Teacher Education Coordinators Meeting

Teacher Education Coordinators Meeting April 13, 2012 Minutes

Attending: Averil McClelland; Bette Brooks; Connie Collier; Janice Hutchison; Joanne Arhar; Lori Wilfong; Lyle Barton; Rebecca Chism; Linda Hoeptner-Poling; Sandra Pech; Sarah Rilling, William Kist

Absent: Andrea Shearer; Kele Ding; Drew Tiene; Janice Kroeger; Margaret Haas; Mary Hricko; Meghan Harper; Nancy Barbour; Pat Grutzmacher; Pat O’Connor; Ramona Freeman; Sue Grogan-Johnson; Verna Fitzsimmons

Art Education’s Integration of Special Needs of Students (Linda Hoeptner-Poling) Linda Hoeptner-Poling shared with coordinators how the Art Education Program integrates special needs of students into their curriculum. She shared a handout listing the courses and the materials used to educate students on how to support special needs students. She indicated that all lessons include specials needs components; that the effort has been hugely successful and that it is not significantly time-consuming; that the Art faculty are now committed to the effort; and that there is no fear or hesitation from students and they are much more interested in special education.

Discussion included the question of whether our teacher education program area might use supplemental reading packets to assist in educating general teacher education students about special needs. Lyle will also be doing a breakout session at the teacher education faculty retreat in May. It will focus on three important points: 1) the ability to access the needs of the student, 2) adapting curriculum to the student, and 3) assessing teachers’ ability to deliver the curriculum to special needs students.

Teacher Education Faculty Retreat (Lori Wilfong) Lori shared with coordinators that the Teacher Education Faculty Retreat Agenda is posted and asked coordinators to review it. She asked that program faculty bring copies of their program area handbooks, and that if they need assistance in getting a handbook faculty can email her. She also asked coordinators to have their program areas decide ahead of time who is attending which sessions. Everyone was asked to bring their laptop as well.

In related discussion, Lori had no news yet on TPAC costs for students. She reminded coordinators that there will be no TWS next year and also that the videotaping letter and permission documents must be clear. The letter to be used in found in the handbook. Linda Hoeptner-Poling mentioned that (as a parent) she received a letter that was not appropriate. She was going to forward the letter to Lori for investigation. There will be discussion about the permission forms at the retreat as well.

Another note: the OBR surveys were not accessible by students. Joanne reported the issue to the OBR but had received no response. Teacher Education News (Joanne Arhar) Joanne shared news from OCTEO with coordinators, including the issue of cooperating teachers no longer being paid to supervise student teachers. An ethics committee is looking for an alternative avenue to reward teachers for their participation. One way that Kent State has been able to reward teachers for participating in extra activities has been through the KEEP activities. First, with the KEEP Math Academy and now with the upcoming Language Arts Academy, teachers who serve on the planning committee are offered one free graduate credit for their participation on the committee and during the workshop. Other discussion included the possibility of having students co-teach during their student teaching experience. Janice Hutchison will be piloting this approach next year in Tallmadge and Stow-Munroe Falls schools.

Joanne also shared information about her recent trip to Toronto with Dean Mahony, Linda Robertson and other university and local school staff members. They visited a school district in Toronto which has some of the highest test scores in the world and has a focus on international curriculum. The purpose of the trip was to see what their teachers are doing to have these scores. They found that the schools focused on achievement and equity of the students and were surprised to find that English was the second language of more than 50% of the students – and French was not the first language. During their brief visit, they met students who spoke 10 different languages. Schools aimed to give every student what they needed to succeed (equity). Further discussion indicated that this approach cannot be assumed on a broader scale – in Canada curriculum is provincial. This school system also used the approach of looking for weak areas and putting added resources in those areas instead of punishing the teachers. Teachers were found to be highly respected and paid accordingly. This, of course, is a completely different mindset than our educational system. It was also noted that there was no sign of disciplinary issues in the schools. A group of teachers from this school system will be visiting Kent State University and some of our schools in the fall. They will likely be very surprised.

Disposition Assessments (Joanne) Joanne asked the coordinators to read the draft definition of a professional disposition and give her feedback. She said that she would like them to clearly define what an assessment and have the definition added to course syllabi so that when students read the definition they understand its importance. This lead to discussion about where the definition should be located – all course syllabi? The new wording would replace all over versions or definitions on past syllabi.

Joanne shared with coordinators that the university will be sponsoring two teaching fellows through the fellowship program; both are Middle Childhood graduates. The mentor teachers will each have two years release time to mentor students. The school district will provide $17,000 per student to KSU and, in turn, the university will provide the teaching fellows with $13,000 stipend, tuition reimbursement and benefits from the university. The university is also working collaboratively with the University of Akron and several local school systems on a grant project to better prepare students for college classes in Math and English.

Other (Joanne) Joanne also thanked Connie and Lyle for their service as coordinators and congratulated them on their upcoming retirements.