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Dr. Michele Pickel


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Michele Pickel

Dr. Michele Pickel
Associate Professor of Education

Office#: Admin 312
Phone: (651) 641-8786
Fax: (651) 603-6240
pickel@csp.edu


Great Teacher Stuff



Service Learning, Teacher Ed info, Children's Literature Links, ESL Special Needs, Teacher Org. Govt. Links, Literacy Research Links, Writing Vocabulary, Classroom Management, Job Search, Classroom Technology, Lesson Plans, New Teacher Help


Service Learning

Check out the CSP service Learning website to find lots of opportunities http://web.csp.edu/servicelearning/
Here are links to just a few of the schools sites we connect with
for Service Learning, Teacher Aiding and Human Relations Activities:
Liberty Plaza P.L.U.S. Time after school program (Playful Learning with University Students) - is a collaboration between Twin Cities Housing Development Corporation and Concordia University. The site is located in a basement apartment at 431 Marshall Ave.
Click to see photos of the fun stuff our volunteers do with the P.L.U.S. time kids .
Coon Rapids Learning Center - an alternative charter high school just off Hwy 10 in Coon Rapids
Liberty High Charter School -an alternative charter high school at Northtown Mall
Concordia Creative Learning Academy(CCLA) - a PK-6 charter school sponsored by Concordia University
If you choose to volunteer at CCLA, please use the listed procedure and volunteer form.
Trinity First Lutheran School - a PK-8 Lutheran school in Minneapolis
Concordia Academy - a 9-12 Lutheran High School in Roseville
Family Learning Center - a K-6 Charter school that shares a building with Learning Adventures Middle School and Minnesota Technology High School .
Kids Connection (Kids Caf? and Reach for the Stars Program) Volunteer : Work in an after-school enrichment program for children in grades K-6. Volunteers and Interns are needed to teach and mentor in the classroom and in Kids Caf?. At the end of the day, the volunteer/intern and staff sit down with the children and share in good food and conversation. A minimum commitment of three hours a month (3:30 - 6:30 PM, Mondays through Fridays) for a school semester is required.
Hancock Elementary - a St. Paul public magnet school where you can volunteer to mentor a child through the HOSTS program which is coordinated by one of our CSP graduates.
Dayton's Bluff Elementary K-6 - is a St Paul public school where you can also volunteer to tutor a child. One of our CSP grads teaches there has asked us to send students their way!
Here is a really useful link to maps of all Minnesota school districts!! Wow -- Handy to find the school you need to drive to!

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Teacher Ed info

Do you need to take the Praxis 1: PPST (Pre-Professional Skills Test) ? You may want to check out the ETS website www.ets.org/praxis which offers testing guides registration info. Praxis II: the PLT (Principles of Learning and Teaching) as well as the subject tests can also be accessed from that site.
Go to this charter schools web site and find out about Minnesota charter schools. This site also contains links where you can find more information about charter schools.
Choice School Improvement program, you can go towww.ncee.org and link on the America's Choice logo on the left.
Are you struggling with a lack of balance in your life? Check out the LCMS Health Ministries page.
Scroll down to Additional Resources check out the Wholeness Wheel there are some excellent insights there. This page also has lots of other health related resources you may want to check out.
Do you wonder what children are expected to know at the end of each grade? On the Minneapolis public schools web site you can read grade level expectations for math, reading, and writing. You can also find the Standards For Effective Instruction which reflect the state national standards. You can look at the Minneapolis grade cards see how they are marked and look at some of the performance assessment packages that are used and the Minnesota state standards. One of the other wonderful lists is curriculum resources. If you want ideas to help build Classroom Communities or Support for Beginning Teachers, these are offered as well as many other great links on their Career in Teaching page. There is even a link with lesson plans for teachers.

