South Carolina is called the Palmetto State in part because of the fort that is over my left shoulder. Fort Moultrie was first constructed of palmetto logs and was key to the defense of Charleston Harbor during the first British attack during the Revolutionary War. The fiberous palmetto logs were able to absorb the impact of the cannon balls without breaking or splintering. This fort also saw duty during the Civil War and was refitted for coastal defense for the Spanish American War and WWII. A few other interesting side facts about this area. Chief Osceola of the Seminole tribe was imprisoned here and is buried outside the fort-except for his head, which was removed by his doctor at the time of his death and taken to New York City where it eventually was burned in a building fire! Also, this island was used as a pest house during the 1700s and 1800s. Slave ships bound for Charleston would unload their human cargo on Sullivan's Island to quarrantine the living and bury the dead in mass graves. Edgar Allan Poe's short story, The Gold Bug, was written while he was based here as a soldier.
So, how does this stop tie into how to be a great classroom teacher? I think that we can be more like palmetto forts when it comes to absorbing changes that we are presented with during our careers. Through my 20 years of teaching I have had to accomodate changes in special education law, technology, student attitudes and backgrounds, curriculum styles and standardized testing. I have made the transition from a junior high teacher to a middle school teacher to a high school teacher and a technology integration specialist. The only way to absorb these changes and stay at least slightly sane is to find ways to tie the new ideas into you existing knowledge and experience base without scrapping everything and starting over again. This is what has happened at Fort Moultrie, the existing structure incorporated the pieces of the previous forts, building on the solid foundation that was there but adding new defenses and equipment to make the fort more stable and better suited to handle changing weapons technology and warfare tactics.
Sometimes it is hard to see the upside. That is where technology comes in. Teachers can find a wide variety of ideas, help sites and resources on the web that can help them to adjust to changes that they face each year. If you are one of those teachers who needs a little help seeing the positives , you might be interested in checking out the following sites:
Special Education and Inclusion
Dealing with special children in your classroom
Dealing with alternative assessments and monitoring progress of special needs students
Dealing with GT, ADHD and other alphabet letter students
Technology Integration
Using the Mac - basic skills
Distance Learning opportunities for your classroom or professional development
Teacher Resources for Integrating Technology
Ohio Treasure Chest of Tech Resources - by grade and standard
OGT and OAT and Teaching with Standards
OGT Success website includes sample questions and tests as well a data
Tool to align state indicators with curriculum
Creating standards based lessons
Ohio Resource Center of lessons that are standards based
D3A2 Teacher Resource Center - you will need to create an account using your school email address, then you can search the resource center to find standardized based lessons and resources
Diversity in the Classroom
Resource links for dealing with diversity
The Diversity Web
Creating a diversity based curriculum
Teaching Tolerance homepage
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