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Teaching For Success is the creative, brain child of Jack H. Shrawder and Penny A. Shrawder, who founded Pentronics Publishing in 1988.
The motivation for publishing Teaching For Success came from 12-years of full-time teaching, department chair administration, institutional budget, and strategic planning committees experience with part-time instructor assignments.
Jack worked with scores of part-time and adjunct faculty helping to bring them them up to the level of teaching excellence set by the full-time department staff.
He found that without training in good teaching practices, most part-time and adjunct faculty tended to teach as they had been taught. One part-timer taught by asking each student in turn to read a paragraph from the textbook. This instructor hired for his content expertise simply had no idea of how to teach and how students learn.
After witnessing this instructors horrible waste of students time and effort, Jack decided that something needed to be done, and that "something" became Teaching For Success®. It's entire purpose is to inform faculty in a clear, concise, and practical style what are the Critical Success Factors of good teaching and how to quickly apply them. TFS acknowledges and respects the precious little time that most most part-time and adjunct faculty have to develop their teaching knowledge and skills.
This classroom experience coupled with earning an M. ed in Vocational Technical Education and two years post masters course work in Training and Development has provided Jack with a wide variety of educational experiences.
Both Penny and Jack are life-long learners, developers, teachers, diagnosticians, and entrepreneurs. All this means that we they just can't seem to leave well-enough -alone.; Their life's career passion is the pursuit of answers to two questions:
- Why can't ___________ be done better?.
- What would it take to improve or recreate, or invent an activity, product, or service that represents a novel solution to pressing problem.
Jack and Penny are passionate about the need to learn as well as the developing practical skills to teach, inspire, and assist others to reach their life goals.
Higher education has always been a locus of their work life. They spent eight years of early married life serving the University of Alaska Anchorage. After several additional year attending the University of Illinois and living in Champaign, IL, they moved their business to South Lake Tahoe where it has been since 1994.
Jack began his career working as a full-time instructor teaching aviation technology at the two- and four-year level of higher education colleges, and Penny worked as a staff member in various departments and was inn part responsible for tracking and reporting on the entire budget of Anchorage Community College for various stake holders.
He taught at for the University of Illinois, Sacramento City College and the Anchorage Community College/University of Alaska Anchorage, where he assisted in putting together a world- class aviation technology program, writing curriculum, hiring faculty, and designing and equipping laboratory facilities. This program is regarded as one of the best in country.
Jack holds a Bachelor of Science from San Jose State University, an M Ed in Vocational Education from the University of Illinois, and completed two addition years of graduate work in Training and Development at the University of Illinois.
These teaching and academic experiences gave Jack a thorough understanding of teaching technology, teaching for mastery, teaching to Federal, and state, and institutional curriculum requirements, working with employers, and working with part-time and adjunct faulty to maintain high standards of teaching excellence.
Working as publisher and editor of Teaching For Success has given Jack and a superb opportunity to further increase his knowledge of teaching and learning, personal success skills, electronic media, and informative and inspirational writing techniques and style.
At age 61, Jack feels that all his learning, both formal and informal, and career work experiences creating and running Pentronics Publishing have come together to enable him to provide faculty with a unique set of tools they can use to reach achieve greater success in their endeavors.
The most important lesson he has learned with advancing experience is that pure knowledge of technique and facts alone is not enough for success.; in addition, one must connect with the inner self, to link inner drive, passion, belief, and faith (referring to the general definition not a specific religious dogma) is crucial to achieving at the highest levels of success. Readers will find a balance of inner attitudes, directed meta thinking, mastery of techniques, and a flexible body of knowledge to be essential components of the "Teaching For Success" concept.
Also, to express a bit of personal philosophy, Jack comments believes that any journey toward a life goal must incorporate an understanding of the positive role of failure in reaching that goal. Failure is only to be considered a negative when one does not learn from each attempt to succeed. Success typically comes only after multiple "failures." that teach one the right path to follow. A flexible mindset is a fundamental key to solving the "failure" paradox: one must be willing to try and fail to truly succeed.