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Children's Literature Links

Bookstore Websites:
Red Balloon is at 891 Grand Ave. just west of the intersection of Victoria Grand Ave www.redballoonbookshop.com
Here is a MUST SEE website for teaching beginning reading - REALLY fun for emergent readers!! www.starfall.com
http://www.webenglishteacher.com/childlit.html Children's Literature. This link has a collection of links for supplementary activities for many novels
Poetry Resources:

http://www.webenglishteacher.com/poetrygeneral.html
Seven Little http://pbskids.org/sevenlittlemonsters/caregiver/outreach.html
Downloadable activities based on the popular Where the Wild Things Are book by Maruice Sendak, teach social and academic skills.
Here is an awesome link to a site that hosts more than 1200 different WebQuests in just about every academic displine: http://www.edhelper.com/cat311.htm Check it out! You can use this for kids to explore a wide range of topics and children's books. They usually have a series of questions with specific websites where the students can go to read and research that topic.
Lemony Snicket fans --- do I have a couple of websites for you!!!! What??? you say you don't know Lemony Snicket and the Series of Unfortunate Events yet??? Ahhh -- you must have been convinced by the book jacket to find something happier to read than the sad pitiful unpleasant tales of the Beudelaire Orphans. But if you went forward in spite of the ominous warnings, you will definitely want to check out these two websites www.lemonysnicket.com The second link has a complete list (almost) of the allusions in each of the Lemony Snicket books. IT IS FASCINATING! You can of course also go to the home link on www.quidditch.com and link to all sorts of interesting Harry Potter stuff, including biography of the author.

The Children's Literature Network www.childrensliteraturenetwork.org is a great place to find out about upcoming events in the area. If you love to actually meet children's authors and illustrators to collect their autographs and some inspiration, you MUST visit this sight. Don't miss another favorite author appearance! You can also become a member of this network and get a variety of extra perks.
There is a fun website www.quiltmakersgift.com to go along with the delightful book by Jeff Brumbeau Gail de Marcken, The Quilt maker's Gift, about an old woman who makes beautiful quilts that she will only give away to the poor. When a greedy king requests one, he is finally taught the joys of generosity. This book is not simply a wonderful story, but the gorgeous illustrations by a Minnesota woman enrich the story and teach about many different beautiful quilt patterns. There are also great links to other teaching (and quilting) resources !.
For wonderful Native American books and resources as well as a list of children's books to avoid (and the reasons) go to www.oyate.org. You will find awesome teaching tools and resources. You may be surprised at some of the books listed to avoid, but take the time to read why so you can use the information to help make your classroom more anti-bias!
For storytelling tools and resources as well as teaching ideas crafts to capture and preserve your family stories, you can go to www.storycraft.com
The spring 2003 Teaching Literacy in a Multilingual Classroom students have wonderful suggestions for telling family stories with your own storycloth!
To get a list of all Caldecott, Newberry, Corretta Scott King award winning books you can link to the American Library Association (ALA) web site. You can even see pictures and descriptions of the more recent winners and honor books find out a brief history of the awards.
The librarian at Lexington Outreach Branch of the St. Paul Public Library suggested this link from the UK to Children's Books. It is called ACHUKA has wonderful interviews with and information about lots of authors. You will also discover award winning books from countries other than just the USA.
If you know any toddlers or preschoolers, you MUST share this Li'l Fingers Storybooks site with them. It is REALLY adorable fun for little fingers. Also you can link to a bunch of other fun early childhood resources!
Thanks Leah for sharing -- the most amazing website! The site is www.carolhurst.com, and it's mainly a literature site, but the greatest thing about it is that it lists tons of different books by school subject, topic, author, etc, and then provides a review and summary of the book, things to notice, activities to do with the class, other related books, and sometimes other related websites!!!! There's a site search function, and links to professional resources in different subject areas, especially things like reading and writing.
What is a web quest?? Go to this link to see a great example of one. This would be a GREAT use of technology as you blend it into your Literacy Education program! This is a Web Quest focusing on an Author study on Chris Van Allsburg.

