battles. Another benefit is to gain insight in dealing with issues that you may have never considered. In any case, I usually walk away from the conversations feeling renewed, validated, and supported. As you can imagine, the list of conversation topics vary from the challenges of preparing students for standardized tests to the extent of teacher duties to the hilarious, shake-your-head, and jaw-dropping stories of a career as a teacher. However, there seems to be a common theme to most of the teacher-to-teacher conversations that I have had recently, which is of  relentless pleadings or demands for extra time, extra credit or grade changes at the eleventh hour by students, parents, and in some cases, even administration.

Due to the No Child Left Behind Act (2001), teachers are challenged by administration to “go the extra mile” (i.e. implement differentiated instructional strategies to reach students who are visual, auditory, and/or tactile/kinesthetic learners, who speak English as a second language,and who have special needs). The pressure to improve statistical school-wide performance, which includes standardized test scores, grade promotion, and graduation rates, rests mostly on the shoulders of teachers. Because of this, teachers are often regarded as the “frontline warriors” in the quest to adequately educate our youth.

However, from the teachers’ point of view, it seems that the push to energize and motivate our youth in earning their education is often predicated on the “feel good” approach, which in turn, leads to a feeling of entitlement on the students’ part to automatically make good grades. A domino effect is spontaneously created and causes teachers to work harder than ever to: a) produce and implement lesson plans that are innovative, energetic, and interactive with often limited resources and personal funds; b) communicate even more with parents via email, class websites, parent-teacher conferences, and phone calls that often extend beyond school hours; c) grade most papers using detailed grading rubrics that are produced, explained, and distributed to students beforehand; d) meticulously document students’ progress, communication with parents, and procedures that are followed/not followed; e) reach out to individual students to motivate, counsel, and advise; and f) offer extra credit opportunities and/or tutoring after school.

Pressure for teachers to go above and beyond is beneficial because it hones the teaching profession in the general public’s eye as a professional career comparable to the more publicly respected professional careers of medicine, law, and business. However, it can be just as rigorously argued that such pressure is also a hardship as teachers routinely sacrifice their personal time for self and family, energy, and personal funds to “make it happen.” Teachers with whom I have conversed have gone “above and beyond” in their classroom and believe that relentless pleas and demands, from students, parents, or administration for unwarranted extra time for assignments, more extra credit opportunities, and blatant grade changes begs the question of whether these actions are advocating for good grades or “teacher bullying.” Have we gone too far in our quest to improve our statistics? Are the efforts of students, parents, and/or administration going too far? Is this “advocating” or “bullying”? Have you witnessed this happening? If so, what was your perception? Write your thoughts below.

~ LaNora M. James, Ed.D.

Organization is the Key to Your Teen's Academic Success!

"Be neat!"  "Be organized!" "Test on Tuesday...don't forget!" "Write your homework in your assignment book!" Many have heard those reminders from your former teachers. You knew that it was important, but it seems too boring and tedious a task to focus upon consistently. That's why your parents shook their head(s) in wonder when you unloaded your book bag at the end of the year. That's why the school janitor gasped in horror as your PBJ sandwich which was stuffed beneath 5 months of papers, notebooks, textbooks, and articles of clothing, seemed to either grow extremities and walked out of your hall locker or had an aroma suspiciously similar to a science-project-gone-wrong. Most of us chuckle at the error of our ways in middle and high school and would admit that we should have done better and perhaps our grades might have been better had we actually listened to our teachers and had been more organized.

Every school year I observe the interaction between parent/guardian, teacher, and student. The parent or guardian asks the teacher about their teen's academic progress. The student drops his or her head in anticipation of what he or she knows is to come. The teacher announces the current average and classroom performance, which sometimes is typically less that acceptable. The most common reports includes not turning in homework or projects, not performing well on quizzes and tests, etc. The parent or guardian's next question that follows is: "Well, what can I do at home to help him/her at home?" Now, here's the GOLDEN RESPONSE: "Reinforce good organizational skills. Your teen has been instructed how to organize and prepare for this class. Holding your teen accountable for his or her organizational skills at home may make the world of difference."

