Gwinnett Forum.com -- Gwinnett County's community forum and idea exchange

TODAY'S ISSUE
Hudgens Center at Gwinnett Tech offers Montessori classes
By Lauren Anderson
for Gwinnett Technical College
Special to GwinnettForum

LAWRENCEVILLE, June 30, 2006 -- We all learn at our own pace. When it comes to children, some learn best in a group setting, while others advance better through individual initiative and creativity.

To impact and educate all children in the method that is best suited for them, Gwinnett Technical College's new D. Scott Hudgens, Jr. Early Education Center will offer a Montessori class in addition to the more traditional classroom structure when the facility opens July 10.

The Montessori classroom, as well the other classrooms and the rest of the facility, will be available for touring during two upcoming Open Houses. The Open Houses are scheduled for Thursday, July 6, from 9 a.m. until 12 p.m., and from 3:30-5:30 p.m.; and Saturday, July 8, from 10 a.m. until 12 p.m. The Hudgens Early Education Center is located at 5150 Sugarloaf Parkway in Lawrenceville, on the campus of Gwinnett Technical College.

Becky Olson, director of curriculum at the Hudgens Early Education Center on Gwinnett Tech's campus, says that the Montessori classroom will have an "extensive collection of learning materials that match the developmental capabilities, interests and needs of the children enrolled in the class. In addition to various modes of learning and discovery, a minimum of two continuous hours of work time will be provided each day. Two hours of work time allows a child to immerse themselves in an activity and see it through without interruption. This is an important aspect of the Montessori philosophy."

The Montessori philosophy to teaching is named for Dr. Maria Montessori, an Italian educator who in the early 1900's advocated for a child-centered approach to education. The Montessori method acknowledges that children learn at different rates, and therefore, emphasizes the uniqueness of each child's needs and talents in their educational development.

Olson says: "The Montessori approach is a valuable teaching method that more and more parents are finding works best for their children. We are pleased to be offering an array of educational options that will touch a wide audience with varying needs."

The Hudgens Early Education Center will be a learning environment for a total of 215 children, including two state-licensed Pre-K classes. The Montessori classroom will have 20 children aged 3-5 years with two teachers.

The opening of the 26,000 square-foot, state-of-the-art facility on the college's campus in July will provide students studying early childhood education a hands-on experience in a quality learning environment, as well as serve as a nurturing educational center for children aged 6 weeks to 12 years. Early Childhood Education students from Gwinnett Tech will be able to observe and participate in three different philosophy/curriculum models at the center: Montessori, High Scope and Creative Curriculum. Exposure to various models will best prepare GTC students to work in a variety of child care settings.

In addition to the Montessori program, the Center will also provide infant, toddler, preschool and before- and after-school care, plus a Pre-Kindergarten program, following the National Association for the Education of the Young Child (NAEYC) accreditation standards. All programs will support each individual child through active learning opportunities throughout the day provided in a warm and nurturing environment.

To learn more about the D. Scott Hudgens, Jr. Early Education Center or the Open Houses, call 770-685-1250 or visit www.GwinnettTech.edu. To pre-register a child for the Center, log on to www.GwinnettTech.edu/heec.

ELLIOTT BRACK
How in the world do grandchildren come up with your name?
By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher
GwinnettForum.com

JUNE 30, 2006 -- Every potential grandparent faces it, with the topic usually discussed thoroughly, even before the offspring arrives.

Most grandparents have definite ideas before the baby arrives on what they want to be called. I think the best name we have heard a grandparents wanting to be called came from a former neighbor of ours, Harry Wood, when we lived in Jesup. Harry, very much the proper parent in raising his three children, was a precise engineer. He knew what he wanted in every situation, and in this case, wanted to be called "Grandfather, Sir." We suspect, without asking him, that he did not get his wish.

Everything from the simple "Grandpaw" to "Grouchy" or "Gramps" or "Pa Pa" and no telling what else.

I was rather liking the "Grandfather, Sir" handle Harry came up with for myself, when we, too, were "expecting."

And so the grandchild arrives, for the first year or so, since the baby can't talk, you may be referred to by the adults in the family in the formal "Grandfather" style. You almost get used to it.

Eventually after about 18 months, the baby begins forming not only words, but short sentences. The baby also starts recognizing people, and has in his or her mind some association you may never realize with that person, which produces some sound referring to that person.

And that may be where the names come in. For the baby somehow early on starts calling you a name you don't recognize.

That may go on for a while. Yet as the baby gains a few more months, somehow set in the mind of the youth will be a most definite name that now even you can understand. And it gets repeated constantly.

My name is "Pop-Pop." Nobody can determine why that name, or why it is repeated.

The other morning, about 8 a.m., I got a call.

"Avery wants to talk to you," my son says. So she gets on the phone and says something like this (she is nearly three): "Pop-Pop, I am now twininiking you."

So now she comes back on the phone, and I start laughing like she is ticking me. And on the other end, I can hear her laughing at my laughing.

Oh, the beauties of grandfatherhood, even though they may call you funny names! That from me, "Pop Pop."

The public spiritedness of our sponsors allows us to bring GwinnettForum.com to you at no cost to readers. Today's sponsor is Hayes Dodge-Chrysler-Jeep of Lawrenceville, Gainesville and Baldwin. General Manager Mike Hayes of Lawrenceville, Tim Hayes of Gainesville and Robin Haynes of Baldwin invite you into their showrooms to look over their line-up of automobiles and trucks. Hayes has been in the automotive business for over 30 years, and is North Georgia's oldest family-owned auto dealership. The family is the winner of the 2002 Georgia Family Business of the Year Award. Hayes Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep is affiliated with Hayes Chevrolet in Baldwin. Check out their web site at: http://www.hayeschrysler.com or http://www.hayeschevrolet.com.

