Teachers and their legacies...

[Valerie Sutton]

On Saturday, January 11, 2003, at 11:38 AM, Tini Pel wrote:
> My wish is, if that could be continued. What do you think Teachers or
> parents? Could we start again. I know you all have to finish a
> curriculum at
> the end of a school year, but isn't this a GOOD practice for all of us,
> young and old alike??????


SignWriting List
January 12, 2002

Dear Tini, and Everyone on the SignWriting List -
Thank you for your lovely comments, and your wish for more
participation between teachers, students and parents around the
world....Of course we all wish that more could happen...

Several very important people in the SignWriting world, who use
SignWriting daily and who have published large books on SignWriting,
continue to use SignWriting more and more, but are no longer on the
SignWriting List, because they cannot handle the large amount of
messages...

A great deal rests on my shoulders to keep the List active, and to
stimulate others to communicate, and lately I have not been able to do
so much simultaneously either. So we are all in the same boat....too
much to do...which results in information overload.

I guess there will always be times when exciting new things happen, and
there will be a flurry of messages about it, but then there are other
times when we all must rest and take stock of all that has
happened...and sit back...and enjoy the silence!

Yesterday my parents and I drove north to attend a memorial service for
someone who played a very important role in my life. Her name was Lila
Zali, and she trained over 35 professional dancers in her lifetime.
Lila was 84...She trained me for a professional ballet career from age
10 to 16. Ballet training is like athletics....it must start young and
includes hours and hours of daily training, so that, like olympic
gymnasts or ice skaters, the dancer can accomplish excellence.

What struck me, was how many young lives were molded by this remarkable
teacher, and how many professional dancers her students have trained
too...so her legacy lives on in her students and their students...

I know many of the teachers on this List, will also hold such a
position in the minds of your students - Your pioneering work with
SignWriting in the classroom will not be forgotten, as your students
grow to adulthood.

A wonderful teacher in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Dr. Cecilia Flood, has
completed her dissertation on SignWriting, and is now a Ph.D! Cecilia
came to visit us over New Years', and presented to our Board Meeting on
January 2nd...so I will post the report next about that meeting...

Val ;-)

-----------------------------



> I am still in the process of finishing a translation in ASL and Sign
> writing, a children's bed time story and I hope to have it ready by
> this
> year.
>
> I like to close by saying, that it is so WONDERFUL  to be in touch
> with you
> again Valerie. You have helped me so much during my days of the dance
> notation and now with the Sign Writing!!!!
> The above may not be a "historic documentation" Valerie but an
> expression of
> thankfulness for what you have done with your work!!!!
> L.I.F.E.
> Tini.