Here are some suggestions for you, as a parent, to hold your teen accountable for his or her organizational skills at home:

1) Purchase an agenda or small tablet/notebook just for homework assignments and then check them periodically (preferably 2 or more times a week). If you have a middle school teen or an immature high school teen, you may find it beneficial to initial your teen's homework assignment each day. Writing a note in his/her agenda/homework notebook to the teacher is also a great way to keep the lines of communication open. Create a reward system for your teen doing this to something that he/she values and you can monitor independently at home.
2) Create a designated, well lit homework area within your home that is conducive to productive work and studying. This area should be free of distracting gadgets or technological gizmos. If the teen has access to a desktop or laptop in this area, then the area should be in area of the home where you can view the easily view the screen.
3) Create a routine for your teen to clean out his or her book bag daily or at least once a week on a designated day. This prevents completed homework assignments and forms/letters that need to be signed from going unnoticed for long periods of time.
4) Purchase one large 3-ring binder (check with your teen's teacher first) with dividers for each subject. Keeping up with one large notebook is usually easier for most middle and high school students. You may also want to randomly check your teen's notebook to ensure that he or she is keeping work for each class in its designated area. If they are not, call them on it immediately! Some high schools are encouraging students to have laptops/notebooks/IPads to type their notes, research, create documents, etc. You may want to consider this option, if your teen has consistently demonstrated maturity in handling and looking after their personal belongings.
5) Have your teen to create and post an academic calendar in a prominent location in your home. This calendar should include dates for all quizzes/tests, projects, and homework assignments; school holidays; extracurricular activities; dates that progress and report cards are issued; dates of parent/teacher conferences; dates for standardized testing; and any other school related events. This keeps your teen abreast of his schedule so that he/she can exercise good time management skills and it keeps you "in the know" throughout the school year. School calendars are issued at the beginning of the school year and can also be downloaded from the school and/or district's website.
6) Have regular conversations with your teen about his/her assignments, academic workload, and deadlines.  Keeping the lines of communication open with your teen gives him/her a sense of support and accountability.
7) Post school and teacher websites and emails in a prominent location in the home, preferably near the designated study area. Both your teen and yourself should utilize these resources regularly throughout the school year for questions, concerns, and affirmations. It is a good idea to request that your teen's teacher upload instructions to projects, grading rubrics, or forms/letters to their website (if they do not already do so) in case a paper, form, directions are misplaced.
8) Monitor and keep school supplies replenished at home. Keep all school supplies in a designated area that is accessible to your teen and check for the need to replenish at least once a week. You may be surprised at how teens tend to improvise instead of immediately informing parents of needed school supplies. This creates a domino effect, leading to your teen not turning in assignments on time or assignments of less quality.
9) And most importantly...model good organizational skills for your teen! Demonstrate and explain why you organize bills, documents, etc the way that you do. Demonstrate how using charts, diagrams, and lists enhance your efficiently and ability to remember tasks, obligations, and to sort out dilemmas.

Again, developing organizational skills is key to preventing feeling overwhelmed, frustrated, and confused. Organizational skills facilitates a clear mind that is free to think logically and remember important tasks and deadlines. Many of these suggestions require establishing routines within your household. Once teens get use to a routine, they tend to remind you if the routine is somehow broken. And parents who reinforce the importance of organizational skills their household often give testimony of the drastic improvement in their teen's academic performance.
~ LaNora M. James, Ed.D.

Transitioning from Middle to High School

If your teen is transitioning from middle school to high school, you may notice a mixture of body language that range from anxiety to overconfidence. As a parent, you may feel some anxiety of your own. Exactly how challenging will this transition be for your teen?

Here are seven skills your teen will be expected to obtain and develop:

1) Higher order thinking skills (i.e. the ability to explain why, synthesize, analyze, innovate, evaluate, etc.)
2) Writing skills (i.e. spelling, grammar, capitalization, organization of thought)
3) Advanced reading skills (i.e. identify tone, implications, predict, etc.)
4) Research skills (i.e. finding and identifying acceptable resources, paraphrasing)
5) Technology skills (i.e. using various search engines, emailing spreadsheets, keyboarding, presentation programs, etc.)
6. Advanced math skills
7. Broadened knowledge base in science and history

~ LaNora M. James, Ed.D.

(Excerpt from: "Parents, You are Teachers, Too!" by: LaNora M. James, Ed.D. (2011)

Respect the Story!

I sat in the metal folding chair fairly comfortable with the exception of my feet, which were icy cold from the thin flooring that covered the ice hockey rink. I sighed somewhat contently. I'd finally made it, by the grace of God. I looked around at the large crowd sitting in the stadium seats. I took a few moments to reflect upon the challenges I had to overcome to make it to this point and I sighed again with gratitude that God had kept my mind through it all. My glance toward the crowd was distracted every few seconds by flashing cameras, whistling, and shout-outs by the family members of my fellow graduates.  Where is my family, I wondered. I didn't have time to dote on that thought as the doctorate graduate beside me anxiously grabbed my arm and proudly pointed out her two sons, husband, and parents in the stands. I smiled, looking politely up in the stands, waving to them at her insistence.

