Prairie Pedagogy

No Cow Left Behind
An adaptation of the original, written by Ken Remsen of Vermont.
www.joanwink.com/scheditems/nocow-adapted0907.pdf

Some of you may recall reading A Day at Deep Creek School, which was published in 2000 (www.joanwink.com/pub-day.html). This was a story about an amazing girl and her experiences in a one-room school. Recently, she began her teaching career in another one-room school not too far from the ranch. I have recently re-connected with her and learned that she has 3 students in the school and one classroom paraprofessional. I suspect that I'll be hearing and writing more about this soon. I am very anxious to visit this school and several other small schools in our area.

New Angel
Sylvia (Toots) Fleming

Notes from the Real World
As many of you know, I have recently moved into ½ retirement. During fall semester, I will be on the ranch in South Dakota and will be back at CSUS January 08. I look forward to this next chapter of life. For example, this month we will drive to the Rapid City Civic Center to see/hear Willie Nelson*, Ruby Payne, George Jones, and Jane Goodall. I suspect that those 4 names rarely appear in the same sentence.

In addition, I want to share with you the BEST KEPT SECRET IN SOUTH DAKOTA: The Sturgis Library, http://www.sturgislibrary.org/. Sturgis is a small, (5000 pop.) town, heavily influenced by ranchers and the Sturgis Harley Davidson Rally, which causes the population to surge to several hundred thousand every August. However, in the midst of all of this is a diamond: The Library. After school, elementary children come flowing in and happily settle into their own room, complete with computers and books. One half hour later, the teeny boppers arrive and head upstairs to their own retro room with more books and computers. I have noticed that the senior citizens come and go all day. The library has an active CD, books-on-tape, and video section, which gets a lot of use. I notice that many of the people checking out and returning books also stop to read. Do I love this? Yes, I do. It is pure joy to sit and quietly observe real literacy thriving. One little problem: I was not been allowed to get a library card, as I do not have the proper South Dakota ID. We drove to town (85 m.) to take the test-wrong day. However, I did get my new SD plates, which I immediately took to the library. They suggested to me that this was not the ID that they had in mind, but I was allowed to apply, and yesterday my fabulous new library card arrived. The sub-text for this story is that my husband is a county commissioner, and when he tells me what the county has contributed to the library, I always tell him that it is never enough.

Already I notice that ½ time retirement has caused the pile of good new books to grow, along with my hopes for more time to read. Presently, the books lying around my desk are: The Good Husband of Zebra Drive by McCall Smith; Critical Pedagogy: Where Are We Now, edited by McLaren & Kincheloe; Have you Ever Seen…? An American Sign Language Handshape DVD/Book by Smith & Jacobowitz; Parenting a Defiant Child by Hall & Hall; Gossamer by Lowry; the new edition of Myths & Realities by Samway & McKeon; and Get a Grip on Philosophy by Turnbull.

Family Photos Alien Space Ship Birthday Cake: Austin is 4.
http://www.joanwink.com/gifs2/planets.jpg
Austin and 9 planets, even poor 'ol Pluto.
http://www.joanwink.com/gifs2/austin4.jpg
BopBop's Boots & a Blonde Boy, Garrett
http://www.joanwink.com/gifs2/garrettboots-0807.jpg
3 'Lil New Mexicans on the SD ranch, Summer 07
http://www.joanwink.com/gifs2/kidsranch-summer07.jpg
Joan and Ladybug, a colt
http://www.joanwink.com/gifs2/joan-ladybug.jpg

*On a scale of 1 through 10, last night Willie was an 11.

To Reference This Web Page Wink, J. (2007, October).
WinkWorld: October 2007
Retrieved ,
from www.joanwink.com/newsletter/2007/news1007-prairie.html.