A Stop in Riverside, Then on to Lone Tree

Okay, I am not a Star Trek fan, but I did know enough to look closely as I drove through the community of Riverside for something related to Star Trek. Here in the City Park, I discovered this down-sized Starship Enterprise. I am told that Riverside, Iowa was the home of Captain Kirk, is that right? Or maybe it was Spock. Someone help me out here!


The real reason for my trip to eastern Iowa was to have participate in a school visit in Lone Tree then honor a school administrator there with an ISEA award. Superintendent of Schools Michael Reeves was kind enough to take time out of his day to visit with me about their school. Mr. Reeves shared that he has been leading the district for the past 7 years. There are 470 students in this Johnson County district and area-wise, they are fortunate to have just 5 bus routes.


Mr. Mark Hopkins was the reason I came to Lone Tree today. Mr. Hopkins in the Junior-Senior High School principal. We will honor Mark at the end the school day with our ISEA TEAM Award. Mr. Hopkins had several classrooms that he wanted me to visit and had made arrangements with the teachers to have me stop by. He led me from one room, making the introduction--then headed down the hallway to take care of business...then returning to lead me on to another classroom.


The first classroom teacher I met was Jim Mochal. Jim is a 3rd year teacher and leads instruction in Academic Decathlon (1 class), U.S. History (2 classes), and then leads the High School Learning Center for the remainder of the day. He bubbled with enthusiasm as to the commitment of the entire staff to make this work. He works with students of all abilities in completing work and connecting with their homeroom teachers and parents.


I had the chance to observe in Mr. Tom Dickey's 7th grade Civics class. Here Tom leads the discussion with students. Tom Dickey was the association member that submitted the nomination of Mark Hopkins for the ISEA TEAM Award. Tom is also Chief Negotiator for Lone Tree EA.


Another great educator that I got to see in action was Lori Forbes. Lori was leading one of the four groups of 6th graders she works with in a discussion around citizenship.




I spent about 15 minutes in the pre-school classroom of Sarah Pourroy. Sarah shared with me how this is the first year the pre-school is housed in the school building. This is a partnership with the community and the school district and together they are working with Grant Wood AEA to meet the IQPPS standards.


The last classroom visit took me into the 4th grade classroom of Jill Fisher. Jill's 4th graders had worked on Social Studies projects for the regions of the United States. I was lucky enough to see some of the students make their presentations!