Loveland Magazine

LOVELAND MAGAZINE

News and Events from the Loveland, Ohio Area

Without fear or favor

Since 2004

Tag: teaching

  • Wow, this is going to be handy for me

    Wow, this is going to be handy for me

    by CeeCee Collins

    Have you seen the technology on AI? This month’s article is on AI and Chat GPT. It seems suddenly, I keep hearing more messages about AI. I am familiar with Artificial Intelligence and have read some about the technology, however, I was not aware of chat GPT until recently.

    At first, I couldn’t decipher how it was different than google. You simply have a question or topic and throw it into a search. Chat GPT takes the topic and search way further. The difference, it’s original content. This blew my mind! Not only did I think, wow, this is going to be handy for me, but my mind went to so many industries and careers that this will alter. Education will look different. What’s to stop a student from writing an entire dissertation by having Chat CPT create the content. Teaching our students and how they resource information is going to look very different. I have been told, beware, it’s not perfect. If you plan to do your next power point presentation, be sure to review, for some reason chat can’t perfect hands-on people. Kind of an odd flaw but I’m sure it will get worked out. With technology like this it will take some time to discover what all it can do and not do for our lives.

    Chat GPT offers intel from recipes to financial analysis. The technology uses artificial intelligence with software such as chatbot you get Chat GPT. There are other platforms however Chat GPT seems to be the most advanced and popular currently. The platform even does social media. Simply put a topic in the search such as, “create a post for social media on the 2023 Chamber’s Food Truck Rally on May 13.” and Chat GPT creates this:

    Attention foodies! 🍔🍟🍦

    Join us at Little Miami River Chamber Alliance’s 2023 Food Truck Rally on May 13th! 🎉

    Bring your appetite and indulge in delicious eats from a variety of food trucks serving up everything from BBQ to tacos, pizza to ice cream. 🍕🌮🍦

    This is a family-friendly event with plenty of activities for all ages, including live music, games, and more. 🎶🎲

    Don’t miss out on this tasty and fun-filled event! Mark your calendars and invite your friends and family. See you there! 🍴😋 #LMRCARally2023 #FoodTruckFrenzy #EatLocal

    All this information is correct fortunately, but you must review the information. I love the emoji’s and that it feels like there is excitement behind the post. Pretty cool!

    The link to try this out is https://chat.openai.com/ I simply created a trial. I hope you enjoy the new technology, it’s amazing.

    Stay tuned for a Lunch and Learn from our chamber later in the year on the topic. We can’t wait to share all that Chat GPT, and other platforms can offer to help your business.

    ______________________

    CeeCee Collins is President of the Little Miami River Chamber Alliance.

    She was born and raised in Beavercreek, Ohio, CeeCee Collins attended Carroll High School and has been a swimmer her entire life. She received her undergraduate degree at Xavier University where she also participated on the swim team for four years. She graduated from college in 1989 and began working at USA Today Newspaper as a Regional Marketing Manager. After marrying James Collins IV, they moved to Tampa, FL where she worked for the Tampa Metropolitan Area YMCA for 6 years as an Executive Director.

    CeeCee and her family moved back to the tri-state area after her second child’s birth. She continued to work for the Greater Cincinnati YMCA for 10 years part-time. CeeCee then pursued full-time work and became the Development Director at Ohio Valley Voices for 6 years. Throughout her years at the YMCA and Ohio Valley Voices she was active in the Little Miami River Chamber Alliance (formerly the Loveland Area Chamber of Commerce). She became the President of the Chamber in 2013.

    CeeCee continues to enjoy working at the chamber and keeping up with her three children.  She and Jim live in Miami Township.

  • Study shows Ohio K-12 teacher burnout rates higher than any other industry

    Study shows Ohio K-12 teacher burnout rates higher than any other industry

    BY: SUSAN TEBBEN – Ohio Capital Journal


    Ohio educators say burnout is real, but with pending legislation regulating lesson-plan choices and security roles in schools, they feel “demoralized” as well.

    A national survey showed 44% of K-12 teachers in the U.S. “always” or “very often” feel burned out, a stat that has surpassed other industries.

    The Gallup poll showed more than 4 in 10 K-12 workers felt that way, topping college/university employees, retail workers and the government/public policy industry in the survey, conducted in February but released this week.

