December 25, 1999 May 2001, December 2003/Jan 2004/August 2004

 

 

Dr. Jerry R. Aschermann



__  ?? __years before retirement! ... technically I retired 1 August 2004


 Main WEB Page

 

Who am I?

" Working with your hands teaches you the value of the things of this earth"

 

Photo at the left was taken in 1963 when I was the age that some of you are.  Prior to the time that I began teaching I delivered newspapers, delivered 100# bags of water softner salt, stuffed newspapers, prepared the newspaper bundles for the paper boys, worked in Yellowstone National Park for three summers.   [ click on the photo to enlarge]

 

I arrived at MWSC in 1971, coming from a position at Eastern Illinois University where I taught secondary social studies methods. When employed I was told that I would be teaching a class called Current Trends in Education and supervising MWSC students in the three clinical experiences. Within thirty minutes of the first day on campus I was asked to teach a sociology course, Dynamics of Population Growth.  By the spring semester I was teaching what for many years was called AudioVisual Education. Today it is called Instructional Technology, SED 331.

During the past 30 years at MWSC I have also has the responsibility for Elementary Social Studies Methods, Personal Growth and Development, Micro Teaching and Human Relations for Teachers.  In the 1970's, 1980's and 1990's at MWSC I taught Geo 100, World Geography.

Graduate classes have been taught for the University of Missouri and Northwest Missouri State University: Instructional Media, Elementary Social Studies Methods, Economics for Teachers and Geography for Teachers.

Current responsibilities include Teacher Certification Officer.  For seven years I was the Coordinator of Clinical Experiences.  The latter means that each semester I had to locate "spots" for about 180 MWSC students who were  "learning to teach by teaching"..... that is work in the area schools.

Sometimes I have done great things:


The Above Was Done on One of My Better Days

 

Teaching Experience: Since 1964 I have had classes from the sixth grade through graduate studies. In 1964 I signed a contract to teach at Stanfield, Oregon, High School: 10 miles from the Columbia River.   There I was responsible for World Cultures, World History, International Relations, Sophomore English, Junior English, Senior English plus those extra jobs: basketball time keeper, junior class advisor, prom sponsor, International Relations Club, annual advisor, etc. Teaching in Eastern Oregon was an interesting  experience because of the opportunity to travel in the beautiful Northwest. In 1964 we really did not know what was coming: Vietnam. I had a number of students who were able to study the geography and culture of Southeast Asia on a very personal basis. Some did not return. Hopefully you will never have this happen to you.

My next teaching assignment was in Pueblo, Colorado ---Pleasant View Junior High School. We did not realize it at the time but in the late 1960's we were doing in the 7th and 8th grade language arts and social studies classes what was "reinvented" as the middle school curriculum of the 1990's.  We didn't know how creative and innovative we were!

Then to Eastern Illinois University in 1970 and to MWSC in 1971.

Education: I attended elementary schools in Pueblo, Colorado and La Junta, Colorado. The schools where I attended and taught in Pueblo were very multicultural: Hispanic and Southern European with people from Italy, Croatia, Slovenia, Bohemia, Slovakia and the Ukraine.

When in the 10th grade I decided to become a history teacher--- my decision was not a last minute choice. Consequently, I have been thinking social studies education for the past forty-two years.

Degrees:

 

Masters Thesis: Theoretical Explanations of City Growth as Related to the Urban Growth of Pueblo, Colorado

Dissertation: Human Relations Training [Interaction Laboratory for Teacher Development] and its Effect Upon the Self-concept, Dogmatism and Interpersonal Attitudes of Student Teachers.

Other writings: ten published articles on a variety of education, social studies education and instructional media topics

Other Educational Experiences:
 

 

Professional Awards & Accomplishments:

 

What do I regularly read?

 

 By training and by what I read, it can easily be determined that I have a major interest in social studies and history. [I have a collection of Time and Newsweek magazines back to 1957. My National Geographic collection goes back to 1964 with many issues of the 1950's, 40's and 30's.]

Travel:  Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico, Nebraska, Missouri, Illinois, Oklahoma, Indiana, Kentucky, Texas, Utah, Oregon, California, Washington, Michigan, Montana, Idaho, Florida,

    United Kingdom, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, France, Guatemala, Russia, Wales [April 2004]    [#2 son is a pilot for a major airline so we travel with "mom and pop" discount tickets throughout the world.]

Russia Travels

Aschermann:  Wales -Intro Page

Aschermann   Germany

Leisure Time Activities:When living in Colorado many hours were spent in the mountains. The mountains that we always see are the Spanish Peaks of the Sange de Cristo range. At this location you can see me at the top: Spanish Peaks 

 

Many of the hours in the mountains were with Boy Scout  activities. I am an Eagle Scout, as are Erik and Rob.

 

Other things I do or have done are leather tooling, stamp collecting, cooking, gardening, carpentry. All of these present a mental challenge: "Can I do it?"   I eat and cook Southern Colorado style. This is connected to gardening, as I cannot buy in St. Joseph all the good "pueblo chiles"  that I need to make all of my food. Pueblo is known throughout the country for its good chiles.

 

 

When I moved on Gene Field Road I had one tree growing on the acre of land.. today we have over one hundred plus four dozen roses.


 

 

Family: From my main WEB page a person can click on my "Family Page." My wife, Peg, was a speech therapist in the St. Joseph Public Schools.  In 2001 she retired after working for thirty years. She is a graduate of Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado

 

 

Rob has a degree in Computer Information systems from the University of Missouri: Rolla and an MBA from Baker University. He is my "computer person." Several years ago he had first book published: part of the
"Computers for Dummies Series" that you will find in book stores.... the yellow cover computer books. His book is on computer networking.  He has an additional three computer books published and rewrote several others.    He lives in Austin, Texas, where has worked for Dell Computer as a Systems Engineer III, IBM-Tivoli and Advanced Micro Development.   He responsibilities have included project management for several internal development projects as well as process engineering for some of Dell's internal projects.   Up date:  January 2004.  Rob now owns and manages a Scuba Shop in Austin, Texas. 

 

 

To Enlarge Photos, Click on Each

Erik is a commercial pilot and commercial pilot instructor.  He  attended Flight Safety Academy in Vero Beach, Florida and worked at airports in St. Joseph, Kansas City, Vero Beach and Santa Monica, California.  Erik is my pilot if I need some photographs of  the city or the country side.   He has been a pilot instructor at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado and Sierra Korean Airlines Flight Training Center in Pleasanton, California---39 minutes from downtown San Francisco. His current position is that of First Officer for Northwest-Masaba Airlines.  He flies a four engine jet aircraft with landings from Minneapolis to Baton Rouge.  Update:  January 2004.  Erik now flies for Delta ComAir out of Cincinnati.
 

 

This is the airplane that Erik now drives.  It is the Corvette of the regional jets... very fast

 

 

 



Erik and Rob are as comfortable scuba diving and they are flying......

wpe1.jpg (20104 bytes)

 

Erik and Brenna Live in Union Kentucky