Not a collection of courses

I have worked as a Business Teacher Educator for quite some time now. I began working at the University of Regina in 1978. There were quite a number of us hired that year and most of my colleagues of that year are retired or dead. In my first year I heard a phrase that has stuck with me ever since. A Teacher Education program is not a collection of courses it is a well thought out developmental progression of learning and experiences encountered by prospective teachers which helps them become thoughtful, skillful beginning teachers.

Not a collection of course - intuitively this just seemed correct to me. Becoming a teacher could not possibly be a haphazard collection of experiences - it should not be a random set of classes nor should it be an unguided process for the student.

Not a collection of courses fits into my understanding of curriculum and of curriculum development.

Not a collection of courses fits into my understanding of how students became knowledgeable and skillful teachers - small steps, reinforced over a period of time, reflection, discussion with an expert, risk, growth and mastery - whether it be classroom skills or a deeper understanding of the context of education in schools and beyond.

For some reason the notion of 'not a collection of courses' has been somewhat lost. Critical approaches to education and teacher education have lessened the emphasis on development and students experience compartmentalized information - in spite of our attempts to integrate disciplines as evidenced in our new ECS (Core Studies) stream of courses.

I'm thinking about this because I am in the midst of reconceptualizing our Business Teacher Education program (or perhaps more correctly organizing the paperwork to be more in line with where we have evolved over the years). I read the outlines of courses outside of Business Education required of my students and I wonder what I can rely on in terms of their learning and understanding. What ideas can I/should I reinforce in my Business Ed courses that were introduced in these other courses. The questions go on and on.

One of my colleagues told me today about her upcoming retirement - I said that I didn't want to retire while I still enjoyed the work I did - facing a challenge like the one I described above is joyful for me - it causes me to think, to plan, to try ideas and it forces me to look at old things in new ways

DPE Young Scholars

I am on the Delta Pi Epsilon National Board as National Treasurer. As part of my duties I am responsible for the Research Projects Committeee and the Membership Committee.

I am very fortunate to have to great chairpersons to work with. Wanda Stitt-Gohdes is the chair of the Research Projects Committee and Julie Chadd is the Chair of the Membership Committee.

As part of the upcoming November DPE Research Conference we have established the DPE Young Scholars Program.

Although we have called it the "Young" Scholars Program we really mean new scholars in the area of Business Education.

Any faculty member that has a Ph.D. student that is interested in a Business Education topic can nominate their student for this Program.

Accepted Young Scholars will be a part of a special program at the DPE Research Conference. This program will enhance their skills as scholars and assist them in finding and constructing meaningful Business Education research projects.,

I am proud to be part of this initiative

Summer time

It is early in July and I always count July and August as summer even though I usually stop teaching somewhere around early to middle April.

The last little while has been spent de-cluttering my life - at the office and at home. I'm not quite there yet but I have made good progress. I have thrown books and papers out that were old in the early 1970's.

I am sitting here in the middle of preparing for my Business Ed curriculum course. For a terrific two days earlier in the Spring I sat with my colleagues Alec, Tracy, Helen and Rhonda and reworked the whole Business Teacher Education Program. My last task in this project is to re-write the course outlines for all of our courses to reflect the ideas we discussed and worked through during those two days.

So I am trying to re-work the curriculum course to be as current as possible and to reflect the thinking of the subject area. It is a challenge I enjoy. If any reader has any ideas please comment - although I can't believe that anyone is still checking this site after such a long time between entries.

I'm going to the DPE National Board meetings in Greensboro at the end of this month and so I will see Riley. Here are some reasonably current pictures of my beautiful baby.

Boarding, Baby and Boards

I went to North Carolina last week for the weekend. I'm on the board of Delta Pi Epsilon, the Business Education research organization and we had our meetings in Greensboro, North Carolina.

That was the official reason for the trip.

But everyone knows that there was another reason for that trip and her name is Riley. I stayed with my kids in Winston Salem (only a 30 minute drive to Greensboro) and had a few hours each day with Riley.

I was fascinated with my children when they were born. I loved holding them and interacting with them. Eye contact, silly peekaboo games and stupid noises were my stock in trade. Riley is a bit young for that yet but I'm practising. She was a joy to be with and I think that joy will only increase as she gets older.



The Board meetings were very interesting. We are in the midst of great change in our profession and for this organization and I feel privileged to be able to be a part of all of this change.