    Researchers found that K-12 workers have “consistently” been leaders in burn-out in the country, but the COVID-19 pandemic “exacerbated existing challenges,” while also introducing new ones.

    Female teachers reporter higher burnout levels than male teachers, at a split of 55% to 44%.

    “The result is a workforce that is burned out and unfortunately leaving the profession at a high rate,” according to the Gallup poll.

    Those who teach in Ohio agree that the increased workload has taken its toll, but to also see mounting legislation regulating their careers and what they see as a continued lack of appropriate support from the state adds a new amount of weight to educators’ shoulders.

    “When you talk about burnout, you’re talking about when you’ve extinguished a flame,” said Wendi Davis, band director and music teacher at Cory-Rawson Local Schools in northwest Ohio. “Teachers, they love what they do, and when they’re put in situations like what they’re dealing with right now, it’s more demoralization than burnout.”

    Teachers have had to don ever-multiplying caps: as teachers, as standardized test guides, as social workers and as guidance counselors. Faced with all those issues already, teachers then faced a pandemic, according to Shari Obrenski, president of the Cleveland Teachers Union.

    “What the pandemic did was essentially lay bare all of the problems that existed in education,” Obrenski said. “More and more is being put on (a teacher’s) plate and nothing is being taken off.”

    When pandemic learning is combined with legislation currently being considered in the Ohio legislature that would dictate the subjects that teachers can discuss, and a recently passed and governor-signed law that allows teachers to carry weapons in school, Obrenski said educators get pushed to their limits.

    That is, the teachers that are still there. Cleveland is short about 200 teachers going into the new school year, not to mention the ongoing shortage of substitute teachers, in the hundreds as well.

    “And we’re not as bad off as other districts,” Obrenski said.

    As school districts struggle to recruit and retain teachers and substitute teachers, teachers also struggle to be heard in their own districts and in their state government.

    “Teachers need to be empowered at the local level by their administrators,” Davis said. “They need to have a voice at the table.”

    Paying teachers more and funding schools in a way that supports the role they play is definitely a need, according to Obrenski, but so, too, is respecting teachers as professionals in order to keep them in schools.

    “Something that is really important is a teacher’s voice in decision-making; Having teachers be part of the solution instead of condemning them as part of the problem,” Obrenski said.

  • [Video Archive) Bruce Maegly conducts Middle School Stage Band at the end of his teaching career

    [Video Archive) Bruce Maegly conducts Middle School Stage Band at the end of his teaching career

    by David Miller

    Loveland, Ohio – Watch this LOVELAND MAGAZINE TV VIDEO that was shot in the Spring of 2014 in the waning hours of Bruce Maegly’s teaching career. Maegly and the Middle School Stage Band entertained the young students at the Loveland Early Childhood Center just before his retirement. Maegly was one of the most all-time beloved Loveland school teachers who retired that week after 35 years.

    He was the founder of the Loveland Middle School Stage Band.

    Bruce Maegly

    The Stage Band started the first year Maegly taught in Loveland when he was approached by then, principal, Jack Wood about playing for a basketball tournament they were hosting at the old middle school. “So, I put up a sign on the bulletin board inviting people to come in,” Maegly said. They started by learning three pieces of music for the tournament and played three pieces over and over all day long. “The night of our performance someone came up and said, ‘Hey. What’s this group called.” Maegly’s answer was, “Uh… I don’t know…. Uh… The Stage Band.” He explained it was because that is where they were playing, “On a stage.” And, that’s how it started forty-one years ago and it’s still going on. Later, former Loveland High School principal, Tom Hausterman invited Maegly to start what would become the Jazz Band. Two years later there were two jazz bands at the high school.

    In 2012, Maegly was honored by the Hamilton County Education Foundation as a Teacher of the Year. At the time of the award, Loveland Middle School Principal, Chris Burke said, “Very few teachers have the ability to impact as many lives as Bruce Maegly does on a regular basis. Bruce leads hundreds of students on a daily basis to grow and achieve success. Teaching multiple periods of large group bands, in two different buildings, Mr. Maegly has the ability to reach more students on a daily basis than just about anyone in our district. When you add the fact that he expertly and skillfully engages these groups every day it not only makes him deserving of this reward but invaluable to Loveland.”

    c

    Goodbye Mr. Maegly from Loveland Magazine on Vimeo.

