Teaching and Traveling…Family and

Furry Friends

This title sums up what matters to me most in life lately. I have always enjoyed learning about other cultures and seeing a foreign country first hand.

I wasn’t always able to teach and travel though. My undergraduate degree was from the University of Kansas in Advertising. I spent 1990-2004 in various positions including media

buying/planning, non-profit development, outside sales, inside sales, account management and finally training, before I realized that my mom had been right all along - I was a natural teacher

and should find a way to become one full-time.

I began my career switch by fulfilling a lifelong dream of teaching English in Asia. I spent a year in South Korea and taught English as a Second Language to K-12 grades. It was a great

experience in many ways and took care of my travel bug for awhile. When I returned to the states in the Summer of 2007, I was told that a degree in Secondary English education would be

the fastest route to this new career based on my undergradute coursework.

So here I am, a year and a half into the program and I’m starting to realize that I’d like to work with the elementary and secondary level. Will I ever be satistfied?

Lesson Plan Idea #1 – FINAL Draft

Elizabethan Era Woman Kate BeckmannDecember 8, 2009

Class: English Literature IV Unit: Survey of Shakespeare’s Characters in the Tragedies and RomancesGrade Level: Junior/Senior Advanced Placement English – (all girls’ class room)Miss BeckmanFall Semester 2012

Magazine Assignment: “Elizabethan Era Woman” Featuring Shakespeare’s women characters

Project Rationale

To become immersed in the culture and lifestyle of Elizabethan era women, and to get a real sense of the rights and general expectations of women during this time period. It is important for our students to realize that women during this era were not only expected to succumb to the demands of a male driven society, but were often illiterate, since their education was not viewed as important. Therefore, the students will be aware that when interviewing one of five of Shakespeare’s female characters, that these women haven’t ever been able to voice their opinion, or discuss their feelings to a captive audience. Students will also get a better understanding of these women’s home lives as well as their role as mother, wife or daughter. A detailed insight into the issues of this time period will allow our students to feel more connected to Shakespeare’s plays and female characters as well as the constricting lifestyle women dealt with during the early 17th century.

Summary

Individual assignment - Students will select one central female character from one of Shakespeare’s four tragedies or romances that we’ve studied this semester. Each student will assume this character’s persona during an interview that will be conducted by a fellow classmate. Then each student will also create their own list of interview questions and will conduct their own interview in order to explore another character’s feelings and opinions about a variety of time period issues. These interviews will be posted in the magazine’s “Close Up” section.

Group assignment - Students will be placed into one of four groups and will be responsible for researching one of the Elizabethan era topics listed below, and writing a column about their findings.

Choice of topics for group column:

1. The role and expectations of wife, daughter and mother 2. Education (male vs. female)3. Women’s fashions, hobbies and pastimes4. The rules of courtship and marriage

ObjectivesThis project will meet certain aspects of Bloom’s Taxonomy including comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation.

Length of curriculumStudents will be working on this project for five weeks with specific steps and tasks denoted on a student calendar until the magazine is ready to go to the publisher.

Materials and ResourcesTeacher will provide:

Overview of the library resources and citation techniques for all resources including internet articles

Access to internet and PCs during four class sessions

School will provide: A review of Microsoft Publisher software in conjunction with computer lab personnel

Students will provide: Curiosity, creativity and willingness to work as a team and as an individual

Student Handout Magazine Project

ELIZABETHAN ERA WOMEN

Using the internet, the library and your own creativity, we are going to create a literary magazine to delve into the subject of the Elizabethan era in which Shakespeare’s leading female characters lived. This project is going to involve creating questions, answering questions, and doing in-depth research on one topic.

Before we get started, here are some questions you will need to ask yourself:

Which one of Shakespeare’s female characters do I identify with most, and why? What issues does she deal with? How does she see herself and her role as mother, daughter, or wife? How does she try to live up to this role or rebel against the societal expectations of this role?

What are some questions you would like to ask other female characters? For example, are you curious as to why Queen Gertrude from Hamlet married Claudius? What was she thinking? Or, why did Lady MacBeth think that she and her husband could get away with murder, literally?

