Cassandra Modeste, left, and Nia Modeste make a mother-daughter day out of the NYSUT Health Care Professionals Forum. Nia is a special ed teacher at Thurgood Marshall Academy in New York City and a member of the UFT; her mom 'Sandy' is a health educator with the Graham School Federation of Teachers for the Greenburgh-Graham Special Act School District. Nia attended sessions on team building and counseling, where she learned about how to use questioning techniques to help students open up. 'I'm a transition coordinator. I hook students up with vocational programs and post-secondary education. I need to know what their strengths are, and how I can elicit those strengths and interests.' Photo by Liza Frenette.

Just what Doctor Seuss ordered

Kindergarten teacher Eileen Healy, a member of the Jamestown Teachers Association, used a recent lesson on Dr. Seuss' Bartholomew and the Oobleck to connect her class in southwestern New York with a class in Vermont. Healy's sister, Emily Lyons, teaches kindergarten at Greenwich Central School, on the Vermont border.

The sisters each read the Dr. Seuss story and made Oobleck (a mixture of starch and water) with their classes. 'The kids were pretty amazed at this liquid that turned solid with a little pressure, that turned liquid when the pressure was released,' Healy said. 'The looks on the children's faces tell it all. Erin's kids were punching it, as a solid. My kids were experimenting with going between the solid and liquid phases.'

The sisters shared pictures of each other's classes with the students. 'The kids enjoyed watching other kids messing with the Oobleck, not just themselves,' the teachers reported. Healy is treasurer of the Jamestown TA and a member of NYSUT's Board of Directors. The late Dr. Seuss' literature is a theme for the National Education Association's Read Across America program.

Higher ed activism

Leaders of United University Professions applaud a speech by Ed McElroy, president of the American Federation of Teachers, at a recent National Education Association-AFT higher education joint conference on building alliances. From left are Treasurer Rowena Blackman-Stroud; President Phillip Smith; Ed Quinn, membership development officer; Kenneth Kallio, Elections & Credentials Committee chairman; F. Glenn McNitt, Outreach Committee co-chairman; and (partially hidden) Tom Matthews of SUNY Geneseo. Don Feldstein photos.

NYSUT Executive Vice President Alan Lubin engages in some legislative advocacy role-playing for conference-goers during a workshop on effective state lobbying. Several workshops were offered at the annual conference, which was sponsored by NYSUT's two national affiliates. UUP is NYSUT's affiliate at the State University of New York. Don Feldstein photos.