August 2000

Another four weeks have quickly passed and I have had the opportunity to meet and share my ideas with interesting and interested people. My trips to Mississippi and North Carolina were memorable. My own high school's 50th reunion gave me a chance to address some of the near 5,000 students I have taught over the last 33 years. What a thrilling day that was!

Certainly, one of the highlights of the month was the week spent at International Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama. There, all the Teachers of the Year from across the United States and its territories were joined by 224 outstanding educators from countries around the world to share a week of learning, growing, and sharing.

Our teams learned to survive through water training as we practiced a simulated parachute drop, as we swam from our downed space capsule to our helicopter pickup, as we learned to work together.

We were accountable for two space missions, and during these missions we learned so many things. The most difficult feat all week for me was being assigned, along with two other "astronauts" to an EVA — an extra-vehicular activity. Susan, Larry, and I were to be space-walkers.

We left our capsule by crawling through small tubular passageways, and we were packed with dry ice and dressed in our space suits. Out we went to build our triangle in space. The work was very difficult — probably the most difficult labor I have ever done. We had to encourage each other, give each other suggestions, and work together in every way. It is difficult to describe our feelings of elation when we completed our task.

I cannot help but think of the three of us working together as an analogy for our schools. Here we have three groups: the district administration, the site administration, and the teachers. We create a greet circle with three parts. Each group has a role to fill, and when we work together we succeed. And as we prepare for another school year, we must remember that we are all involved in one major task — the best education we can give our students. We are all accountable in reaching that goal because we are all teachers.

Dr. Marilyn Whirry

Check back often to see journal entries from the coming months.

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