FEEDBACK
6/30: Feels those in nursing deserve far better on the pay scale

By keeping nurse pay scales in line with one another instead of raising wages to attract more nurses to the profession, hospitals are putting the bottom line before quality patient care.

As a patient involved with nurses, I think back when I had serious surgery and could not get myself to the bathroom. These women and men worked not only long hours, but the amount of time that it took for them to assist me, while having seven or more other patients to care for, was sometimes so difficult for them just to make their appointed schedules of medications.

With them around, I felt that I was blessed to have anyone at all to help me. Dealing with patients that are less than reasonable takes up even more time for the nurses.

Sometimes we forget that these Angels of Mercy are human. We pay some craftsman better than we do nurses, who have our care in their hands. Many of these young nurses, with the stars in their eyes when they first come to their profession. Many leave after the reality sets in that the long hours and short staff makes their jobs almost impossible.

Give incentives and pay to these people well and you will see that there are those willing to devote their lives to helping those in recovery. God bless those that have taken up the profession. Shame on the professional administrators and politicians who callously disregard their service by underpaying them.

Do you have an opinion on Durham, N.C. District Attorney Mike Nifong? You couldn't print mine in a newspaper and get it past the editors.

To me this guy is the biggest dirtbag in the legal profession, a disgrace to the law and is trying to ruin the lives of three innocent college students for political gain, groveling for votes. I felt from day one that this was a "phony-baloney" prosecution. It's another Ray Donovan case. Remember him?

Nifong knows he has no case but is too stubborn or stupid to admit it. There should be some way to remove this out-of-control creep from office. He'll probably walk away without paying a price, same for Crystal Gail Mangum, the "victim." And why not release the names of those who bring phony charges?

The annual Independence Day celebration, Gwinnett Glows, will be better than ever this year as it expands to include the Historic Courthouse Square in Lawrenceville.

The band and children's activities, along with traditional favorites like fire engines and police vehicles, will relocate to downtown this year.

Daytime activities begin at 4 p.m. and offer many free, family-friendly activities and entertainment. Downtown restaurants and onsite vendors will provide a variety of food options for sale. The fireworks show will be better than ever and will begin at about 9:30pm.

Some of the most important figures in the history of commercial country music received their first significant exposure as performers at the annual Georgia Old-Time Fiddlers' Conventions, which were held from 1913 to 1935. Among them were Fiddlin' John Carson, Gid Tanner (of Dacula), Riley Puckett, and Clayton McMichen, all of whom went on to become nationally known radio and recording artists.

In April 1931, after a long weekend of music making in Atlanta, Georgia's leading practitioners of traditional fiddling organized the Georgia Old-Time Fiddlers' Association. For the next 22 years fiddlers from throughout Georgia met annually in Atlanta for several days of fiddling that ended in a contest in which the state's fiddling champion for the ensuing year was selected.

These events received copious coverage from Atlanta's three daily newspapers and attracted the attention of out-of-state journalists,who reported on them in nationally circulated newspapers and magazines. When a youthful Lowe Stokes defeated the elder statesman of Georgia fiddlers, Fiddlin' John Carson, at the 1924 convention, the story was printed in the Literary Digest. In 1925 Stephen Vincent Benét published a poem titled "The Mountain Whippoorwill; or, How Hill-Billy Jim Won the Great Fiddlers Prize." The similarity between published reports of the Stokes/Carson contest and the events recounted in "The Mountain Whippoorwill" suggests the likely source for Benét's poem.

Unwittingly, the rustic musicians who performed at the Georgia Old-Time Fiddlers' Conventions helped set the stage for two epochal developments in commercial country music that would occur in the next decade-the use of old-time musicians as recording artists and as sources of live talent on radio broadcasts.

The annual fiddlers' conventions were held in the old Atlanta City Auditorium (the lobby and front offices of which later became Georgia State University's Alumni Hall) at the corner of Courtland and Gilmer Streets. A typical convention began on a Thursday and ended the following Saturday night. The Thursday and Friday night programs were exhibition, or warm-up, programs and featured string bands, comedians, dancers, singers, and other types of entertainers in addition to the fiddlers.

The contest, held on Saturday night, was usually followed by a square dance in the auditorium's Taft Hall (later Veterans' Memorial Hall).

Audiences for the fiddlers' conventions included former rural dwellers who had recently migrated to Atlanta in search of employment in the city's textile mills and other industries. Among others who attended to these annual musical events were local residents with rural Georgia roots who had become leaders in Atlanta's business and political arenas. On many occasions members of Atlanta's younger and urban-reared citizens came in search of something different in the way of entertainment.

With the introduction and growth of other such sources of entertainment as radio, motion pictures, and phonograph records, the fiddlers' conventions began to lose their audiences, and in 1935 they came to an end. During the conventions' heyday, crowned state champions included J. B. Singley (1913), Fiddlin' John Carson (1914, 1923, 1927), Shorty Harper (1915, 1916), John Silvey (1917), A. A. Gray (1918, 1921, 1922, 1929), F. B. Coupland (1919), R. M. Stanley (1920), Lowe Stokes (1924, 1925), Earl Johnson (1926), Gid Tanner (1928), Joe Collins (1930), and Anita Sorrells Wheeler (1931, 1934).

THOUGHT OF THE DAY
Wisdom from the fourth president of the United States

SEND YOUR FEEDBACK

Send your thoughts, 55-word short stories, pet peeves or comments on any issue to Gwinnett Forum for future publication.

===========================================