If you were to be transported back in time to live in the Elizabethan era, it would be much like visiting a foreign country. What would you have to learn about this time period in order to adapt to the culture? How do they socialize with males and other females? What are they eating? What are they wearing? What are they discussing? How can you relate?

Now that you’ve got the juices flowing, let’s break the project down into three simple steps:

STUDENT CALENDAR

STEP #2Create a list of four questions you would like to ask each of the four remaining characters. You can use a few of the same basic questions for each character, but please tailor at least two of your questions to the specific character you will be speaking to.

STEP #3Select one of the six topics listed and decide which one intrigues you the most. Then, research the topic from a wide variety of sources including websites, books, magazines, and possibly journals. Write a one-page column describing your findings.

STEP #1Choose one female Shakespearean character from one of the tragedies or romances we have studied. Then, decide how you think this character would respond to questions about her personal goals, opinions about marriage roles, her interest in education, and or work within the community. Start to develop a sense of how this woman would answer questions posed to her on a talk show such as “Oprah.”

Mon Tue Wed Thurs Fri

Week 1 Shakespeare project assigned

Question and answer session on Shakespeare

project

Choose your character and draft a list of

interview questions for

other characters

Find the other members of

your group and choose your column topic

Character selection

finalized. Turn in your interview

questions for at least one of your characters to be

interviewed

Week 2

Remainer of interview

questions due.Group project

meeting time to divide up

research tasks

Begin in-class interviews. Costume wearing

encouraged!

In-class interviews continued.

Complete two characters this

week.

Visit library to learn research strategies for

your group topic

Teacher meets with individual

groups to discuss progress

and focus

Week 3

Typed copies of completed

interviews dueGroup project meeting time.

In-class interviews

In-class interviews

FINAL DAY!!

Group project meetings

Computer lab to type rough draft of topic column

Week 4 1st draft of group project due

All final typed copies of

interviews due!Open day

1st draft of group column handed

back

Final interviews graded and

handed back

Week 5Final draft of

group column due

Magazine editing and

layout

Magazine editing and

layout

Group presentations

Magazine goes to printer!!

STUDENT RUBRIC

Good 5 Great 10 Excellent 20 Comments

Interviewer Basic questions asked to meet minimal requirements

Insightful questions asked to uncover the character’s personality

Insightful questions asked to uncover the character’s personality, true feelings, opinions and motives

Interviewee Straightforward answers given by interviewee. Lacks creativity or insight into the character’s personality or motive.

The character’s personality is revealed with thoughtful answers by the interviewee.

A strong picture of the character’s personality, voice, motive and opinions are apparent after reading interview.

Group Project Minimal contribution to group with no extra effort apparent.

Hard work apparent but the topic column lacks cohesion and focus. Minimal facts cited.

Hard work apparent due to facts cited from research. Column is well written with a cohesive, clear style.

Participation/Deadlines met

Average effort. Not all deadlines met.

Hard work and creativity apparent and deadlines met

Hard work, creativity and excellent participation

Grammar/Usage/Spelling

Contains 10 or more errors

Contains 5-9 errors Contains less than five errors

Extra CreditGroup Presentation of Column

Group didn’t entice audience to read article. Presentation lacked enthusiasm and/or creativity

Group displayed focused effort. Created interest in article.

Group displayed focused effort, excellent research and creativity. Created immediate interest in reading article.

TOTALS

A List of Nothing in Particular

“Quiet Moments with Furry Friends”

Kathryn Beckmann

Final Draft

December 9, 2009

We live in a very tense society.  We are pulled apart... and we all need to learn how to pull ourselves together.... I think that at least part of the answer lies in solitude.  ~Helen Hayes

When I look back at all the years I’ve spent in school, the jobs that caused

me stress, the relationships I dwelled on, and the close family members or friends

that I’ve lost along the way, I find that I was more equipped to cope with life’s

difficult moments when I had a pet in my life. Growing up in a family of eight

with two brothers and three sisters, there wasn’t a lot of time or room to take care

of another living thing. But thankfully, when I was a freshman in high school, my

parents decided to look for a dog and add a pet to our busy household. I don’t

remember all the details of the search, but I do remember a day in late spring

when a woman named Cindy came to the front door with a beautiful Golden

Retriever that she had named “Cindy’s Nugget,” or “Nugget” for short. Nugget

was about a year old, but still a puppy at that point, and full of energy and joy. She

was a long-haired dog and had a reddish coat that I found out later was because

she was a Retriever/Irish Setter mix. My dad had had an Irish setter named

Barney, who ran away and was hit by a car. Maybe that is why we chose Nugget…

because she was part “Setter.”

