 |
N A T I O N A L N E W S L E T T E R |
 Regional News |
|
Vacancies | ||
August 2006 Message from the President Dear Fellow Montessorians, To keep you up to date with the happenings of SAMA Exco, we have handed over the website to a company to make the website more attractive and user friendly. This should be completed within three weeks; I feel that this website will be useful to all Montessorians. We can put the newsletter on the website and also lots of other useful information. We are putting together the member satisfaction survey and will include a salary, fee survey too. Unfortunately, Sam Streak our General Secretary resigned from SAMA Exco, she will be greatly missed. The Montessori community and Exco, would like to take this opportunity to thank you for all your dedication and hard work. I would like to introduce you all to our new Regional Representative for Gauteng South her name is Nicola Lake from Little Orchard – a big SAMA welcome. I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your hard work and dedication. A special kind of person is a teacher, a Montessori teacher is a totally dedicated person. I would like you to think of what you are doing in your community, how you are molding the children around you. How you are encouraging them to respect each other and other people's property. You are making a difference in the lives of the children around you. Just imagine if you could influence the community around you; just think how peaceful the world would be. I hope that this will inspire you! Regards Christine Clark, on behalf of the Executive Committee Teddy Stallard Remember the story about Teddy Stallard:- Even though his teacher said she loved all in her class the same, down inside she wasn't being completely truthful. When ever she marked Teddy's paper's, she got a certain perverse pleasure out of putting X's next to the wrong answers and F's at the top of his papers, she always did it with flair. His records read:- 1st grade – Teddy show's promise with his work and attitude, but poor home situation. 2nd grade – Teddy could do better. Mother is seriously ill. He receives little help at home. 3rd grade – Teddy is a good boy but too serious, he is a slow learner. His mother died this year. 4th grade – Teddy is very slow, but well behaved. His father shows no interest. Christmas came and the boys and girls in Miss Thompson's class bought her Christmas presents. Among the piles of presents was a gift from Teddy Stallard. Miss Thompson was surprised that he had bought her a gift, but he had. Teddy's gift was wrapped in brown paper and was held together with scotch tape. On the present was written the words 'for Miss Thompson from Teddy'. Miss Thompson opened the present; it was a gaudy rhinestone bracelet, with half the stones missing and a bottle of cheap perfume. The other children began to giggle and smirk over Teddy's gift. Miss Thompson had the sense to silence them by putting on the bracelet and putting on the perfume for the children to smell. Teddy waited behind after all the other children had left the room, he slowly came over to Miss Thompson's desk and said softly "Miss Thompson you smell just like my mother and her bracelet looks real pretty on you, too. I'm glad you liked my presents" Miss Thompson prayed that God would forgive her. Next day the children were welcomed by a new teacher, she was no longer just a teacher; she had become an agent of God. She was now a person committed to loving Her children and doing things for them that would live on after her. She helped all the children especially the slow ones, especially Teddy Stallard. Teddy showed dramatic improvement. He caught up with most of the students and was even ahead of some. She did not hear from Teddy for a long time. Then one day, she received a note that read: Dear Miss Thompson, I wanted you to be the first to know. I will be graduating second in my class. Love Teddy Stallard. 4 years later, another letter came: Dear Miss Thompson, They just told me I would be graduating first in my class. I wanted you to be the first to know. The university has not been easy, but I liked it. Love Teddy Stallard. 4 years later: Dear Miss Thompson, As of today, I am Theodore Stallard M.D. How about that? I wanted you to be the first to know I am getting married next month, the 27th to be exact. I want you to come and sit where my mother would sit if she were alive. You are the only family I have now; Dad died last year. Love Teddy Stallard. Miss Thompson went to the wedding and sat where Teddy's mother would have sat. She deserved to sit there; she had done something for Teddy that he could never forget. Conference Update Plans are already underway for the 2007 SAMA Annual Conference to be held in Durban between 27 April and 1 May. We encourage you to start making plans of your own to ensure that you don't miss out on the opportunity to share in the wisdom and experience of the invited speakers and network with fellow montessorians. You owe it to yourself to be there! Don't miss out! Mentoring There has been a request made for some type of mentoring system to be set up by SAMA. There is always a need to connect with other people around school needs. It is also important as part of the Montessori movement to lend a hand. If you are available to be a mentor in your area please let us know so we can create a list of contacts. |
 ARCHIVE  LATEST2006JUNMAYMAR/APRJAN/FEB2005NOV/DECSEP/OCTJUL/AUGMAY |