I just tripped into this Index to Internet Sites:

Children's and Young Adults' Authors Illustrators This is some of the stuff you can find there: [Print Bibliographies] [Author Birthdays] [Author / Illustrator Appearances] [Author Interviews Online] [Name Pronunciation Guide]
Check out the Children's Book Council site for WONDERFUL resources to help teachers and parents choose appropriate books for their kids, learn about children's authors illustrators, and find ideas to engage and interest children in reading!! Really neat stuff!
Check out the web page for one of my FAVORITE authors
Jon Scieszka author of the Stinky Cheeseman, Math Curse Squids will be Squids } I'm not sure what happened to the chucklebait site, but this one works for info at least. Maybe they will fix chucklebait soon? WOW -- I was clicking around in Jon Scieszka's web site there is a super cool link to an entire web site about numbers other cool math stuff. Check it out for yourself: http://www.ee.surrey.ac.uk/Personal/R.Knott/Fibonacci/fib.html

OK -- Here it is -- the website you've all been looking for ---

Planet Esme! You've heard me read from her books, now you can see her ideas first hand! Get tons of links to help beginning teachers find great children's literature on subjects you are looking for. You can find a wonderful TEACHER'S GUIDE FOR SAHARA SPECIAL in Planet Esme complete with great links including one to TONS of stuff about apples Johnny Appleseed.

Do you love Arthur books by Marc Brown?? If you do (or if your students do) You (and they) will love this web site. There are fun ideas for teachers to use! http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/arthur/index.html

Are you interested in LITERATURE CIRCLES ?? If you are - you must visit the Literature Circles Resource Center. Another great article is in Education World. Here is a terrific bibliography of Multicultural literature for children You may also want to look at the Lesson Plan-Instruction Plan format with Attention to the Needs of Second Language Learners, Special Needs Students and Gifted Students. It offers some important considerations as you do your planning.

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ESL Special Needs

Project EXCEPTIONAL Minnesota is a statewide network for promoting and supporting inclusive early childhood and school-age programs and providers in Minnesota. This network provides leadership, administrative support, training and consultation to early care and education providers, school-age care providers, parents and the professionals who support providers and parents of children with special needs. You can check out this website for red flags that may indicate a child is at risk for atypical development, and is in need of an immediate evaluation. go to www.projectexceptional.org Here is a great resource from St. Thomas Univ. containing teaching and learning resources for students whose first language is not English ( ELL, LEP, ESL ) Check out the resources link. I especially like the READING STUDY SKILLS. From the Frizzy University Network link you can go toward the end of their links list and find the link to an virtual frog dissection kit. There are lots of great interactive connections there. Are you concerned about SPECIAL NEEDS students in your regular classroom ? Check out this site for some terrific help ideas http://www.powerof2.org If you are interested in developing a cross-age or volunteer reading tutoring program , here are tutor resources and training. You will find tips for teaching reading and suggestions for tutors of adults, teens and kids to use. Here?s a link to some articles on volunteer recruitment that may also be helpful: http://www.energizeinc.com/art/subj/recruit.html Interactive Training Activities for Tutors who work w/children in reading and writing. You can even print out a book to do an activity which shows how challenging decoding can be for children. Great stuff here if you are training volunteers or even fun stuff for parent night or staff training. www.nwrel.org/learns/trainingopps/training/index.html Thanks to Pam Nobel who discovered this everything you want to know about alternative assessments Ensuring Equity with Alternative Assessments

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Teacher Org. Govt. Links

You can read what the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) (Elementary and Secondary Education Act) legislation says particularly about Reading First or Early Reading first at this link. Now you can have access to the same resources Links to the World from the Minnesota Legislative Reference Library as MN legislatures! You can get information on Minnesota Information, Federal Information, Journals and Databases, Organizations, Charter Schools, Choice and Vouchers, Education Reform, School Safety, Special Education , and Standards and Testing You can check out the latest updates regarding the education scene in Minnesota on the Minnesota Department of Education . It is good to be informed. Here is the link to look at the Minnesota Academic Standards . If you link to the Curriculum and Instruction site from academic excellence to academic standards, you can find all kinds of information to help in lesson planning. ? You can read a brief history of how they came to replace the MN Graduation standards. You can also link to the actual legislation related to them. You can also get information about the various accountability programs required of Minnesota students. ? Some of the assessments are required for graduation in MN and some are used to measure school's Annual Yearly Progress (AYP) which is the basis for NCLB's (No Child Left Behind) assessment of our schools

Are you interested in or involved with Lutheran Education ? Then you may want to explore Lutheran Education Association (LEA). You may also be interested in connecting to the Education Minnesota website or the National Education Association (NEA) site. There is information teachers can access at these sites even if they are not members of that organization. If you are a member, you have access to additional links.