  • But here I am at school everyday with 24 children who truly do believe in the magic of Christmas and Hanukkah [w/Photo Album]

    But here I am at school everyday with 24 children who truly do believe in the magic of Christmas and Hanukkah [w/Photo Album]

    by Jennifer Miller

    As Thanksgiving  Break draws to a close I lay awake that Sunday and wonder how I will make it to Winter Break. You see, I am a first-grade teacher (13-year Kindergarten teacher before that) and December is EXHAUSTING. Can I survive? Can I keep my students in routine to keep “unwanted” behaviors at bay? Can I mix in just the right amount of fun?

    Jennifer Miller teaches 1st graders at Loveland Primary

    And that’s just at work. At home, I am overcome with the anxiety of being a good mom and partner to my significant other through December? Will I be able to make social outings with my friends? When will I shop for my own family? It’s all too much! And I have gone through this cycle for 22 years now. 

    I dig deep. We get back from Thanksgiving Break and we dig back into our learning. The first week back is too soon for Holiday stuff so whew, we all survive. But we can all feel it building. Then there is that dreaded middle week of school. Not the first week back when you are fresh and not the last week before break – the middle one. Routine, routine, routine at school. Keep them in routine. Sprinkle in the fun. Go to bed early. Go to bed early. Don’t worry about getting Christmas ready at home. Self-care. Self-care. Be an OK mom. Let your significant other take care of you. That is my mantra.

    And then, it’s here. The week before winter break. I dig deep. Really deep. I can do this! Keep my eyes on the prize! Eyes on the prize!

    Routine again at school as much as possible. Eat a good breakfast. Consume LOTS of coffee. Self-talk. Self-talk. Self-talk. Believe that I am enough at school for my students and at home for my family. Oh – and sprinkle in the fun at school. Holidays around the world, a Fantasy Field Trip to the North Pole writing assignment, assist 24 little ones in making a gift for their parent, and oh – keep the peace in the classroom and pick my battles. And then, Mother Nature teases us with a possible delay or snow day. But no, it’s just wet and cold enough to cause days worth of inside recess! Inside recess in December- oh come on! I’m definitely being tested. I trudge along. 

    And then I remember that year after year I get to spend December with an incredible age group who never let me forget what the holidays are all about.

    But then something always snaps in me and my brain settles a bit and the anxiety begins to disappear.  Perhaps it’s because I am getting older and my own child is 15 and the holidays look and feel a little different now. Gone are the days of sitting on Santa’s lap and getting up early on Christmas morning to see what Santa left. Gone are the days of having our own elf on a shelf at home. Christmas wish lists are full of makeup and clothes and gift cards instead of American Girl Dolls and Barbies.

    But here I am at school every day with 24 children who truly do believe in the magic of Christmas and Hanukkah. 24 children who think every minute of this last week is amazing and awesome. 24 children who think their classmates and their teachers are awesome.

    But here I am at school every day with 24 children who truly do believe in the magic of Christmas and Hanukkah. 24 children who think every minute of this last week is amazing and awesome. 24 children who think their classmates and their teachers are awesome. And then I remember that year after year I get to spend December with an incredible age group who never let me forget what the holidays are all about. I get to see December through the eyes of a child year after year. I begin to move slower through the week. Observing and listening as I go. I slow down at home too. And I take it all in. And to me, that makes me the luckiest person out there. Maybe even luckier than Santa. 

    PS – I have to say thank you to my incredible family. To Olivia, my daughter, thank you for letting me be just an OK mom during the last few weeks! Thank you for knowing that I give my all to school every day. 

    To my significant other, Kyle – thank you for loving and supporting “teacher me” each day, and understanding this time of year like no one else can. Thank you for feeding me and tucking me in at 9 PM. And to my mom, dad, and sister – thank you for understanding my job and that in December those little people come first. Thank you for supporting me so that I can love and support my students.

    The photos below were taken in Ms. Miller’s classroom the day before the last day of school before Winter Break. The children were making holiday crafts and thank you cards for their custodian, Dave Constant. They got a surprise visit from their Recess Monitor, Mike Scherbenberg and Amy Reiss the building’ English as Second Language teacher. Donna Miller, Ms. Miller’s mom volunteered to help the children wrap the presents they were going to take home.

