Week of 5-29-2023

Inside this issue

• PSEA remains focused on our legislative priorities
• Forest Hills teacher continues to rack up accolades
• Bradford Area teacher snags top award for rural school educators
• Upcoming Center for Professional Learning events and PEARL
• Member Benefits spotlight: Contact Fill contact lenses

June is a critical month for the state Legislature as the state budget will be finalized later this month. Among other legislation that will affect our members and our schools are two House bills up for consideration in the state Senate. We announced the passage in the House of the bills below in early May because your advocacy helped push them over the finish line.

In case you missed it, here are the bills that are now in the hands of the state Senate:

• House Bill 141 – “Grow Your Own”
  Approved May 1, this bill will create a program to help paraprofessionals and other school support staff go back to college to earn their teaching credentials.
  
  
• House Bill 688 – scholarship program for aspiring educators
  Approved May 2, this bill will establish the Pennsylvania Teach Scholarship Program, which will create an affordable pathway for talented, caring people to become teachers while lowering their student loan debt in the process. 

This represents two of our five top legislative priorities for this year, so we will be following their progress closely and keeping you informed of any developments. As always, your efforts are critical to our success in the L egislature, so thank you for all that you have done and will do to make your voices heard on these important issues. 

The name Dr. Aspen Mock has been popping up on our radars a lot lately – and for good reason. Mock, an English Language Arts teacher in the Forest Hills School District, was the only Pennsylvania recipient of last year’s Henry Ford Innovative Teaching Award, which recognized her unique approach to incorporating technology into an English curriculum and finding innovative ways to teach the art of storytelling.

She was also featured in our May issue of Voice Magazine. And just a week prior to that, she was named one of the 12 finalists for the 2024 Pennsylvania Teacher of the Year.

Click the thumbnail above to watch the video on Mock that we showed at the House of Delegates, and click the link below to read more about her many education innovations.

Katie Greene (left) with Bradford Area School District superintendent Katy Pude at the PARSS Conference in State College.

Katie Greene, a family and consumer science teacher at Floyd C. Fretz Middle School in the Bradford Area School District, was recently named Pennsylvania’s Secondary Teacher of the Year by the Pennsylvania Association of Rural and Small Schools (PARSS).

Greene’s seven teaching certifications make her a veritable Swiss army knife of educational efficacy – a key selling point particularly for a rural educator. Add to that her tireless volunteer efforts that see her running the middle school’s television studio, advising the yearbook club, running her school’s Facebook page, serving as an assistant coach for the Bradford High School softball team, and helping place students in working partnerships with local businesses as the cooperative education coordinator for the Bradford High Career and Technical Education program.

“There is no better job in the world than being a teacher and knowing that I see the product of my work every single day through my students,” Greene said. “After being a teacher for 20 years, I would still go back and choose the field of education again. While this award was not necessary, it certainly is appreciated more than words can express.”

PEARL

Looking for a convenient and flexible way to earn Act 48 credits, Chapter 14 verification, or postgraduate credits? As a PSEA member, you have exclusive access to over 95 courses through PEARL.

Here are just three of the courses you have access to:

• Re-Imagining Relationships
• Differentiating and Team Teaching: Distance Learning Edition
• Using Kami for Interactive Lessons

Webinars

• Put on Your Own Oxygen Mask First: Cultivating Healing and Well-being Through Self Awareness
  
  • June 27 10 a.m.
• Put on Your Own Oxygen Mask First: Cultivating Healing and Well-being Through Self Awareness
  • July 11, 5:30 p.m.
• Put on Your Own Oxygen Mask First: Cultivating Healing and Well-being Through Self Awareness
  • July 18, 10 a.m.

Book Discussions

• The Questioneers
  
  • June 29, 10-11 a.m.
• Al Capone Does My Shirts
  
  • July 13, 10-11 a.m.
• Treasure Hunters
  • July 20, 10-11 a.m.

Member Well-being

• Mindful Mondays
  • June 12, 4:30 p.m.
• Mindful Mondays
  • July 17, 8:30 a.m. 
• Mindful Mondays
  • Aug. 7, 8:30 a.m.

Postgraduate Credits

Earn postgraduate credits from PennWest University for $70 each!

More than 150 postgraduate credits are available across a wide range of teaching and learning topics.

These postgraduate credits (microcredentials) can count toward the 24 credits required for a Level II certificate and also may count toward salary advancement.*

For support professionals, these courses may meet Chapter 14 requirements**

*Check your contract to determine if you can apply standalone postgraduate credits for column movement.
**Seek approval from your employer prior to completing hours to apply toward Chapter 14 requirements.

PSEA Member Benefits offers members and their families big savings on brand-name contact lenses through Contact Fill.

Program Benefits:

• Dependable service to your home, school, or office
• Free standard shipping and handling on all orders (use promotion code "PSEA")
• Convenient 24/7 online ordering
• Personable customer service
• No hidden charges
• PSEA members must log in to take advantage of this discount program
• NVA vision insurance accepted as a form of payment