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Literacy Research Links

Writing Vocabulary

http://www.teachersdesk.org/english_plans.html

English Plans from the Teacher's Desk Under Grammar Mechanics and Usage

http://www.webenglishteacher.com/writing.html Writing.

Sesame Street, ages 2-5

http://pbskids.org/sesame/

This Web site has children's learning games such as: Spanish Word of the Day, Number of the Day, Letter of the Day, rhyming games, memory games, dance, art and shape games. Also click on tips for caregivers about extending the learning through activities.

Here are some quick and easy-to-use writing prompts for your students. There are prompts for students in Grades 1-8:

http://www.everydayspelling.com/workout/prompts/promptsndx.html

You can make personalized Denelian handwriting pages for your students from this link http://66.113.195.73/denelian-1/make-d.htm

www.readwritethink.com Check it out.

What do they mean by 6+1 Writing Traits ??? Check out this link to get a clear explanation of it. You can also find a variety of other rubrics to draw from. Another great source of info on the 6 + 1 Trait Writing is the NW Regional Education Laboratory.

Word Wall sites you might like -- One discusses Cunningham's 4 blocks Working With Words The other talks about a variety of activities with word walls

Are writing and revising a problem for you or your students?? If so, here are a couple of SUPER links to take you to a wealth of red resources and red helps
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/writers/by-topic.html#pwrg
http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Writing/links.html

http://www.writing.nwu.edu/bookmarks/bookmarks.html DIALOGUE jOURNALS
This link to the National Clearinghouse on Literacy Education discusses the what-why how of them.

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Classroom Management

Teaching with Love and Logic offers lots of insights into classroom management that helps students take responsibility for their actions and its consequences. You can check out their web site and find great resources and help for right now.

This site has a whole collection of helpful forms and ideas http://www.theeducatorsnetwork.com/main/toolfeature.htm

How about some Printable Posters!! FREE!! Go to www.posters4teachers.com


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Job Search

Are you looking for a teaching job ? OR Do you just want to be well prepared when you start filling out reams of teaching job applications ? Either way -- here is a great PBS (twin cities public television) site with most of the Twin City Area school district web sites. You can visit those sites and check out job openings, find out about substituting, and even download or fill out an application for a position you are interested in. Another link you might want to check is www.teachers-teachers.com this site lists job openings from all over the state of Minnesota. Also check out This link offers info as well as connections to job postings around the country, resume writing, interviews, job searches

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Classroom Technology

Check out the handouts at this site. They would be particularly helpful for those teachers who may not feel particularly comfortable with teaching technology skills but have been thrust into that position. http://www.wmtps.org/eletech/how-to.htm You can also find other helpful links archived at " http://lutheraneducator.blogspot.com/

There are wonderful resources to help you or your students evaluate web sites . Here are a few of them. The first is a great place to start. http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/eval.html

A terrific site to use as a teaching tool for website evaluations is the Web Evaluation Guide by Pam Berger!! This site combines instructional script with actual web sites to illustrate the information. It is AWESOME!

The next one Evaluation Rubrics for Websites has some neat forms you can use for primary, one for intermediate and another for secondary students.

Finally, I especially like this one at EdsOasis because you can simply type right into the form and print it out as either educator or students evaluate a site. From there you can link to either the educator evaluation or the student evaluation.

Science Math Activity Sites

Traits of Life at the Exploritorium, El/MS, science http://www.exploratorium.edu/traits/exhibits.html Visit online, interactive exhibits about the stuff of life, life needs energy, make more life, and change over time. There are online exhibits, articles and interviews from the Exploratorium that demonstrate how cells divide, how genes adapt and mutate and how embryos grow. Plus, you can see how zebrafish and chicken embryos develop in time lapsed videos.

