2022 DKG International Convention Marketplace

The 2022 International Convention at the Sheraton New Orleans Hotel will provide a Marketplace for attendees. DKG members enjoy shopping and like to take home treasures. 

What a great opportunity for state organizations and chapters to fund scholarships, projects, leadership training, and special events! Items should include products of high quality and may be advertised in state or chapter newsletters or brochures. Examples of products from some of the state organization and chapter vendors are notecards, name badges, handmade jewelry, scarves, luggage tags, books, and DKG branded items.  As an affiliate, the state organizations and chapters receive a discount for their marketplace table.

The Marketplace will be open during the convention on Thursday, July 14 and Friday, July 15 with security provided. Applications for being a state organization, chapter, or commercial vendor or exhibitor are available on the dkg.org website. Those who plan to demonstrate or display without selling items should select exhibitor on the application form. 

        The deadline for submitting the application is April 15, 2022. All vendor and exhibitor applications must be approved by the Administrative Board. There will be a limited number of vendors, so don’t delay applying if you are interested.

Update on World Fellowship

The International World Fellowship (WF) Committee has selected and published a list of recipients on the dkg.org website. Chapters, please educate your members about WF! There is a wealth of information on the website. Look under Resources for (1) Flyers. Share the information that is on the WF flyer; (2) Videos. There are 4 videos that were made by recipients and illustrate what the award means to them. (3) Publications. Look at previous DKG publications for articles about WF. Your chapter can brainstorm ways to support these women while they are away from their families and home country and ways to supplement your contributions in order to offer these awards to such deserving women.

Where might you find a member?

Delta Kappa Gamma offers women educators an amazing opportunity to belong to an organization that promotes professional and personal growth among its members as well as excellence in education.  However, far too often our definition and vision of educator doesn’t extend beyond the traditional school environment.

The Expansion Committee would like to hear from you, the members of Delta Kappa Gamma, about members in your chapter that don’t fit this conventional mold.  It’s time to think outside the box and extend the invitation of membership to educators in all fields and areas!

Are you unsure of what this might look like or who we might be thinking of as we begin this new way of thinking?  Here are a few examples to jumpstart the discussion:

Counselor

Physical Therapist

Corporate Trainer

Personal Trainer

Financial Counselor

Bank Trainer

Christian Education Director

Camp Instructor or Director

Preschool Teacher

Librarian

Human Resources Trainer

Facilitator

Trades Teacher

University Staff

Food Service Instructor

IT Trainer

Paraprofessional

Yoga Instructor

Museum Curator

CPR Instructor

Please share additional ideas in your response.  Truly anyone who educates others and receives a payment for her services would be a candidate to consider.  As stated on the Society website, a candidate for membership must be or have been employed as a professional educator at the time of her election. We need to continue to expand our membership base to ensure that Delta Kappa Gamma enjoys a long-life far into the future.

Spotlight on Gallery Artist – Claire Rettenmund, Alpha Omega, Michigan

For this November blog, we are spotlighting DKG artist, Claire Rettenmund of Michigan, and her beautiful silk scarf paintings of ‘Flamingo’ and ‘Water Lilies’.

Claire is a retired elementary classroom teacher. Her entire career she taught in the Flint, Michigan public school system. Her original degree was a B.A. in Elementary Education with a minor in the Arts.  She continued with Masters in both Elementary Education and Educational Leadership. Assignments included all grades K-6 but most of her time was in Kindergarten and First grades. Art was always part of her curriculum when allowed.

Claire states: “A professor early in my education suggested I major in art but I preferred the idea of teaching children to read.”  Since childhood she has always dabbled in many different media. Her parents were both very creative and they encouraged her endeavors.

How did you decide on this form of art to work with?

After retirement I was painting miniature watercolor bird pendants for sale at the summer arts and crafts shows my husband and I worked. I needed to expand. I experimented and really liked this medium.

My scarves are on Habatoi silk and painted with a free-flowing concentrated fabric paint. It handles a little like watercolor so I immediately liked it.

What was your inspiration for these scarves and how did you go about doing them?

The scarves I submitted seemed to showcase some of the possibilities of silk painting. I first sketched the images on the silk. Using a washable gutta, which dries to create a barrier to contain a color in a designated area, I was able to form the flamingo, water lilies and leaves. Since you can't paint white, those areas are left paint free. Backgrounds are created using the flowing movement of paint on fabric to your advantage. When dry, the silk is heat set, washed, and pressed. The scarves remain hand washable thereafter.

