Words of  Inspiration  Announcements Planning Opportunities Research and Creativity Activities

EDUCATION DEPARTMENT NEWS Volume XI, Spring 2002 Three Weeks before Final Exams 2002 Edition - 4/17/02 best viewed at http://www.easternct.edu/depts/edu/news/020417.html on the WWW; for past issues - Education Department News Index  http://www.easternct.edu/depts/edu/news/newsindex.html

Education Dept. Homepage Alumni News Departmental Documents Department Media Departmental Searches

Dr. William Howe, President of NAME, will be visiting ECSU on Wednesday, April 17, 2002.  Here is a recent resolution from NAME -

Resolution Re-affirming Social Justice and Equity Work Following the September 11, 2001, Tragedies
                        National Association for Multicultural Education

WHEREAS the September 11th tragedies stunned us all and affected our lives forever; and

WHEREAS neighbors, friends, and strangers from around the world have come together to mourn the loss of lives from many
countries; and

WHEREAS many from around the world have coalesced to provide support for the families, partners, and friends of the victims and the rescue workers who were so committed to finding life amid the rubble; and

WHEREAS one of the goals of the National Association for Multicultural Education is to achieve peace, security, respect, and
safety for all people, not just citizens of the United States; and

WHEREAS today is a critical time for multicultural educators to provide leadership in schools and communities; and

WHEREAS racism and other oppressions against those who have been unjustly defined as the enemy must be repudiated; and

WHEREAS poverty continues to exist in the United States and the rest of the world. and

WHEREAS violence continues to be perpetrated against oppressed adults and children around the world, and

WHEREAS hatred continues to lead to devastating clashes between people around the world;

BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED that members of the National Association for Multicultural Education dedicate themselves to
re-structuring education to reflect the authentic histories, cultures, and conditions of the global community;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that members of the National Association for Multicultural Education re-commit to foster in
themselves and others a critical analysis of the underlying causes of terrorist actions and the reasons for anti-U.S. hostility in some parts of the world.

Adopted at the NAME Business Meeting on November 11, 2001
Reaffirmed by NAME Board of Directors on January 18, 2001

posted on April 16, 2002

Thursday, April 17 - Units meetings.  Please add items to this agenda by contacting David - stoloffd@easternct.edu.

for both units - please discuss preparations for Excellence Expo on Saturday, April 27 and Graduate Commencement on Sunday, May 19 - we need to discuss awarding outstanding service and scholarship awards, outstanding student teachers awards

preparing for visiting team - classes which members might visit

please also discuss request for next year's searches

Evolving Agenda for Elementary/Middle/Secondary/Reading/Language Arts Unit - Plainfield as a site for greater collaboration towards a formal professional development schools relationship, other potential sites

Proposed Fifth Year MS in Secondary Education program

Saw my cardiologist yesterday and he was pleased.  I see the surgeon on Tuesday and should be able to drive after that.  Although I don't recommend the therapy my recovery is proceeding much more rapidly that
my first surgery in 1991.

Our best wishes to Dan for his full recovery and return to the department.

We are planning a BEST training with our partners in Lebanon and Norwich, i.e., Joe Stefon (Norwich Principal), Bonnie Hanna (Lebanon Curriculum Director) and I are planning to conduct a BEST training for teachers in the Fall of 2002. Details to follow. I will discuss this further at our next faculty meeting.

reported by Mitch Sakofs -

The following 7 individuals are to receive an outstanding student teaching award for their student teaching during the fall of 2001:

Sarah Jensen, ECE
Kristen Manware, ECE
Brian Martel, ECE
Julie Namnoum, ECE
Susan Rioux, El Ed
Jessica Schneider, ECE
Andrea Sinsigalli, ECE

CEDE - Wednesday, April 17 - open house and presentation by Dr. William Howe on Multicultural Education, President's Dinner Room, 2:30 - 4:30

A message from Dean Kleine -

Kathy Lake, Dean of Education, Alverno College (WI), will be our guest Friday, April 19, 2002.  She will be conducting a workshop from 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. on conducting outcome assessments/developing a manageable assessment plan. Dean Lake is bringing samples of assessment tools, video-tapes used in curriculum classes, pre-service/post-service evaluation forms, etc.  The session will be held in the President's Dining Room (Hurley Hall); lunch will be served. Look forward to seeing you there.

