Association Road Leads to Maquoketa Valley

On Tuesday March 11th in the afternoon, the association road led us to the Maquoketa Valley Community School District in Delhi. We were greeted by Maquoketa Valley EA President Jane Rissler (pictured with me).

Jane is an English teacher in the Maquoketa Valley Middle School. Jane had a great schedule for JDC UniServ Director Bob and I to visit.


The first classroom visit took us into Sarah Schrodt’s freshman Spanish class. Sarah is Vice President of the Maquoketa Valley EA.

Ms. Schrodt has her classroom set up in "stations"--much like I've seen in elementary classrooms with their "centers". These high school students were actively engaged at each station!










Next, we were off to the elementary area of the building. Our first classroom stop was in the 1st grade room of Karen George. The children in this room had done family projects on creating a trap to catch a leprechaun. They had some very clever projects! I read aloud a book Mrs. George had on St. Patrick's Day.


Our next classroom visit took us to the 4th grade room of Kris Wilson. Mrs. Wilson (standing at left) had her 4th graders do a Reader's Theater for us from a Judy Blum book. The two groups of "voices" are pictured below.

Marla Wulfekuhle’s 5th grade class were next to invite us in. Mrs. Wulfekuhle's class were working in groups to write a dialogue representing both parties for the period of history they are studying. Mrs. Wulfehule is pictured (standing) with one group of her 5th graders.

Back to the Middle School where we visited Michelle Grimm’s 7th grade Language Arts class. Michelle had me read aloud as the students followed along chapter 2 from The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin. I then led the follow-up discussion.

Ms. Grimm (seated at right) then chronicled on her computer (projecting onto a screen with an LCD projector) the characters introduced in this chapter. Students shared what they knew about each character as they added it to their own journals.

The final classroom visit for our day was in President Jane's classroom. Jane Rissler, 7th Grade English teacher, and Tracy Massman, Middle School Special Education teacher work as a dynamic team in providing instruction to this group of Middle School students! Jane is pictured on the far left and Tracy is in the pink (3rd in) on the right.

After a full day of instruction, teacher/members joined us in the school Media Center for snacks, beverages and conversation. Nearly two dozen Maquoketa Valley EA members were able to stop by and share the many great things going on in their classrooms and district. Teachers were also preparing for Parent-Teacher Conference to be held both Wednesday and Thursday of this week.

Thanks Maquoketa Valley EA for your hospitality and thanks to all for everything you do every day for Iowa's students!