Oklahoma Sequoya County Times
http://www.sequoyahcountytimes.com/articles/2005/05/06/
education/muldrow_and_roland%20area/6rolandmckinney.txt

Education

McKinney Selected As Masonic Teacher Of The Year

Friday, May 6, 2005

Melinda McKinney was recently selected as the Masonic Teacher of the Year for Roland School.

McKinney was honored at a presentation of awards assembly at Bruton Lodge in Muldrow.

McKinney teaches fifth and sixth grade math, reading and social studies at Roland Upper Elementary School.

McKinney and husband, John, has two children, Kaleb, 6, and Kristin, 4. She is the daughter of Mike and Cynda Real of Sallisaw and Rick and Susan Moore of Van Buren, Ark.

"I am honored to receive such a prestigious award because I work with some excellent teachers. They really set a high standard for teaching. We have a very helpful and supportive principal and staff," McKinney said. "Everyone pulls together and creates an excellent school system. I could not ask for a better place to teach.

"I would like to thank the community of Roland for the opportunity to educate your children, that is a reward in itself," McKinney said. "This award is a great encouragement for all educators. Thank you for honoring me with this prestigious award."

McKinney is a 1995 graduate of Sallisaw High School. She received an associate of arts in pre-elementary education at Carl Albert State College in 2000 and is a 2002 cum laude graduate at Northeastern State University in Tahlequah where she received a bachelor of science degree in elementary education.

"I chose to substitute until the end of the school year, giving me the opportunity to substitute at Sallisaw Liberty Elementary School, Sallisaw Eastside Elementary School, Central Elementary School and Dahlonegah Elementary School," McKinney said. "These schools provided me with great teaching experiences in a variety of classroom settings and through these experiences I developed my teaching skills.

"I was fortunate to have excellent mentor teachers like Gail Kerr at Brushy Elementary and Melony Barnes at Central Elementary," McKinney said.

"I love to teach. There is an instant reward, and a few challenges every day," McKinney said.

"A successful teacher never forgets each child is an important individual," McKinney said.

"I want my students to know they are important and to be confident enough to express their ideas. I do expect the best from them, encouraging their good habits (in behavior and study habits), and I treat each child with respect to help build self-esteem," McKinney said. "We should compliment something about our children every day. If we stay positive our children will strive to succeed."

FW Comments

Now some may, and no doubt will, ask why I have posted an article like this which would appear to be just Masonic PR Boilerplate. What purpose does it serve?

I actually find these types of articles very 'illuminating' because they serve to show just how deeply Masonry is implanted still in small town U.S.A., as well as the types of strategem Masonry employs to promote itself.

What exactly is 'Bruton Masonic Lodges's' qualification to judge the teaching skills of educators, and what skills exactly is she being awarded for? Promoting Masonry or "Americanism"?

Who knows, but it illustrates how clever and persistant Masonry can be, recalling the similar bogus "Scouting and Masonry Award" hi-lighted in an article earlier on the "Breaking Masonry" page you just clicked over from.

Doubtless the brethren also applied exacting Shriner criteria prior to the selection of the multi-talented Ms. Melinda...

It reminds me of the old webmasters trick of "awarding" other websites with "awards" in the hope they will place the logo of the award on their site, providing a free and prominent link and advertisment for the "awarding" website.

"Yale University's Dithers selected as Freemasonry Watch Professor of the Year?