Why Membership Matters

 

Have your ever pondered why your membership in Delta Kappa Gamma matters? Our vision statement clearly defines why our membership matters: Leading Women Educators Impacting Education Worldwide.

Annie Webb Blanton believed in the power of education and members across the world are impacting the lives of students today around the world.

DKG believes in our members because we provide scholarships or grants to further their personal educations on the chapter, state, and international levels. International and state organizations created foundations to provide money for our members and non-members to attend conferences, purchase resources for classrooms, work on advanced degrees and certifications. Members in DKG donate and fundraise to support these worthy programs.

Another focus of the Society is on Early Career Educators. Chapters around the globe encourage beginning teachers by providing notes of encouragement, treats, school supplies and money to these young educators. Yes, members are impacting students around the globe by supporting and mentoring early career educators.

Since 2010, DKG has been supporting Schools for Africa by raising awareness of the needs of children in Africa. Members provide programs and raise money to send to this worthy cause. Caring members are encouraging students we have never met but are creating a better environment for others.

The DKG Emergency Fund has provided our members with $500 when they have been affected by flood, tornadoes, hurricanes, and other natural disasters.

In 1979, to celebrate the Society’s 50th Anniversary, the Golden Gift Fund was established. This committee sponsors the Leadership Management Seminar, DKG Ignite, to train our members to be stronger leaders.

Membership matters because members are passionate about making the world a better place to live and work. Members matter because your dues and donations create a ripple effect that spreads globally.

Bang #4 Scholarships

Are you pursuing an advanced degree? DKG is here to help you financially with your goal!

To endow scholarships to aid outstanding women educators in pursuing graduate study and to grant fellowships to non- member educators is the Society Purpose #5 and one the Society supports every year.

A scholarship fee is no longer a part of a member’s dues. Scholarships are supported through contributions, bequests and income from investments. Thirty (30) $6,000 USD scholarships are available to members working toward a master’s degree and thirty (30) $10,000 USD scholarships are available to members working on a doctorate degree.

The scholarship application is on the web and is due February 1, 2021. There is a Scholarship Application Tip Sheet that can be found under Resources and Scholarship Tools. 

Many members have benefitted from this generous resource. Will you be the next recipient to receive “More Bang for Your Bucks?”

For the Scholarship Tip Sheet or Scholarship Application log in to the website and:

    🠞Click on “Resources” then “Scholarship Tools”

    🠞Click on “Apply/Submit“ then “Applications”

"Think Like Socrates" by Shanna Peeples

 

Kids always have questions—often to the dismay of parents and teachers.  However, utilizing their questions is a way for kids to become leaders in their learning. Shanna Peeples, 2015 National Teacher of the Year, advocates the Socratic approach to learning in her book, Think Like Socrates. The author highlights how engaging students through their questions enhances learning.

Students are more confident and focused; better discipline is a byproduct.  Their questions are validated; they learn about topics that matter to them.  Teachers get to better know their students as they listen and respond, while adapting those questions to the assigned standards/curriculum. This approach can also help parents in the discovery process of learning while homeschooling or engaging in family activities.

            While this is not the “answer” for good teaching, it is another productive tool in the teacher’s toolkit, as highlighted in the design of the book.  The introduction outlines the book and allows the reader to quickly access the information sought.  Pages 8 & 9 provide a brief description of what is the focus of each chapter—Chapters 1-6 to develop the theoretical foundation, Chapters 7-12 to apply in specific disciplines, Chapter 13 to apply the approach to the real world, and Chapter 14 to examine the potential for professional development.  It concludes with more than 40 pages of detailed resources and tools for educators to use.  All chapters include examples from actual classrooms.

The 2020 DKG Educators Book Award committee awarded this book honorable mention.

Facts and Forms

 

Forms! Forms! Forms!

Have you ever wondered why all of these forms are necessary? Facts about the members need to be kept accurate so that all parts of the Society can function properly.

Finding the forms you will need is easy. Go to www.dkg.org and sign in. Select Forms and then select Membership. Some of the forms you will need are as follows: Form 27 Change of Address Form (Chapter Use Only); Form 81 New Member Form (Chapter Use Only); Form 83 Reinstated Member Form (Chapter Use Only), and Form TR-A Transfer Request. Those forms marked with "chapter use only" are not to be sent to headquarters.

When a member is dropped for any reason, other than non-payment of dues, treasurers are to complete Form 18A Report of Dropped Member found in the Forms section of the DKG website under Treasurer, as well as in their Chapter Connect. Members are automatically dropped and coded for non-payment of dues, so no Form 18A is needed to send to HQ for those members.

Timely updating of membership information saves leaders at all levels of the Society time. Planning for budgets, events and activities is more effective with valid membership data, as well as receiving important notices from HQ and publications. Sadly, occasionally, chapters decide to unofficially dissolve their chapter and don’t pay their dues but haven’t taken the proper steps in dissolution. This simply makes more work for everyone. Accurate membership information plays a vital role in membership data.

Chapter presidents or treasurers are to complete Form 6 as soon as possible for a deceased member. Chapter Necrology Report -Form 2 is to be completed and is due February 1 of each year to your state organization. The Necrology Report is no longer required to be sent to HQ. Go to www.dkg.org and sign in. Select Forms for the Chapter Necrology Report-Form 2. Form 6 is found under Membership in Forms and can also be found in your Chapter Connect for chapter presidents and treasurers.

Facts and forms not only keep the membership numbers up to date but also help with other duties of DKG. Membership numbers are studied and discussed to seek helpful suggestions and recommendations for the state and chapter organizations.

Facts and forms are the only way that the Society can keep accurate records and better serve its members. Please do your part by completing the appropriate forms and submitting them in a timely manner.

"Suffrage: The Epic Struggle for Women’s Right to Vote" by Susan L. Poulson

 

            It has been 100 years since women were granted the right to vote.  Standing at 2020, it is sometimes forgotten that women fought for 72 long years before receiving the right to vote in 1920. In 1848, women and men gathered at the first Women’s Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, New York. This event is often identified as the beginning of the struggle for the right to vote.  Through the years many women would work tirelessly to convince the country that women should have voting rights in all elections. Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucy Stone, Alice Paul and others would speak, write, travel, and campaign for this fundamental right. 

            In her book, Suffrage: The Epic Struggle for Women’s Right to Vote, Susan Poulson tells this story in a highly readable style with amazing detail.  She tells of the famous women who led this movement and also some not so well known like Virginia Minor and Mary Elizabeth Bryan. The reader will be engaged by this book and close it with a greater understanding of this epic struggle and a new appreciation for the women who have gone before.  Among these, of course, was DKG’s own, Annie Webb Blanton.

            Suffrage by Susan Poulson was awarded an honorable mention by the 2020 Educators Book Award Committee.