I had to fly through Toronto on this trip and the weirdest thing happened on the way to the meetings.

I made it through U.S. customs and was on my way to the gate when I encountered a roadblock. Yes, a roadblock in the middle of the concourse. Men were asked to line up on one side and women were to line up on the other. We were then called out, one by one, to be investigated, patted down, interrogated and generally looked over by Mounties! I hope the fellow who patted me down enjoyed it as much as I did - my goodness he was thorough.

Men to the left and women to the right was disturbing in and of itself but when they separated two elderly people it was more than disturbing. The man was clearly dependent on the woman and became distraught and confused when the men's line started moving faster than the women's line and he lost sight of her. A little reverse profiling here - or maybe just some common sense - would have been appropriate here. They did need to be 'investigated' but in this case they didn't need to be separated. Blind bureaucracy!

Program Evaluation

Last Thursday and Friday I conducted the first two session of the Essential Skill Series, a series of workshops conducted under the auspices of the Canadian Evaluation Society, Saskatchewan Branch. there are 4 sessions in this series and I do the first two - the introductory sessions.

This is always a challenge as some of the people that come to these sessions have had relatively extensive experience with program evaluation. The other challenge is that some of the people that attend have very specific needs as a result of their employment. Over the years the demands have changed. For a time the vast majority of people attending came out of Health regions with their own unique needs and challenges.

This last set of sessions had quite a number of provincial civil servants attending. A new government has new priorities and the Saskatchewan Party seems to have a focus on accountability and efficiency. There were many questions regarding these issues during these sessions.

I always get a kick out of doing sessions like these. If someone would have asked me 30 years ago whether I could ever see myself as something of an expert of any kind of evaluation I would have laughed.

Evaluation implies authority, accountability, 'caring,' efficiency, etc. Given my personality and view of hierarchies and accountability (then and to a certain extent now) I would never have seen myself in this position.

But circumstances, opportunity and serendipity all played a part.

One of my mentors was Dr. J. Orrison Burgess and he had an interest in Program Evaluation. And therefore, in his opinion, so did I!

At first I went along with him because he asked me to pay attention. Then I went along with him because he had a few consulting contracts and wanted to pay me. But ultimately I went along with him because I actually did become interested in the subject.

Interested, though, in quite a unique way. I saw the area as a challenge to teach. It is technical, could be considered dry and it is sometimes difficult to understand and even more difficult to turn into authentic behaviour.

And so I teach these Essential Skills workshops most years and occasionally teach the graduate course in Program Evaluation (EC&I 809).

I have even written an article for the Business Education Forum regarding the use of school based Program Evaluation and Business Education

Connections and connecting

I attended a session this morning on the use of social media in classrooms. we ultimately decides to form a group called URSMUG - the University of Regina Social Media Users Group. A pretty good name if I do say so myself given that I contributed the SMUG part!

This group, we hope, will develop into a community that will support and facilitate the use of Social media in our teaching. The group was made up of those who 'hate' social media, those who are using and well informed and the rest of us - those in the middle - some knowledge, lots of fear and in need of direction, hand holding and support.

So I'm involved in this. What does it say about my comments in the previous post concerning the Business in Business Education. Actually, nothing.

I didn't intend that previous post to imply that Business Educators not get involved in using technology. In fact I hope I encouraged the opposite. I think as Business Educators we are well positioned to be leaders in the integration of Instructional Technology. Let's just not forget about the Business!

Keeping Business in Business Education

I have long believed that the introduction of 'technology' (read that as the desktop computer) has interrupted Business Education. The lure of technology for its own sake has been too strong for many Business Educators. In some ways they have forgotten the Business end of Business Education.

Yes, businesses use all sorts of technology - virtual meetings, company blogs and websites, etc. When Business Educators delve into any one of those technologies for the sake of the technology and forgets to situate the technology in a business setting I feel they have lost sight of the Business in Business Education.

We do need to explore Second Life, and we do need to set up courses in Second Life. But a Business Educator explores Second Life to study and understand the business opportunities there. A Business Educator should set up courses on Second Life that teach Business content or prepares prospective Business Teachers. Setting up a course, anywhere, that teaches students how to use Second Life isn't Business Education.

I could make the same argument for a number of technology issues - online instruction, televised courses, computer based testing, etc., etc.

I know I am an old-timer and one might say that I haven't moved along with the times but I feel that our students have lost something when we teach them how to make videos instead of teaching them how to manage their money.