 What is the best piece of advice that you can give someone, as an artist, or that was given to you? 

Art can be very relaxing, especially when painting. I get so involved in the piece that any nervous tension just disappears. My mind is absorbed in the process. I recommend art as an outlet to everyone. Do not worry about how your project turns out. One of my elementary education instructors advised that “it is all about the process, not the finished product.” 

In your view, what is the value of the creative arts in education?

Creative arts are important in education at all levels. Sadly, the arts in all forms have traditionally been the first programs cut from the school budget. My own son became a talented thespian due, in part, to an excellent high school program which was later removed from the curriculum. Everyone needs outlets from their stress filled lives and all art forms help balance right and left brained experiences.

Do you have anything else that you would like to share?

My husband and I stopped working arts and crafts shows after the pandemic started. I still make a few scarves and have a finished supply with images and designs which I hope to sell online.

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The Arts & Humanities Jury looks forward to you returning often to view exciting new content and to share in the joy of creativity.   

We invite you to view the Art Gallery, click here. 

Keep the conversation going, please use the comment section below to suggest new topics, ask questions, or give us your input. 

EEC/DKG@UN

A Cornucopia of Resources for Our Educators

Educational crises often occur during times of rapid transformations. The broadest social functions of education are renewal and regeneration. It is here, that I have observed and witnessed daily, the regeneration of instruction during this time of a global pandemic. I’ve seen a capacity for good and change among my colleagues and sisters, along with the work and effort demonstrated by the members of our EEC committees to share this information. As this global public health crisis cascaded into a Global Educational Crisis, it also deepens an already profound childhood and adolescent mental health crisis among the various demographics of where we find ourselves. CTAUN (Committee on Teaching About the United Nations), DKG’s one of many branches with representation at the EEC, addresses Global Education through UN representation. It is here I encourage all our members to look and review for teacher use and interest, the many resources made available on CTAUN’S website: www.teachun.org, covering all topics and grade levels ranging from primary resources to the university level. Here, you will find not only the history of the United Nations, but topics that range from Peace, Security, Human Rights to our most important issue to the Secretary General “Climate Change” as this affects everything else we can speak of. In addition, you’ll find lesson plans for all age groups and topics including at home help for parents. To help promote all of this, CTAUN has just completed, through its recently formed ad hoc committee, a newsletter with possible UN updates on webinars to come, information on educational programs as part of other entities of the UN, and informative briefings made available in the future. This will be shared with our EEC International and local EEC chairs to be filtered down to membership, along with those members who are on the Constant Contact List from CTAUN.

Eileen Venezia

International EEC Member

UN/NGO

Giving Thanks to Our International, State Organization, and Chapter Leaders

At this time of year members from the United States are looking forward to the national holiday of Thanksgiving. The celebration originated as a day of giving thanks and sacrifice for the blessings of the harvest and the preceding year. Other member countries might not celebrate Thanksgiving as a national holiday, but many celebrate a day of thanks sometime during the year. Canada has a Thanksgiving Day held in October; Germany has Erntedankfest, a Harvest Thanksgiving Festival; and Japanese members celebrate a Labor Thanksgiving Day or 勤労感謝の日, an occasion to commemorate labor and production and give each other thanks. In the United Kingdom, a Harvest Festival of Thanksgiving is celebrated.

The International Leadership Development Committee would like to take this time to give thanks to all leaders, both past and present, at all levels of our Society.

• To Dr. Blanton and the Founders of our Society, for their foresight in recognizing a need for an organization to support personal and professional growth of women educators, and for their courage in founding the Society despite the challenges they faced in 1929.
• To international leaders in the intervening years for building upon the vision of our Founders, being change agents to keep the Society “forward moving ever,” and making the necessary changes to remain relevant.
• To current international leaders for understanding that our current headquarters building no longer met the needs of our Society and working diligently to find appropriate facilities to address future needs.
• To state organization leaders for guiding chapters and mentoring others in developing leaders.
• To chapter leaders for their willingness to serve and offer leadership development to ensure the future of our Society.

What benefits do YOU give thanks for in DKG? Please add a comment below.

Don’t Mess with the Logo (the rose)!

The DKG Society International has a copyrighted brand. As members we can use the DKG brand for our chapter and state organization marketing and communications. On the International website there are logos and graphics that we can use. We can use the graphics and logos to advertise our events, recognize members, enhance our newsletters and websites, communicate to members and non-members, encourage members to be involved with projects and programs, award scholarships and grants, and many other uses.

