A couple of days ago, I mentioned I was in St. Louis on a panel reviewing writing samples of 8th and 12th graders. I've since heard from a number of you wanting to know more. As it happens, this morning I got this blog post from a fellow panelist, Cheryl Gillmore, also a writer, and she said everything I would have said, only better.
This past week in St. Louis I had the pleasure of serving on a federally funded NAEP panel to set up and review writing samples of 8th and 12th grade students. Our job, after two days of training, was to establish the "cut scores" that divide the three levels of achievement...advanced, proficient and basic.
Seventy percent of the panelists were teachers or non-teacher educators representing nearly every state in the union--including Hawaii and Alaska. The other thirty percent of us were "general public," with nearly all of us writers.
We stayed at the Ritz-Carlton in Clayton, Missouri, a suburb about 20 minute from St. Louis and enjoyed great rooms, great service and great food! Those incentives seemed to balance the long brain-draining hours of hard work each day in our training and subsequent scoring sessions.
I was reminded of the love and dedication of teachers this week as I had the chance to talk and socialize with them again. It didn't matter what part of the country they came from, they were all equally concerned for the success of each of their students. I will always be proud to be a forever teacher.
I will always remember this great week spent with truly wonderful and dedicated people. I'm so glad I was chosen to be on the panel and that I was open, accepting and positive for this opportunity and experience to come into my life.
Once again, I am reminded...
"A page turned...new chapters begin. The sequel yet to unfold.
Never forgotten and never to end. Images etched on each soul."
C. L. Gillmore is a retired special education teacher for whom writing has always been an important part of life. "My second grade teacher was a big influence," Gillmore says. "She was instructive and encouraging and made me love putting my thoughts on paper."
A transplant from Muscatine, Iowa, Gillmore resides in Surprise, Arizona with her husband Mike. She has two adult children and five grandchildren. She is writing a sequel novel to Uncommon Bond sure to please her growing fan base.