Having said that the subject area that I work in has recently changed its name from Business Education (EBUS) to Business, Media and Technology Studies (EBMT). This happened because I have been joined by a former Ph.D. student of mine and current colleague Alec Couros. Alec is brilliantly leading the way in the integration of technology into teaching - something which I feel needs to be done. It seemed a natural fit for Alec to join me in the subject area. Check out the course Alec is teaching this semester.

My students will now get what I hope will be the best of both worlds - actually three worlds - I hope they will become exceptional teachers, I hope they will become committed Business Educators and I hope they will become innovative users of the newest and best technology for the benefit of their own students.

Busines Education and Research

Recently my research partners and I put the finishing touches on our papers for the 2009 DPE (Delta Pi Epsilon) Research conference to be held in San Francisco.

One of the papers has to do with the use of Grounded Theory approaches in Business Education research.

There has been little qualitative work done in the Business Education area. In fact there has been little quality work done in the Business Education area. But that is really a 'trick' sentence. The problem is that there really hasn't been a good definition of Business Education since "Office Education" went out of style.

My statement is about the field in general. This doesn't mean to say that there hasn't been good quality research work in the individual areas such as entrepreneurship, accounting, economics, marketing, etc. There have been good studiess in these areas.

But there haven't been good studies of the field as a whole.

When I look at the official research needs in the area I always feel as if I am looking at a list that master's students with very limited experience have devised as a starter for initiating their master's research.

It seems hard to find depth. It seems hard to find a logical, comprehensive stream of research leading to good theory and explanation of the field. It seems hard to find anything more than description.

I'm not the most 'qualitative' of researchers but qualitative research allows us to ask questions that are crucial at this moment in our professions history.

What is Business Education? What do Business Educators really do? think? experience? strive for?

What do our students experience? think? strive for? What do our students want/need from us?

Its my opinion that the field of Business Education is in danger of disappearing into technology (not business technology just plain technology) and fragmenting into its component parts - see what has happened to consumer education, economic education and marketing education.

In depth, good quality explorations of the area and deep, thoughtful discussion about our future and how we will attain that future are our only hope.

CTS Conference, Canmore Alberta, 2008

I have just returned from Canmore where 5 of my students and I attended the 2008 Career and Technology Studies (CTS) Conference. I have mentioned before that my students have prepared and presented a presentation entitled Issues Facing Business Education. In February they presented at the WESTCAST conference and as a result they were invited to the Alberta CTS Conference in Canmore.

The CTS area appears to be an amalgamation of Business Education, Home Economics, Cosmetology, and Industrial Arts (perhaps amongst others - to say I was confused is understating things).

My students presented to a number of people who were interested in the issues they brought forward and the discussion was lively.

That's the good news.

The disturbing news is that this conference showed me a future that is very bleak for Business Educators. Most teachers I spoke to there considered themselves CTS teachers and were hard pressed to voluntarily identify themselves as Business Education teachers. In fact the majority that I spoke to weren't - they were Phys. Ed or Maths prepared teachers who either 'fell into' business education or have an interest in technology (read that as computers and software) and started to teach business classes.

By definition CTS instructors focus on careers. The information provided from all quarters pointed teachers to career pathways to which their courses should be linked. I have no problem with career preparation but having this as the only perspective regarding Business Education limits and defines Business Education in ways that are proving, in my opinion, to make a well-rounded business education unsustainable perhaps even unattainable.

In a career oriented environment there seems to be little place for personal financial management, the study of business as a ubiquitous environment, 'consumer' approaches to marketing and entrepreneurship, etc. It seems in this environment that if the course isn't providing usable career oriented skills then the course doesn't work.

And even in the courses that did fit the career perspective (in particular the technology courses) there seemed to be very little if any business context provided. Teachers spoke about teaching spreadsheets, data bases, desktop publishing in dissociated and technical terms. No one that I spoke with saw these as tools for solving business problems and when this topic was brought up very few saw this approach as a reasonable one for at least two reasons: primary reason - they didn't have the business background, secondary reason - that's not the way the curriculum is written!

My students are hoping to revitalize the Business Education area. I hope they are successful. To say the least I believe the first step is to liberate Business Education from the confinements of the Career and/or Practical education environment.

More semester endings and a new beginning

Tonight was my last ED 800 class - for the winter semester - I will start to teach this course again on May 5 - endings and beginnings.