In order to capitalize on the DKG brand, there are a few important things to remember about the logos.

The logos can be used:

• in color or black and white
• with the words Delta Kappa Gamma or DKG with the K extended
• with the words “International Society For Key Women Educators” or “Leading Women Educators Impacting Education Worldwide”
• with or without your state organization geographic name.

The logos can never be:

• altered in size or shape
• used in a different font
• placed on top of another graphic that interferes with the legibility
• be displayed in duplicate or multiple times.

The DKG website has guidelines for the use of the logos and graphics. You can access the guidelines through the resources tab on the main menu of the member page. The important things to remember about using the branded and copyrighted DKG logos and graphics are:

• always use the graphics as they are presented on the website
• other images on the website are copyrighted and used by permission or purchased and that permission does not extend to state organizations or chapters
• always consult the guidelines if you have questions.

 

Bang #23 - Go Ahead Tours

If the worldwide pandemic of 2020 and 2021 has taught us anything, it is to value the ability to visit with family, friends, and colleagues.  As we did our best to quarantine in our homes, many of us discovered a desire to travel more and see sites that may have been on our bucket lists for quite some time.  One of the benefits of membership in Delta Kappa Gamma Society International is the Go Ahead Tours program.  Each year, a DKG member is appointed as an ambassador to work alongside an agency which plans and executes trips to various locations. 

In years past, DKG members have taken the opportunity to travel to many places such as Costa Rica, Spain, England and Iceland.  An Alaskan Cruise has also been enjoyed by members, as well as a trip to view New England Fall Foliage.  Each of these trips is planned with precision to maximize a traveler’s experience in the sights, sounds, and culture of each destination.  Group travel enables friends to explore new destinations together and, in the process, provides non-dues revenue to the DKG International Educators Foundation. 

The next Go Ahead Tour is scheduled to take place immediately following the 2022 International Conference in New Orleans, Louisiana.  This trip will take you and your cohorts on a tour of The American South from New Orleans, Louisiana to Memphis, Tennessee over a period of 6 days and 5 nights.  More information about this opportunity can be found at www.dkg.org.  After signing in, look for the black banner and click on “Events.”  You will find “Go Ahead Tours” listed and can explore all the details of this amazing trip to view several historic sites in the South. 

As we search for a new normal in our lives, let this be your mantra: “Eat the dessert – buy the shoes – take the trip!”  You will not regret your choice. 

DKGIEF: Educational Projects Award

Do you know how your contribution to DKGIEF serves educators? Your contribution is a rich investment in education. Your giving makes a large difference, impacting lives of educators, students, and communities. One powerful use is the funding of Educational Projects.

Members and non-members may apply for a project grant. Even though the patterns of our lives were altered during the Covid-19 pandemic, the projects funded in 2020-2021 continued with adjustments in delivery.

Would you like to know how YOUR contribution made a difference in Texas, Nuevo Leone, Louisiana, Kansas, Arkansas, Mississippi, Washington D.C., and Illinois?

Your contribution helped fund the purchase of reading manipulatives for 130 K-3 students who read below grade level. At the project’s end, all third graders in this program were reading at or above grade level, half of the second graders were reading at grade level and the other half were reading at the end of first grade level.

Your contribution helped fund a $100 scholarship stipend for 10 university women students to encourage them to continue their studies during the Covid crisis. Now, all are near graduation with a collective GPA of 95.2.

Your contribution helped fund virtual reality headsets and software applications for upper elementary and high school students. Examples of the use of the equipment are an application for virtual frog dissections that can be used many times (no smell, no fainting, no bad lab specimens, no purchase of dead frogs); virtual space travel where students “went” to the international space station; virtual earth travel (“Think of Google maps, but instead of viewing a screen, you’re standing there”) to the Grand Canyon, Alcatraz, the Statue of Liberty and the Eiffel Tower; and the Anne Frank experience where students “hide” from danger in a small attic.

Your contribution helped fund advanced statistical studies, opportunities for students to learn and play heritage music, teacher training in strategies for trauma-informed classrooms in a large middle school with a diverse population where more than 500 behavior referrals occurred in the first quarter of school, and a many-faceted overview of woman’s suffrage that included film, music, art, drama, dance, and writing.

The vision of DKGIEF is “Giving to Educate the World.” That is the long reach of YOUR contribution to DKGIEF! In fact, YOUR contribution is like a pebble tossed in water: the ripples run long and farther than you can know.