Journal9

March 7, 1999

My daughter, Rachel, flew in from Los Angeles, this weekend, to celebrate my birthday. We went to see the new production of Tennessee Williams' "Not About Nightingales," directed by Trevor Nunn.

My daughter (bottom right) works at a company called UltimateTV, a small division of Tribune Media Services as an entertainment journalist. She graduated magna cum laude with a BA in English from Amherst College, and learned the fundamentals of new media production during a summer internship at Reuters.

I am very proud of my daughter, and enjoy reading her work. As a teacher devoted to developing literacy, Rachel demonstrates the importance of a solid background in verbal and written communication, and an understanding of contemporary computer technology.

I recently participated in the New York State Academy for Teaching and Learning Statewide Peer Review conference. The conference was held at The Desmond Hotel in Albany, New York. The purpose of the peer review is to have teachers share their best work and discuss how it meets the New York State learning standards. Each peer review follows a format designed "to achieve a reasonable balance of teacher presentation, attention to the work submitted, warm and cool reactions, teacher response, and open conversation."

I presented one of my collaborative projects and after some minor revisions my learning experience may be added to the New York State Peer Review website.

I am looking forward to becoming an official member of the academy in June 1999.