Tomorrow, though, I will be heading out to Canmore, Alberta with five students. My students put together a presentation on the Issues facing Business Education and presented at the WESTCAST conference in February. As a result of that presentation they were invited to present at the Alberta CTS conference.

I'm looking forward to this time with them and I'm proud of their accomplishments. They are truly good news for the future of business education.

Business Education in Saskatchewan

A number of years ago the Department of Education (or whatever its name was at the time) decided to create an area of study called the Practical and Applied Arts. From what I remember the elements of this area were based on the economic development needs of the province in the near future. All courses which had even a sniff of vocationalism around them were relegated to this area, including any course that had previously been designated Business Education.

Now, I do admit, for a while there was a flurry of curriculum development activity. But the emphasis on 'core' curriculum, academics and university preparation buried Practical and Applied Arts in the hinterlands of secondary school electives.

In Business Education's case this was compounded by the rise of interest in computers, technology, the internet, multi-media, etc.

So today we face the situation where there doesn't seem to be a place or an identity for Business Education.

It is a shame!

If you go to the Evergreen Curriculum site for Sask Learning you will find Law under Social Sciences (not so much of a problem for me other than the fact that Social Studies teachers rarely have a background in law studies), you won't find Economics (I find it incredible that in a province where all we seem to talk about these days is economic development we don't offer our high school students the opportunity to find out what economics means!).

However you will find Accounting (in the Practical and Applied Arts Area) under Care and Hospitality (does that mean businesses in other sectors don't use or need accounting?).

You'll also find Career Education and Entrepreneurship under "other"

You won't find Personal Financial Management or Marketing or Consumer Education or Introduction to Business nor any of the multitude of potential business courses.

Yikes!!!

It is a shame that Business Education is relegated to the merely vocational.

It is a shame that the subjects that are offered are viewed as inferior to the required areas of study by making the whole area an elective area.

It is a shame that courses such as Personal Financial Management are not offered to students who will, all, one day (today) need to navigate through a world that demands that they take care of themselves physically, intellectually, emotionally, culturally and financially.

We offer courses that assist with the other elements of our lives - why don't we offer courses that assist with the financial aspects of our lives.

The Future of Business Education

I have been concerned about the future of Business Education for some time now. Business Teacher Education programs are slowly disappearing both in Canada and the U.S. which begs the question of who will teach business subjects in the future. But perhaps more disturbing to me is that Business Education has morphed into an entity that focuses almost exclusively on the use of technology (not necessarily in a business setting) and on pre-employment preparation which leaves the 'general' education aspects of Business Education extremely neglected

For the last few years I have been working on a research project with Dr. Judy Lambrecht which explores issues facing business educators and I also sit on the Policy Commission for Business and Economic Education which addresses this issue.

I always believe in discussion and exposure of ideas and suggestions. That is one of the reasons I began this blog. Although I know a fair number of people read this blog the structure of blogs makes it difficult to enter into a dialogue.

To that end I have established a wiki. You can find it right here.

Below you can read my first entry to that wiki:

Welcome to a new wiki designed to encourage discussion concerning the future of business education.

I will admit my prejudices right now - I don't believe that Technology Education is equivalent to Business Education. I know that in order to learn about business students must confront technology as it is a powerful business tool. But I also know that there is a great deal more to Business Education beyond the technological tools used.

I also know that business education exists in many places - k-12 schools, technical and community colleges, universities and industry but I prefer to think about Business Education in terms of the work done in K-12 schools. Although we seem to have competition at the K-12 level it is not as profound as the competition faced by 'business educators' in other locations.

I'll also admit that as a Canadian I am not afflicted by the Perkins act nor by NCLB.

If you find this wiki somehow and would like to contribute (at this time this wiki is 'protected' which means you can only read, you can't post) contact me at cyril.kesten@uregina.ca and I will 'authorize' you.

Tell your friend and colleagues - the more input the better

Economic Education and Business Education

A few weeks ago I attended the National Council on Economic Education/National Association of Economic Educators/Global Association of Teachers of Economics annual conference in Denver.

The conference was well attended but I am sure that there were fewer than 10 people in attendance that viewed themselves as Business Educators. The focus was clearly on university level Economics professors and secondary school economics teachers - with a passing acknowledgment of social studies education.

I find this curious.

Business is built on economic concepts. Business teachers are much better prepared to teach economics. The application of economic concepts to business and consumer problems is that students understand and can use in many aspects of their lives.