    Click on any photo to view it full size and flip through the entire gallery…

  • Julie Powers, not just a teacher

    Julie Powers, not just a teacher

    Loveland teacher motivated by former student and war hero

    Mihaela Manova

    by Mihaela Manova

    Loveland, Ohio – Students, may not know what goes on in their teacher’s lives, but the impact that they give is indisputable. Good or bad in behavior or teaching, the students not only take new knowledge from them every day but a mindset. Julie Powers, or Mrs. Powers, as her math classes call her, is not just a regular teacher who comes in, educates, and goes home to only complete the same cycle every day. 

    Her drive to teach is not motivated by a sum of a paycheck, but the kids themselves that come in every day. The evidence? Ask any student that has sat in her class, any person who has talked to her about their day and of course her close bond with the local and national hero, Seth Mitchell.

    Teaching at Loveland High School, Julie Powers has encountered many students in her career and has had a close relationship with the Loveland High School Senior class of ‘97. One of the students she met was hero Seth Mitchell, a student with not only a good heart but a genuine soul towards the people around him. After high school, he joined the U.S Marine Corps and fought for our country in the Iraq-Afghanistan War where he was killed in action.

    Loveland High School Math Teacher Julie Powers

    Since his passing in 2009, his family and friends have organized the Captain Seth Mitchell Hero 5K every Fall in memory of his life. The proceeds collected during the race are given for scholarships for 12th-grade students at Loveland High School and are helping other people out, just like Seth.

    I recently sat down with Mrs. Powers and asked her about herself, the teaching profession, and Capt. David Seth Mitchell.

    I know that the Seth Mitchell Race happened a couple of weeks ago, what kind of thoughts did you experience during it?
    I had surgery before the race this year, so I didn’t walk, and I’m a walker. I didn’t even get on the trail. Instead, I stayed back with some of the other people that graduated with Seth, who are now adults and who have kids and families. They graduated in the 90s and seeing them 20 years into the future is really kind of cool.
    If you look at Seth and how he lived his life and what he wanted to do with his life, he didn’t miss a beat. He went after his goals and he worked hard to achieve them.
    It was really neat to just talk to them and at the same time it makes me a little bit sad because you can’t do that with Seth. He’s gone, and he can’t live that part of his life. But I think the hardest part of losing someone so young is feeling like they’re never going to get to this accomplished or have this experience, have a significant other, have children if they wanted to or travel the world. 
    If you look at Seth and how he lived his life and what he wanted to do with his life, he didn’t miss a beat. He went after his goals and he worked hard to achieve them.

     

    Can you tell me about the class of 97’?
    They were amazing people when they were in high school and are even more amazing now as adults. They are some of the most giving, selfless individuals that I met back when they were sophomores. Some of them I taught in 8th grade in Algebra 1 Honors and Algebra 2 Honors and then Calculus, so I knew the group pretty well and being their advisor for Student Council, I got to work with a core of them for almost four years. 
    It’s hard for me to explain to you the personality or the feeling of the class. 
    I have never done another student council class after them because that class just meant so much to me and I knew so many of them so well, not even just the student council kids. It’s hard for me to explain to you the personality or the feeling of the class. 
    Those kids had blurred boundaries, (for example) just because you were in Show Choir didn’t mean that was your only identity. It was the class that I’ve never seen before, it didn’t matter what their ‘thing’ was, many of them had many ‘things’ going on with their lives. 
    You don’t normally have the kids that are on the big athletic teams, doing Student Council and then going out and saying “Let’s go build floats out of chicken wire, tissue paper, and glue!” So when the last day came for them in May 1997, it wasn’t like the last few years. Oh are they going to do anything crazy!? It wasn’t like that at all. 
    The bell rang and they all kind of just strolled out of their classes, not running, screaming, and yelling; they were in the hallway being happy and sad at the same time, because it was their last time together as a class. 
    And you don’t see that type of reaction often, and it wasn’t that Seth was the only person; he was in the group that was just that special. I could name so many names in that class that could just go out of their way to be amazingly nice. There weren’t any little cliques and it just wasn’t like that.

