It is time – or nearly time – to breathe again. As another school year comes to an end, we reflect on the lives we have changed. We consider how we could have instructed our units just a little differently. We know we provided the best education for our students this year, but something inside still calls us to reflect and restructure for the next group of students. We did not become educators of German because it was the easiest professional experience available. We are dedicated and passionate about our content and want our students to become as passionate as we are. Thank you for continuing to provide the best
quality education for our students.
We use summer to recharge our batteries. We give so much of ourselves to our students and our institutions. We find time to rejuvenate and think about how to implement the new ideas we have been too busy to fully develop. Some of us will be traveling with students; some extending our professional development; and still others will be reading, viewing films, and considering how to make the next academic term the most magical one for students. Though our experiences will vary, may we all start the next school year eager to shape new minds. I will have the honor of representing you in Graz, Austria at the third ACTFL/CEFR conference. It will be exciting to be with some of you in Leipzig at our KEFKO and KiDS summer seminars. Look for my reflections on these seminars in upcoming newsletters.
It was my pleasure this spring to see many of you in Baltimore, MD at NECTFL and to be hosted by the Arizona chapter of AATG. I am encouraged to hear your stories of success. It is also important for me to know the challenges facing German educators at all levels. AATG will continue to provide letters of support for programs when needed, but we also would like to know about the good things happening in your institutions and share them in the newsletter. Inspiration comes to us in many ways. What brought you to the profession of education? Have you recently thanked people who inspired you? I would like to introduce a new initiative. We will have a page in the Newsletter to express gratitude to those who helped make us the dedicated professionals we are today. I encourage you to say thanks with a small monetary donation to the AATG in the individual’s name.
I want to thank four very special professionals who made a great impact on my professional development. Without their influence, I would not be in the field of education and, most certainly, would not be AATG President. Frau Irmgard Hegewald has passed. During my freshman year of college, she asked if I would want to be a German major. I said, sure. Case closed. Frau Dr. Christine Totten has continued to be a source of support and encouragement since my undergraduate studies. Ursula Meyer helped me to understand that learning can come alive through authentic materials. Helene Zimmer‐Loew challenged me to use my gifts to reach out beyond the classroom to other instructors of German. I will be contributing $25 for each of these special people to the AATG to honor their roles in my career. I hope that you might join me in saying thank you to a person or two who has played a significant role in your professional experience. Please express your gratitude to those special people in your professional life.
Enjoy the summer. Relax, refresh, reflect. Take time to enjoy friends and family. Be ready to be your best, once again, in the next school term.
Kathy J. Fegely
Antietam High School
Reading, Pennsylvania