I remember Nugget’s original owner, Cindy, lingering a while in the front

yard with us as she explained again to my father that Nugget was a wonderful dog,

but that her newborn was allergic to dogs, and they just couldn’t keep her

anymore. As Cindy watched Nugget run around with her new family, I think she

realized that Nugget would have a nice life in our home, and that it was time to say

goodbye. I was surprised to see her get teary as she brought over a few pieces of

steak that she had saved for a treat. Nugget happily ate out of her hand, and then

we took her to the backyard to scope out her new surroundings. It was a

bittersweet day because we were happy to have a new cute dog to play with, but

saddened to see the previous owner cry, knowing she had lost a dear friend.

As time marched on, and I was into my junior and senior years of high

school, we discovered that Nugget developed a few tricks. We all know that most

dogs like to play fetch with a ball. But how many balls can a typical dog fit into

his/her mouth at one time? Believe it or not, Nugget could fit a total of five tennis

balls in her mouth. She would put two in the back of her jaw, resting on her

tongue, and then wedge three more stacked on top of each other in the front of her

mouth. It was always a sight to see Nugget come running toward you, panting

loudly, with a mouth bulging full of tennis balls.

I became particularly fond of Nugget when we moved to a new

neighborhood near a golf course. My dad and I loved to take her for long walks

and throw the ball to her on the course after hours. When the ball was in the air,

she’d fly over sand traps and up and down beautiful greens to fetch that ball, no

matter how cold it was or how tired she was. As the seasons changed, I remember

going to the golf course to see the beautiful colors of changing leaves with her.

After we had walked far enough away from my neighborhood, I’d find a place to sit

under an old tree next to the lake with my arm around her. She’d get really quiet,

but was always ready with a smile when I talked to her. Sometimes she was my

sounding board when I was having a fight with my boyfriend or wasn’t getting

along with my sister. But most of the time, she gave me an excuse just to get out

of the house and enjoy the sweet solitude of walking quietly with a loyal

companion.

I remember when I was an undergraduate; I would come home for the

holidays and be so happy to see her. But as the years went by, she was getting

grayer in the face and didn’t have quite the same energy as before. One autumn,

after I had graduated, I had gone back to my alma mater for homecoming. On the

way home, I had called my parents to see what they had done that weekend. To

my surprise, I found out that my mom and little sister had taken Nugget to the vet

to be put to sleep. I couldn’t believe they had done this without telling me, or

letting me say goodbye. But their response was that she was only getting worse,

and could barely walk outside anymore due to her arthritis. They had to take her

that weekend, she said, or they would have lost their nerve.

That was my first experience of losing a pet, and I remember feeling empty

and full of regret that I had never gotten to put my arm around her one last time.

Nugget had gotten me through all those tumultuous high school and college years

and had even outlasted my first boyfriend.

The next dog that came after Nugget, was a yellowish white dog named

Crisco. She was a strange dog, with; I admit an even stranger name. Crisco was

my little sister Sarah’s choice. I’m pretty sure my mom and Sarah picked her out

at a local dog pound. She was a very cute retriever/terrier mix but had a very

strange disposition. The best part about Crisco was that she was there when my

dad decided to leave the family business. In order to start his own business, he

stayed in the same lawn and garden industry, but became a manufacturer’s

representative for a few supply lines out of both Canada and the U.S. It took my

Dad a few years of hard work before my parents were living comfortably again, but

it was great to see my Dad meeting new people, traveling internationally and

enjoying his work again.