Sound and Fury, integrated studies, grades 6-8 9-12 http://www.pbs.org/wnet/soundandfury/index.html Web site features activities based on the Academy Award nominated documentary about deaf culture and science. (Video is available for purchase.) Hobby Shop, grades 6-8, math/science http://www.knowitall.org/hobbyShop/siteAgent.html Microscope and rocket online activities help students learn about cells, Newton's Laws of Motion and graphing. Also, a teacher's guides for hands-on coordinated activities. As a part an 8th grade physical science curriculum, one teacher used this Sound WebQuest. You can see great graphics of the ear, get specific vocabulary, and discover the physics of sound. http://www.hazelwood.k12.mo.us/~grichert/sciweb/soundvl.htm Third to fifth grade teachers will love this website http://www.nhptv.org/natureworks/ from New Hampshire Public TV called Nature Works. It is really awesome! You can even find your state science standards and find links that speak directly to those standards!

At the AIMS (Activities in Math and Science) Educational Foundation http://www.aimsedu.org/ you will find a wealth of resources and activities. Some are free and you can download to use right away, others you can order. There are some really neat things there!

MAPS, MAPS, MAPS!! Here is a great one for Science lessons.... anything and everything related to maps and mapping, biology resources, lesson plans on water, and much much more science project and activity ideas. " http://mapping.usgs.gov/www/html/1educate.html I just found a great Science Math resource! Check out http://www.learner.org/ There is a link for The Journey North -- be a part of the migration of the monarchs.

There is a super cool link to an entire web site about Fibonacci numbers (What?? you don't know what they are? You'd better go back learn from Mrs. Fibonacci in Jon Sceiska's book Math Curse !) other cool math stuff. Check it out for yourself: http://www.ee.surrey.ac.uk/Personal/R.Knott/Fibonacci/fib.html



Social Studies, History, Geography stuff

The African American Registry is the largest encyclopedia of African-American history on the internet. Check it out!

Here is a highly interactive site on the history behind the Egyptian pyramids http://www.nationalgeographic.com/pyramids/pyramids.html

Like most other endeavors by National Geographic, this is a very professional look at the pyramids, although sometimes the perspective is very humanistic. Still, there are all sorts of fascinating facts and details to be found by students. I've always found the ancient Egypt is one of the most popular periods for students to study.

You can get info on the Kids Voting program go to http://www.kidsvotingusa.org/

Oh the places you can go!!! Here is a link I recently discovered to take your students on a field trip without leaving your classroom:

http://www.uen.org/tours/html/links.html It is so cool. here is a list of the places you can visit:

Easter Island Interactive tour sponsored by PBS and NOVA.

Internet Education Projects: Virtual Tours Over 300 tours including museums, US Government, and countries around the world.

Culture Quest Worldwide tours of cultures.

The Nine Planets Tour of the solar system.

The Whitehouse Visit the home of the President of the United States.

The Virtual Cave http://www.goodearthgraphics.com/virtcave.html

A Nigerian Naming Ceremony http://www.si.edu/folklife/vfest/africa/start.htm

The Kremlin Tour http://www.moscow-guide.ru/culture/kremlin/kremlin0.htm

CIA Virtual Tour http://www.odci.gov/cia/information/tour/tour.html

Graceland http://photo.net/summer94/graceland.html

Virtual Cape Cod http://www.virtualcapecod.com/Towns.asp

Temple of Liberty Building the Capitol for a New Nation

http://lcweb.loc.gov/exhibits/us.capitol/s0.html Any Social Studies, History, Geography teachers will appreciate this awesome website Brett Hartwig discovered when he was student teaching at Inver Grove Heights Middle School called www.mrdowling.com . Mr. Dowling's Electronic Passport is a journey through time and space. Educators can download lessons and homework assignments. Read the Frequently Asked Questions for details. Mike Dowling teaches Geography at " Roosevelt Middle School in West Palm Beach, Florida.