To go through the failure-success growth process is truly an heroic effort, and is part of what it means to be human and to really live. Placing failure in its proper perspective is part of the Learner Leader's job, and a critical success factor of good teaching.
For more information contact:
Jack H. Shrawder
Publisher, Teaching For Success
Pentronics Publishing
1270 Mt. Rainier Dr.,
South Lake Tahoe, CA 96150
800-757-1183
jack@pentronicspublishing.com
jack@teachingforsuccess.com
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Penny A. Shrawder
Artist and Design Specialist
Penny Shrawder, is an award- winning fin- art artist, print and web designer, and current President of the Tahoe Art League of South Lake Tahoe, CA. She who adds her talents to Teaching For Success by creating a balanced, artistic and pleasing layouts for Teaching For Success periodical and E-Solutions Shop documents.
Her love and respect for humanity and the human form is evident in her sensual, balanced, and insightful artistic compositions. She paints gorgeously -layered and exquisitely -luminous figures. and
She has achieved an amazing level of technical sophistication in her deft use of watercolor, pastel, acrylic, and oil effects to bring the her figures to life.
Anyone who has tried painting in watercolors knows how difficult it is in this medium to produce in a watercolor painting a range of subtle gradations, textures, skin tones, and vibrant and robust colors. Yet Penny makes it look easy.
Her figures are done in the tradition of the Pre-Raphaelites and their progeny, such as Maxwell Parish and Steve Hanks.
Once you own one of her paintings, the void of an unadorned space is suddenly filled with warmth and spectral energy that communicates messages about the beauty and connectedness of us all, and the universe in which we live. What was once a bare wall is transformed by one of Penny's paintings into a window into greater beauty through form and color.
Some of the most meaningful milestones of her art career are:
Education
- Art History: University of Illinois
- Art: University of Illinois;, University of Anchorage, Alaska,
- Lake Tahoe Community College, California
- Workshop: Don Andrews, Watercolor
Group Exhibitions and Juried Art Shows and Galleries
2004-2006 Exhibits
- Mountain Spirit, South Lake Tahoe
- Wildlife Gallery at Tahoe Fly Fishing Outfitters
- Anew Day Spa, South Lake Tahoe
- Exhibit at Viking Gallery, South Lake Tahoe, CA
2003 Gallery Exhibits
- Lake Tahoe Community College
- 2-month exhibit Alpina Coffee Café
2002 Exhibits
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“Art of Italy,” Lake Tahoe Community College, CA
2001 Exhibits
- Arizona Aqueous XVI,” Juried National Art Exhibit, Tubac Center of the Arts, Tubac, Arizona (A very prestigious achievement.)
2000 Exhibits
- “7th All California Community College Exhibition 2000,” Riverside Community College, Riverside, California
- “Lake Tahoe Community College 2000 Student Art Exhibition,” Lake Tahoe Community College, South Lake Tahoe, CA
• First Place: Figure-, “Joie”
• Third Place: Watercolor-, “Gold, Red and Green”
• Honorable Mention: Portrait-, “Cassidy”
• Second Place “People’s Choice Award:” “-”Joie”
1999 Exhibits
- “Lake Tahoe Community College 1999 Student Art Exhibition,” Lake Tahoe Community College, CA
- First Place: Drawing, “Anticipation”
- “Theme Show 1999: Sunflowers,” Lake Tahoe Community College, CA
Articles: The Artist’s Magazine
- “The Motivating Factor,” by Penny Shrawder
- The Artist’s Magazine, November 2002
- “Great Art Moments,” by Penny Shrawder
Special Awards
- The Art Excellence Award for Technical Merit, “Student Art Exhibit,”
Lake Tahoe Community College, 2000
For More Information Contact:
Penny A. Shrawder
Pentronics Publishing
1270 Mt. Rainier Dr.,
South Lake Tahoe, CA 96150
530-573-8964; 800-757-1183
Penny@pentronicspublishing.com
PennyShrawder.com
TeachingForSuccess.com
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