I find it interesting that a major contributor to Business Education theory and practice is the Policies Commission for Business and Economic Education. The PCBEE is supported by three organizations; the Association for Career and Technical Education/Business Education Division, Delta Pi Epsilon, and the National Business Education Association.

Curious that the NCEE/NAEE/GATE aren't a part of this process - especially when Economic Education is a visible part of the name of the organization.

The conference was good as far as conferences go - many presentations - some good - some a waste of time - many exhibitors - some good resources - some not so good.

I do encourage anyone interested in quality resources to look at the material offered by NCEE.

And I do encourage membership in GATE - its free and the potential for this organization is very good

Who is out there?

I have the little map thingy on my blog and it tells me that I have a fair number of hits over the time I have had this blog up. But I rarely get comments.

I am interested in knowing who is out there.

Leave a comment - agree with me, disagree with me - or just say hi

I am most interested in knowing whether business educators read this blog - if you do let me know - tell me where you are, what you teach and what you think of the state of Business Education today

Business Education and Vocational Education (CTE)

In my last post I hinted that I felt business was too influential is setting curricula in business education. Business education operates in at least four areas. The first, and to me the primary area is at the pre-k to 12 level. The second, and again to me a primary area, is at the college/technical college level. The last two areas are at the University level, generally in Colleges or Faculties of Business and in industry - often referred to as training and development or Human resource development.

The latter two areas of interest are occupied by more than the traditional 'business educator." University level business schools are staffed by professors who are devoted and focused on their primary content areas of interest - accounting, finance, marketing, organizational behaviour, etc. And industry is often concerned with the development of specific skills and abilities which are needed by their employees.

In my view the college/technical college level of business education is truly vocational. Students frequently attend courses at this level expecting to be trained in specific skills which are required in order to be eligible for particular jobs. It is likely and probable that graduates of these programs will apply for and work in the jobs for which they have been specifically trained. It is right and proper for the curriculum of these courses to be determined by the needs of those target jobs.

However the pre-K to 12 system should not be built for direct job entry. In fact we are told that many employers are looking for more mature, more educated employees than high school dropouts or even high school graduates.

There is no doubt that business education at the high school level has a vocational (career and technical education) component. But when that component takes over - for whatever reason - our students lose.

What do they lose? The lose the ability to see the economic and business environment in which they live as a manageable environment. They lose the insight into their own ability to influence this environment.

They lose the opportunity to learn how to critique the business/economic environment from individuals (teachers) who have studied and understand the issues in this environment.

They don't lose the notion that they must fit into this environment or that they will lose out economically and/or financially.

Only teaching pre-k to 12 students skills needed for immediate employment and /or the skills and attitudes needed to be 'good' employees deprives our students of important critical thinking skills and deprives society of creative, innovative and 'different' people who might just help us progress, develop and become a better society

Business Teacher Education

This morning I received an information brochure about a Business Teacher Education Summit to be held in New Orleans just before the DPE conference. I am excited to attend this meeting. I have many ideas about teacher education in general and business teacher education in specific.

I will use this blog to chart some of my ideas.

I have talked about teacher education before in this blog but I will try to interpret my ideas into a cohesive and coherent program for prospective business educators.

In the process I want to be able to identify a suitable project for the sabbatical that I am applying for which, if I get approval, will begin January, 2008

Stay tuned

Business Education resources

For a number of years I have been trying to keep track of graduates from our Business Teacher Education program and other business education teachers in Saskatchewan and elsewhere. I have this really long list of email addresses and every once in a while I will send out a message about a business education resource to the whole list.

Lately spam filters have been grabbing these messages and relegating these messages to the spam file. That also blacklists my address and in some cases the whole university.

So I have to stop using the whole list. At first I started breaking the list up into 20 or 30 names but that still triggered spam filters.

Years ago I used to run a very active listserv called Bused-l. We were even mentioned as a good resource in an article in NBEA's Business Education Forum. But when the U of R switched computer systems and moved from listserv to majordomo the list became very quiet and I lost most of the subscribers.

I've decided to renew the bused-l list and have asked people on my 'big' business education email list to subscribe.

I am hoping that I will be able to sue the list to disseminate information about Business Education resources and events in Saskatchewan. But I am also hopeful that the discussions that used to take place will be reinvigorated. There is plenty to think about and discuss in business education and I would like this list to be a focal point for that discussion.

If you would like to subscribe the information below will be of interest:

I moderate the list. That means that every message comes to me first. I will not edit or censor any message sent to the list but I will not send on spams, personal flames or any other inappropriate messages – most particularly advertisements.

