Dear Colleagues,

Welcome to a vacation edition of the newsletter for Special Education Today. I’m writing from a rental apartment a few blocks east of the beach on the central California coast.

So, yes, I have been slack this past week. Regular visitors to the Web site will have seen that there’s nothing new there. Therefore, this will—unsurprisingly—be a shorter newsletter!

Still, I hope to include the usual content, even if that content is a bit abbreviated.

Flashes of the electrons

I’m tipping my cap (it’s a funky old ball cap with lots of perspiration stains) to folks who’ve helped spread the word about SET or have interacted with the contents. There are the usual suspects over on Twitter (glancing in your direction, Tina C., Michael K., & Betsy T.). Also, SET was included in a group of ~20 Twitter IDs in a passed-along string of messages regarding I-don’t-know-what (but I think it started with something about staff meetings):

Hedreich Nichols @Hedreich

@tracyscottkelly @socialstudiestx @CrazyPln @TAYLOR_does_IT @AndersonMSSE @AguirreLearns @alextvalencic @stephenkelley85 @KevinLeichtman @WeAreCTA @ChouinardJahant @msjellman @melanie_korach @MrsCford_tweets @MrsHayesfam @MrWeimann @MacrinePhD @SpecialEdToday @StephDill92 @santiagoAM115 @SPEDACTS_ Pleading the 5th...or at least not answering first!

1:47 PM ∙ Sep 8, 2022

But few of the Tweeters seem to be SET regulars.

Closer to home, this past week Betsy T. dropped a couple of comments and Betsy, Clay K., and Joel M. threw hearts at posts. Thanks, y’all! There weren’t many targets, but you found something to like.

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Contents

Well, there was just last week’s newsletter. Here’s the link:

Special Education Today Newsletter 2(15)

Comments

I’m here on the central California coast to celebrate the birthdays of two in-laws, brother-in-law, Jim (known as “Fred” by some), and sister-in-law, Liz. Pat’s other brother, Ernie, came for a visit, too. So, all four of the sibs were present. And there were nieces, nephews, and grand-nieces and a grand-nephew, and maybe even one great-grand niece, too! The place was hopping!

Liz hosted a get-together one night and her house was full! There was lots of catching up (“So, what’s your daughter doing now?”), animated chatter (“Remember the time…”), and affirmation (“Oh, yeah, man!”). A nephew was playing lots of ‘60s and ‘70s music. Liz opened a cupboard and started passing around stacks of old photos, causing people to start looking over each others’ shoulders and point at people and situations remembered.

Quite the party. Wonderful folks! I married into a fine family.

In addition, we’ve spent time walking along the beach; idly spectating at the finish line of a foot race; listening for and looking at birds; watching whales spout, breach, flip flukes, and such; and engaging in other sorts of vacation activities…including eating too much and not exercising frequently. Sigh. It’s enough to make vacations seem really attractive.

In the meantime, I hope folks are staying safe and helping others to stay safe, too, and that those of you who are not vacationing are promoting means and mechanisms for teaching students well. Fly the flag for helping kids with disabilities and their families succeed!

JohnL

John Wills Lloyd, Ph.D.

Founder and editor, Special Education Today

Charlottesville, VA

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