     

    Can you tell me about being an educator and the politics that surround this role?
    I never thought about politics until I was in my 30s. I was like, “My vote won’t count.” and I didn’t think it did, as an educator, there were more things that affected me. That’s what pulled me into it. Seeing the current Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, we should not put somebody in this department who has never worked in a public school, ever, and who sends all their children to private schools while being a millionaire. Someone who is in charge of education needs to be a former educator, not a business person.
    That’s just beyond what I can stand. I would look at the people running for office and I literally would just look at their platform on education and what they thought about it. My take on education has been pretty consistent but it has also changed a bit. 
    Especially after last year, I volunteered to teach a lower Algebra class and I did it on purpose. I learned a lot about the amount of poverty that is in Loveland. I had drawers full of food for these kids. I now see that as a society we need to take care of the family unit in families that are impoverished because we’re missing the boat.
    What are their lives like when they go home after school?
    Not only supporting them through schools, not only getting them free and reduced lunches, but if we don’t support them from preschool to kindergarten, it’s all gone. What are their lives like when they go home after school? And the kids in grade school, is there no one there to watch them? What kind of problems do they have? Do they have one parent, two parents?
    If we don’t look at that part of it and spend money trying to support the people that don’t have anything, I don’t think we’re going to get anywhere with education. I think there are more critical issues that happen that can even affect the classroom.
    If I can show these students by my actions that there is another adult in this building who cares about them as people, I will have succeeded. Now whether or not we get math done is a separate issue, because the first thing that had happened was, they had to learn that they could trust another adult. Some of them have very few, if any, adults that they can trust because they’ve been taught by all kinds of experiences that they can’t and so that was my goal for the class. 
    We teach students not subjects.

     

    Do you think social media influences people in our society right now?
    If you look at our society we are a little bit like a microcosm. Look how polarized our society is  now with just politics. I’m not taking sides but I’m just saying, they can’t find a middle ground no matter which side you are on.
    Like you just talked about social media, Instagram promotes stuff for fundraising and that’s good, that’s necessary. That’s what social media’s for, to use it in a good way but I also think that it pushes people into boxes more. 
    I’m sorry I don’t post on social media because my life is boring, I don’t want people to know everything, I’m not interesting, I don’t want people following me. I even told my husband, “You will not post my picture on Facebook!”
    Books vs Video Games
    Think about when you read books (depends on what kind of books you’re reading ) but the more books you read the more it makes you think. Then okay, so playing video games or reading some books? Which one is going to open your mind which one is going to have you thinking?
    And even if you’re not thinking about the book when you read it, sometimes you might be driving  and be like ‘Huh, that’s interesting what that one person did…’ and it makes you process stuff again and again, but when playing a video game, your game is done when your battery finishes.

     

    What embodies Seth?
    I mean he definitely was someone who would always be very “other” sensitive, like in a classroom. If he saw somebody that was down even if it wasn’t one of his best friends, he would still reach out, quietly, and not make a big deal out of it. He would be like, “How are you doing? Are you ok?” The picture of him in the main lobby with a smile on his face and the gun on his back is the same smile I saw him with everyday.

    Captain David Seth Mitchell was killed on October 26th, 2009 at age 30 while on a mission he volunteered for when two helicopters collided while supporting combat operations in Afghanistan’s Helmand province. He was a 1997 Loveland High School graduate and President of his Senior Class. (Learn more: Keep Captain Seth Mitchell’s memory alive)

    I know that he struggled a little bit, there were some times in high school for Seth that were a bit  dark and challenging and he had to go through some stuff, but his faith was very important to him, so that made a big difference. Even with that, the time I remember during the years that he was here, he just was someone who worked so hard. 
    It didn’t matter if math did not come easily to him and it didn’t, in fact, the day after his parents found out (of his passing) his mom immediately said to me, “Oh Julie, Seth was never very good at math.”
    I told her, “It made no difference at all because it was what kind of a worker he was. It was that work ethic that made Seth who he was, he wouldn’t give up, and that he would just keep on trying.”

     

    By the end of our long talk, I got to know Mrs. Powers more than I could ever imagine, making me think that some teachers are not just here to educate you, but also to support you throughout the years. Educators like Mrs. Powers need to be praised not only for the work that they do but for their dedication to their students. Students will see and appreciate any teacher who stimulates, encourages and reaches out to them.

    I would like to say thank you to Mrs. Powers for her support in her student’s lives.