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Lesson Plans

Here are a couple quick links with ideas for planning and organization for the start of the year . While these may be common sense ideas to veteran teachers, they are good reminders nonetheless. http://www.inspiringteachers.com/tips/top10.html

" http://www.inspiringteachers.com/tips/organization/index.html

Resources for teaching Bible/Religion Lessons

This link has all kinds of lesson plans song ideas for Bible lessons http://www.dltk-bible.com/ thanks Amy N. for sharing it!

MSSS Crafts - you will find a directory of Sunday School resources and crafts. Here you will find free red crafts and ideas for over one hundred Bible stories as well as other activities for devotions and Bible classes.

Here are some web sites to consider as you desire to learn more about Youth Development:

National Institute on Out of School Time (NIOST), www.niost.org National Name Youth Development Information Center www.nydic.org Forum for Youth Investment, www.forumforyouthinvestment.org American Youth Policy Forum, www.aypf.org

This is an online source for teacher supplies and resources. Great prices! It is called Trend Enterprises - www.trendenterprises.com

www.worksheets4teachers.com - You will LOVE this -- (Even though I HATE worksheets, I know there is an appropriate place for them) Wow - you can use what they've got, or create your own!

Two great workbooks are available here: one for back to school and the other for 'autumn'. Both are in PDF format and contain word searches, crosswords, matching columns and much more. These can be found at " http://www.theeducatorsnetwork.com/main/worksheetfeature.htm


This is the link to match Internet Scavenger Hunts (science) http://www.scholastic.com/profbooks/easyinternet/index.htm

You will absolutely LOVE the site www.abcteach.com You will be amazed at what you find!! I found bookmarks with the Rule of Thumb or 5 finger test which we use for a quick assessment to see if a book is too hard for a child.

OH MY GOODNESS!!!!! You will go NUTS at this web site I am the biggest anti-worksheet person you can find, but THESE are SOOOO cool! It makes me want to print them all off! Get this ---- you can print off a worksheet that shows the life cycle of a butterfly or a lady bug with blanks for them to label. OR have a volcano page to label -- or..... well, the list goes on and on and on!! http://www.enchantedlearning.com/label/ PLUS there are tons of CRAFT ideas at this link from the first page! http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/ You absolutely MUST visit here!!!

If you would like to check out some of the neat ideas student teachers are discovering as they venture into the schools, you can enjoy them at our Ideas web page. Remember - things that experienced teachers take for granted can be fresh and new through the eyes of a new teacher!

As a part of my Teaching Literacy course, students have found a variety of great online teacher resources/sites. Click here to check out their " Annotated Bibliography of Great Online Resources.

This site will link you into a plethora of wonderful places and resources and ready made lesson plans. If you need a lesson plan for a class you are taking or teaching - TAKE YOUR PICK! Classroom Internet Integration Cool Links

This link from Homework Central.com has tons of teacher resources lesson plans JOB LISTINGS!! Thanks to Drs. LaMott and Kaufman for sharing it! Cool stuff on the Busy Teachers' web site! Lesson plans, ideas -- the works! I found it from the Freeplus1 page listed below.



Freebies anyone ? All you need to do is search Teacher Freebies and WOW - Gail said she ordered a truckload of free stuff! It looked like Miningco.com had a lot of cool stuff in addition to the link to just teacher stuff. I also liked the look of the Freeplus1 page. I can't personally vouch for any of of these sites, but thought you might enjoy exploring them!

PBS pk - 12 teacher links - There are tons of great resources for teachers of font-family: "Abadi MT Condensed Light" every level! You might also enjoy a trip to www.pbs.org The ideas to use with Arthur books are really fun!

K-12 Educational Resources
This has all kinds of links to lesson plans and info!

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New Teacher Help

http://www.mightymedia.com/mentors/ New teachers -- If you would like to find a mentor - someone to share concerns with or gain ideas from -- check this link. Experienced teachers -- If you would be willing to share your experience and ideas with a rookie -- check this link.

Soon to be teachers, check out this great info from new teachers: What to Expect Your First Year of Teaching

Go back to Prof. Pickel's homepage

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Please contact Michele Pickel about content on this page last updated on August 24 2006.

The views and opinions expressed in these pages are strictly those of the page author. The contents of these pages
have not been reviewed or approved by Concordia University, St. Paul.

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