I felt detached from the formalities that were taken place at the podium including the welcome, introductions, and such. After all, I have attended what seems like countless graduations of my siblings, my own, friends, extended family members, and as a high school faculty member. Again, my mind wandered and I searched the stands for my family member. Undoubtedly my back was to them, I reasoned, since I was the first person in a double-lined procession, being the shortest of the doctorate graduates entering the arena, and ended up sitting in the first seat on the front row.

The graduation speeches were not the typical, dutiful speeches. The two graduate speeches given by a male master's graduate and a female bachelor's graduate were indeed dynamic and invigorating! The master's graduate gave a tear-jerking, heartfelt speech, speaking gratitude for his family and his inspiring mother. It was a pass-the-Kleenex moment. Then a spry, young bachelor graduate riled us up in a pep rally for our futures. Her enthusiasm was contagious and soon we found ourselves smiling and chuckling as her bubbly personality oozed throughout her presentation. Both speeches were memorable and appreciated by the crowd.

The keynote speaker, a full-time motivational speaker gave the crowd a taste of Shakespeare, James Brown, and Martin Luther King, Jr. all wrapped into one. He took us to Sunday morning service, with lines of the speech ringing so true, several people in the stands yelled out an "Amen!" and "That's all right now!" before they knew it. He broke down the terminology upon which his thesis statement was created to its original Latin base, using the eloquent diction of a Shakespearean professor. Then before we knew it, was making us chuckle and yell "I feel good!" in reference to our location, the James Brown Arena, in Augusta, GA. By the time the keynote speaker finished his motivational sermon, the graduates and guests alike had all but forgotten the chill they felt from the air off of the ice hockey rink that was just below the wooden floor covering. 

           

The moment came and one by one the seven doctorate graduates were acknowledged and hooded with their academic colors of their major. Then it was our turn to watch other graduates to receive their due recognition. Instead of becoming disinterested and bored, I became fixated on the faces of the graduates as they strolled across the stage. Some were jubilant, some were nonchalant, but there were some who showed determination, resilience...so much so that I strained as I imagined their story. Some of their stories were visible and audible and I watched them overcome their physical challenges as they walked across the stage or heard their mothers, wives, husbands, and siblings yell out a short, telling blurb (i.e. "You did it, baby...Keep your head up!" or "Nothing can stop you now!" "I'm SO proud of you...that's my baby/wife/husband!"). From both fists being pumped in the air by several of the men to the one young African American woman bursting in an exuberant praise dance on stage at the calling of her name...the stories of resilience and perseverance flowed.

I watched a young lady approach the stage in her bachelor's cap and gown. Her eyes were haggard with exhaustion, but she displayed a look of calm and resolve.  As she began her walk across stage, I heard three youngsters suddenly yell out: "Mommy! Mommy! Daddy, there's Mommy!" I saw her slightly turn toward the voices as she walked and saw a look of love and pride as she smiled and waved at them. I felt like I understood the strains and pressures of being a wife and mother, and perhaps even an employee, while she went to school. It's plenty on anyone's plate, but she endured! I knew that at that moment she probably wouldn't change anything for how she felt at that moment.

Another graduate, physically challenged and mobile via an electric wheelchair, took upwards of 3 minutes to be lifted up on the stage by the chair lifter and drive across the stage. As I watched, I noticed that she had no sense of urgency as she focused on each step of the procedure of pronouncing her name to the emcee, driving across the stage, and receiving her degree. She took her challenges in stride and visibly showed in her face that she was focused on the big picture...the end product. Just watching her reminded me of our haste to sometimes just "get things done". Sometimes, it's not about how fast we can get things behind us; it's about just ensuring that it gets done, period.

The graduate that was most imprinted upon my memory was that of a Caucasian male who looked to be in his 50s, walking across the stage to receive his associate's degree. At first, I wondered...what took him so long to do this...but then I saw his face. His face was worn with what seemed like the cares of life. Perhaps he had children who he placed first, working hard to get them through school first. Who knows? But his face definitely revealed a hint of a much deeper story than what he was able to tell in his short labored walk across that stage. As the emcee called his name, I heard a matronly voice call out from the crowd: "You did it, honey! Proud of you!" His face softened into a slight smile. 

Moments later I heard a voice say: "And now, Class of 2011, you may move your tassels over..." I stood up and reveled in the excitement of the now graduated class and the crowd in the stands, humbled by what I'd witnessed over the last 35 minutes. One thing that I took away from this experience was that no matter the degree that the graduates had earned, they shared a common theme, upon which the mascot of the University was based...overcoming the odds, persevering until the end, and rising above the challenges. No matter the background, personal flaws, accidents, illnesses, or life mistakes, one should RESPECT THE STORY that each person has to share.  

~ LaNora M. James, Ed.D.