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Show lltMrslty .1aunJm • Monday, July 15, 1996 • 3 Rural Schools Conference offers broad curriculum spectrum of discussion topics will range all the way from "what's cooking at the school cafeteria" to "a progress report on the electronic high school" when educators from across the state meet at the 18th annual Rural Schools Conference being hosted today through Friday at SUU. The bulk of the conference is com prised of a series of 15 concurrent session tracks which will run for at least four hours each day July 17 and 18 and for two hours the morning of July 19. A cadre of discussion leaders will make the presentations. Among the concurrent session subjects are several related to the potential of electronic educational delivery, including Ednet programming , services of the Utah Education Network, UtahLINK "hotsites," taking advantage of public television, and accessing and utilizing the internet. Other topic areas include English skills (including reading and writing), creative and higher level thinking , personnel management, fine arts in elementary and secondary schools, several gradeand discipline-specific subjects, classroom management, student motivation, curriculum, self esteem for students, special school health care needs, planning and goals, counseling, and handling grief and loss. "We are expecting upwards of 400 participants from all over the state," Jane Comp, assistant A Lauren Pe/on director of SUU's conference services office, said . "This conference began in 1979 as a means for teachers and administrators from small, rural schools to network and to learn developing curriculum and delivery methods. It has grown and become so popular that educators from schools all over the staterural and urban-are participating." General session speakers at the conference will include Susie Heintz, staff development coordinator in the flowing Wells School District in Tucson , Ariz., and a national educational consultant; Corrine P. Hill, deputy for education for Utah Gov. Michael 0 . Leavitt; Dale Harding , retired educator who has served as a teacher and/or administrator in Chile, Bolivia, Arabia, and the United States; Ann Lynch, a former Nevada and national PTA president; and Wes Curtis, rural development specialist with the Utah Center for Rural Life. On-site registration for the conference may be completed during a 6 p.m. July 16 "Kick-Off Barbecue" on SUU's Centrum South Lawn or at the R. Haze Hunter Conference Center during the conference. More information about the conference is available by contacting SUU Conference Services at (801) 586-7853 or Kellie Daniels, conference facilitator for the State Office of Education, at (801) 538-7502. Eric Walker, a junior at Cedar High School, helps lift a 200-pound gas line, one of 6,000 feet of line now being installed as part of the University's new natural gas system, whichwill cut costs for heating and other utilities, according to Plant Superintendent Dale Brinkerhoff. Living Roots Of Music' slated U 1 tilizing an assortment of unusual but authentic instruments, Lauren Pelon will trace ''The Living Roots of Music" July 21 in a presentation on the Summer Evening Concert Series sponsored by Southern Utah University. The free 7 p.m. performance will be held in the Randall L. Jones Performing Arts Theatre. The public projects, said. "She uses humor and theatrical skill to make her programs both fun and very educational." Pelon, who has recorded three albums, is widely recognized for her mid-soprano singing voice as well as for her skill as an instrumentalist and her knowledge of musical history. She has st'udied extensively across the United is invited to attend. States and iQternationaJly In her program, Pelon traces the story of music and musical instruments throughout history. She performs music from the first through the 20th century on such instruments as the lute, guitar, lyre, recorders, gemshorns, cornamuse, krummhorn, schreierpfeife, shawm, rackett, penny whistles, concertina, ocarina, hurdy-gurdy, doucaine, psalteries, Kiowa courting flute, electronic woodwinds, and others. A total of over 25 instruments will be introduced during the performance. The music itself runs the gamut from jigs throug,h laments, fancies, songs, ballads, and calls drawn from many different nationalities and cultures. "Ms. Pelon has received considerable praise from reviewers for her ability to present a fascinating program which balances edification with entertainment," Marla Bingham, who manages the concert series for SUU's office of lectures and special the history of music and instrumentation. Her performance career includes concerts throughout the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, several European countries, China, Russia, and Kazakhstan. She has also performed as a soloist with several symphony orchestras; on television specials; and on Garrison Keillor's public radio program, "A Prairie Home Companion ." "By contrasting the old with the new in music, she does a very nice job of linking the historical aspects with the present and ongoing development," Bingham said. "Ms. Pelon likes to relate that her program 'offers a way to think about how music has affected the lives of people-from ancient times to our own modern day." The Pelon program is made possible in part by a grant from the Utah Humanities Council. I |