A few years after my Dad was settled in his new role, I joined the same field

as a sales representative for a distributor out of Springfield, MO. That first year

was all about building up my territory and relationships. It was not about rolling in

the money but building up sales for eventual commissions. To make things easier,

I worked out of my parents’ home and spent a few days a week in an office my

Father had outfitted for me. I was able to see how much my Dad enjoyed Crisco

then. When he’d return after having closed a big sale, he’d be greeted with a leap

and bark from Crisco. Or, if we were snowed in one day and had to make calls on

the phone, it was nice to be able to take Crisco for a brisk walk or have her curl up

at my feet for a late afternoon nap.

One day I remember coming home from a particularly difficult day of selling,

and when I walked in the door, Crisco jumped up on me and started whining like

she usually did. Instead of letting her roll over so I could scratch her belly, I hit

her over the head with a Whack! of the newspaper. Looking back, I was so tense

from that day; I would have hit anything in front of me. But when I walked toward

the basement, and passed my dad’s office, I realized from the look on his face just

how much I had hurt him by hitting Crisco, and I felt terrible. I had hit his best

friend just for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. That was when I

started to realize that my caring, patient disposition was being replaced by an

unhappy, overly stressed one. My job was to blame, and both my dad and Crisco

helped me realize that.

After Crisco passed on, it was a few years before we had another dog. Yet

when we finally found Abbey, we didn’t know what a significant role she would

play in my dad’s final days. Abbey’s original owner was a 12-year-old boy who had

been diagnosed with leukemia. I guess his parents had given in to his requests for

a dog while in the hospital. But once the boy leukemia started to show signs of

going in remission, they didn’t think they could handle both Abbey and son at

home. So they asked his nurse, who was my brother’s friend’s wife, to find a home

for Abbey. It was a few days before Christmas, and this cute little doe eyed black

Labrador came to visit us with a red bow tied around her neck. She was

irresistible to everyone, but mostly my Dad. I remember him exclaiming with a

smile, after he had made the decision to adopt Abbey, “We’re going to be a family

again!!” Those words still get me choked up.

Abbey grew quickly and became a match for my dad’s athleticism. She

required at least two walks a day and multiple visits to the backyard to throw the

ball. She was tireless and a wonderfully enthusiastic companion...just like my Dad.

This past April my parents drove out to Denver for my little sister’s baby shower.

Molly had had two miscarriages before this pregnancy and we were all keeping our

fingers crossed throughout the entire 9 months. When my parents arrived in

Colorado, there were still remnants of a spring snowfall, but it was melting pretty

quickly as it always did. My mom spent the day at the shower with the women of

the family while my dad had spent the day watching baseball with his son and

sons-in-law. After the whole family had met out for dinner that night, my dad,

without telling anyone, grabbed Abbey’s leash and took her for an evening walk

through a park near my older sister’s home. Little did anyone know…this would be

his last walk with Abbey.

He must have been in a great deal of pain, but was somehow able to call my

mom and said “I need you…call 9-1-1.” He was able to walk back to my sister’s

house, but collapsed in pain before he could get to the front door. The paramedics

took their time, it seemed, to reach my mom and sister and lift him off that snowy

ground. My mom remembers hearing a deep whoosh of air escape his lungs before

he was lifted into the ambulance. Oh no, she thought, this could be it. He had

suffered from a dissected aorta and died 20 minutes after being rushed to the

hospital. He was in excellent shape, all the autopsies showed, but this type of

thing could happen at any time, even on an operating table, and there was no way

to prevent it, and no way to save him.

It was a very traumatic ending to my father’s life and a very sad day for us

all. But after telling the story over and over in the weeks to follow, my mom said it

best when she reflected on how he spent his last moments doing what he enjoyed

the most…walking his dog before calling it a day.

Abbey is now a resident of Colorado and gets lots of walks, ball throwing

and love from her three nephews, my sister and her husband. I often wonder if she

remembers her tall, thin, handsome, energetic owner and that last walk they took

together. We all wish we could have been there in the park with him on that

snowy evening, but then think how beautiful for him to have died practically in his

wife’s arms, after having spent a wonderful day watching baseball with family.

This Christmas, Abbey will return to her old backyard in St. Louis for a visit.

If she’s a good girl, she’ll be introduced to my two cats, Willie and Simon. These

little guys are the men in my life right now, and unbeknownst to my Dad, they are

even better pets than dogs because they’re independent, can entertain themselves,

and even know how to play fetch!