Born in northern Wisconsin, Judy Foust has been an educator for thirty-eight years—thirty-six of them in seventh grade! The educational seeds were planted early when she would spend beautiful summer days upstairs in her bedroom playing school with her dolls.
Judy feels fortunate that her chosen career was also her passion—making a true difference in the lives of vulnerable, inquisitive, sometimes exasperating young people. Since her retirement in 2009 from public school teaching, she has continued to teach Professional Development courses for Wisconsin/Minnesota educators through Augustana College as well as facilitating a multitude of online educational courses. Her most recent retirement venture, public speaking, provides her with opportunities to interact in positive ways with a wide variety of people in education, industry, and professional organizations.
Judy—also known as the Queen of the Menomonie (WI) School District (She actually aspires to being crowned Queen of the Educational Universe!)—is an award-winning teacher: Senator Herb Kohl Foundation Teaching Fellow, Wal-Mart’s Wisconsin Teacher of the Year, and Teacher of the Year in two Wisconsin school districts. She has been selected as a Wisconsin Holocaust Project Educator, a member of Leadership Wisconsin, and has held offices in a number of professional organizations. Judy is also a published author with a bi-weekly newspaper column, articles in educational periodicals, and has written a chapter for an NCTE textbook on writing. Her educational background includes a B.A. in Comprehensive English, a Reading Specialist Certification, and a M.A.P.D Master of Arts in Professional Development (emphasis on education).
Judy’s daughter Jess is also a teacher. Her five-year-old grandson Matthew is a genius. As Judy says, “At this point in his life, evidence of his brilliance daily astounds me!”
Judy’s presentation topic focuses on “Living, Learning & Creating Balance.”
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About
Presentation Titles:
“The Art of Meaningful Change—Becoming Energized Within and Without”
No one can argue with the notion that all our time-saving technological advances haven’t accomplished what we might have hoped for—saving time for meaningful, satisfying lives. Rather, we continue to pack more and more work and activity into our 24-hour days by honing our skills in multi-tasking and “working vacations.” The cost for this efficiency is that we are often left with very little time or energy to enjoy meaningful relationships and opportunities to improve the world around us.
Judy Foust, an experienced and award-winning educator, has been there-done that. It took her 37 years of teaching to learn that, while our jobs are necessary and, in many cases, admirable, they are most often not what feeds our soul.
It is, however, possible, to combine our outer working environment with our inner psychological environment to create a more tranquil, focused, less stressed personal and professional life.
Judy is a recognized expert in de-cluttering and using principles of reorganization and rearrangement to create a work environment that promotes clear thinking, positive energy, and increased productivity. She will share concepts derived from the Chinese philosophy of feng shui with basic common sense to show how a work environment can be manipulated—at very little cost—to allow employees to be more productive with less stress.
Her work as a Resiliency/Health Realization Trainer has given her the tools to help each presentation participant begin to see that they have everything within them that they need to be happy and fulfilled. Unlocking the “promise” within through concepts of resilience will provide the second piece of the human puzzle.
“Maturity Is Highly Over-rated”
Judy Foust, a middle school educator for thirty-seven years, claims she rose to her level of maturity and stayed there! Anyone who makes a career out of teaching hormonely-crazed, emotionally-dazed, and educationally-amazed young people is crazy, right? By sharing her experiences through humorous, touching, and inspirational stories, Judy will inspire her audiences with a greater appreciation of the insights to be gained by listening to the innocence of youth. You will leave this presentation thinking of all the children that have touched and inspired you throughout your life.
“Creating a Focused, Tranquil Environment for Learning”
It took over 25 years of teaching seventh graders before middle school educator Judy Foust realized that her classroom wasn’t all about her. An epiphany occurred—could it be possible that the most important people in the classroom are the students? Walking into her classroom with “new eyes,” Judy realized the environment needed to change in order to make it all about kids. Down came all the cute “Martha Stewart” embellishments, the faded notes from grateful parents and penmanship-challenged former students, and the posters that cluttered every available area of wall space. Using principles of feng shui and the concepts of de-cluttering, Judy transformed her workplace into a warm, tranquil, focused environment where the needs of all students were able to be met. Judy will share her journey (including before and after photos) and actual testimonies about how these physical changes enabled students to learn more easily and more joyfully and how it can help other organizations as well.
“The Myth of Super Employee”
Judy Foust, a middle school educator for thirty-seven years, is on a mission to explode the myth that in order to be a superior employee, you must give up your life. Through humorous examples and real-life personal experiences, Judy will encourage her audiences to be the best they can be and still have a guilt-free “real” life. You will come out of her presentation having the basic foundation of human resilience and how it can improve all aspects of your life, an understanding of strengths-based concepts in the workplace, and the motivation to move into the realm of excellence without sacrificing your own physical and emotional well-being. It is possible. After all, Judy believes in miracles!
Reviews
“Well-prepared and full of useful knowledge.”
“I totally enjoyed your presentation and excitement. You are filled with energy! And you are a wonderful speaker! What other things do you speak about?”
“You presented material that is all new to me. I can’t wait to try it!”
“Judy, you have a great sense of humor!”
“Judy’s excitement and personality made a very interesting presentation! She certainly knows her subject and is very creative.”
Intro
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Rider
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Judy Foust – Featured speaker at 23rd Annual Paraprofessional & Title I Conference
Monday January 30th, 2012
Judy Foust, the keynote speaker at the 23rd Annual Paraprofessional & Title I Conference in St. Cloud, MN, on Tuesday, January 17th, used her enthusiasm and trademark humor to share “Solutions…not Problems: Focusing on Positive Classroom Management.” Approximately 190 educational professionals from a 9-county area attended the conference, which was presented by Resource Training & [...]
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