The membership list is protected, so your names and addresses will not be used for anything beyond the purposes of this list.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with this kind of list – any message you send to the list will eventually be distributed to all members of the list once I have looked at it. I will return personal messages inadvertently sent to the list.

Please encourage your colleagues, students and anyone else you feel may be interested in this list to subscribe.

To subscribe send an email to:

majordomo@majordomo.uregina.ca

Leave the subject line blank but in the body of the message write:

Subscribe bused-l

Please notice that bused-l is all letters and in lower case.

Made In Jail

I was listening to the radio yesterday and heard a story about the entrepreneurial activities of some ex convicts and present convicts in Rome's Rebibbia prison. It seems they have created a cooperative and are producing MADE IN JAIL clothing. And it seems that the clothing is selling - half a million dollars worth last year. The guys on the inside do the creative and manufacturing work and the guys on the inside do the marketing, transporting, etc.

But that's not all - in my googling of this story I discovered that a number of jails around the world have established call centres employing inmates. So the next time you call for help you may be talking to someone in a penitentiary.

So is this good or bad. On one hand I have to admire the convicts in Rebibbia for having the creativity and the entrepreneurial spirit to develop their business. And I think the management of the prison sees the value in constructive work and skill building.

But what about the call centres and other businesses that are just using the convicts as cheap labour - I'm not so happy about that - unless there is actual learning going on. If the convicts are learning usable skills then perhaps the trade-off is worth it. But I still have a twinge when I think of it.

Developing entrepreneurial skills, abilities and attitudes is an important part of Business Education. Is this a new field for us?

If anyone can find an English language website for Made in Jail please let me know

Spring and Conferences

It is desperately trying to be spring here in Regina. It warms a bit, the sun comes out, snow melts flooding the streets and the next day we are back in the deep freeze except now the streets are icy. In some ways it is an ugly time of year - the snow doesn't have that pristine quality - in places it is dark and dirty, craggy and half melted, half frozen.

Yet it is also a great time of year - we are so tired of winter that any change is welcomed. Which is why we see people walking around in shirtsleeves even though the temperature is still -10 degrees Celsius. But soon the snow will be gone, frosts will be a thing of the past and the mosquitoes will be brewing in sitting water!

Another good thing about spring is the Saskatchewan Business Teachers Association (SBTA) Spring Conference.

This year it is going to be at the University of Regina and it looks like we've put together a terrific program - now all we need is to get the teachers to attend. We've been advertising and sending out emails and the response hasn't been bad so far.

I enjoy this conference. These days I have taught more or less all of the people that attend. Some I taught long ago and others just a few years ago. It is always good to catch up and find out how their lives have taken shape after they left my program.

The conference is on May 4 and 5 - if you'd like more information contact me

Groups, Professionalism and Pictures

I've written on this topic before but I am urged to do it again so here goes.

On Wednesday of this week the Regina Business Educators' Association (RBEA) has its winter meeting. When I first arrived in Regina this association met very often and was the prime source for professional development and interaction for business educators in Regina. Over the years that primacy has faded to the point where we have only met three times a year for the last few years - once in the fall for coffee, once in the winter to have my pre-interns make a presentation and once in the spring for a 'windup' dinner. For the last few years the attendance at the winter meeting has been my students, me and just a few - fewer than 5 - teachers.

This year is different - so far 26 business educators have indicated they will attend - many of them teachers. What is interesting is that many of the teachers that have signed up, although they were either majors or minors in Business Education at University, aren't teaching in Business Education primarily.

So what's happening to make this change? Perhaps they see this as an opportunity to maintain ties with Business Education. Perhaps they want to return to teaching Business Education. Perhaps they see it as a networking opportunity. Perhaps the topic "A Course in Personal Financial Management" is attracting them. Perhaps they see it as a way to support prospective business education teachers. Or maybe they have just heard about the delicious hamball that will be served.

Regardless of the reason I am excited and really looking forward to seeing all of these people at the meeting on Wednesday afternoon. It will be 90 minutes of each of us demonstrating our professionalism through our professional organization. It will be fun.

On a totally different note - I like to play the game of creating stories around pictures - one day, who knows, I may actually write these stories down.

A fellow blogger, a friend, a terrific artist brought the following to my attention. What stories can you create?

http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclare/people/meeting_of_turret_stairs.htm