Please feel free to invite interested adjunct faculty, especially those individuals who assist the departments with field placements and student teaching supervision.

On Thursday, May 16, representative(s) from Alverno College will return to meet with the Elementary Education faculty and the HPE faculty on preparing their documents.

University Reception for New Students, Sunday, April 21, 12 noon - 4 pm.  Please come and meet new students interested in Education - usually about one quarter to one third of those attending.  David Stoloff and Leslie Ricklin plan to do a brief orientation to our programs at 1 pm in WH 110.

Excellence Expo - Saturday, April 27 Excellence Expo, 1-4

Faculty members and students from Eastern Connecticut State University are participating in a US Department of Education grant to Prepare Tomorrow's Teachers to Use Technology with ThinkQuest [ http://www.thinkquest.org] and 13 other universities throughout the US.  This project's homepage may be at http://www.easternct.edu/depts/edu/dept/pt3.html .

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Alumni news may be found at http://www.easternct.edu/depts/edu/news/alumninews.html.

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Past surveys of our graduates are available on the WWW  –

an analysis of the survey of teacher education program graduates 1996-98 http://www.easternct.edu/depts/edu/assessment/survey9698.htm

results of the survey of teacher education program graduates – 1996-1998 -
http://www.easternct.edu/depts/edu/assessment/surveyresults9698.htm,  and

results of the survey of teacher education program graduates – 1998-2000 -
http://www.easternct.edu/depts/edu/assessment/gradsurvey2001.htm

survey of interests in graduate programs –1999, http://www.easternct.edu/depts/edu/assessment/gradinterestsurvey1999.htm

survey of interests in graduate programs – 2001
http://www.easternct.edu/depts/edu/assessment/gradinterestsurvey2001.htm

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As part of our participation with the ThinkQuest for Tomorrow's Teachers project, we have administered a survey to our student teacher candidates on their self-evaluation of their preparedness to use educational technology in their classrooms.  In the past 10 months, 104 certification candidates have assessed their preparedness based on the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) standards.

Based on this scale, KEY: Not prepared = 1, Somewhat prepared = 2, Prepared = 3, Well prepared = 4, the average ratings were all in the "somewhat prepared" range for all of these items, except an average rating lower than to 2 (1.8) for "Model and teach legal and ethical principles related to technology use" for the Fall 2001 student teachers.

A future edition's research report will feature whether any of these self-assessments on the ISTE standards were statistically different.  The table for this report may be found at http://www.easternct.edu/depts/edu/news/rca020301.html .

Educational Department Searches for Tenure Track Faculty to Start in August 2002

The searches notices are also posted at http://www.easternct.edu/depts/edu/search02.html, and available from The Chronicle for these positions in Educational Technology and Reading/Literacy.

Join us for Online Games, Activities, and Discussion Forums in Science, Math, and Language Arts!

Explore http://www.elasticmind.com/ where you can
· play pinball to learn geography,
· apply language arts with online word magnets, word searches, and animated text
· develop computer graphics and animated pictures.
Activities in the first column create animated text messages, activities in the second column create animated pictures.  The third column contains creativity games like  pinball, word magnets, seek-a-word, and refrigerator magnets, which allows an endless chain of magnet poems to be created and viewed. All the activities on this web site are the “create your own” type and can be emailed.  Try them out!  These are Java applets and may run better on a PC than a MAC.

Earn Olympic gold and learn science at the Bobsled Run http://www.wsnsports.com/game/game.htm .

Challenge your students with international mathematics and science quizzes at
http://getsmarter.org/index.cfm .

Visit the "web’s finest mathematics and science activities" at http://www.exploremath.com/ and http://www.explorescience.com/ .

Join a discussion forum of students and teachers collaborating in leading edge software to enhance education in Connecticut - http://www.elasticmind.com/wforum/intro.htm .

EFTUT is building a website featuring learning activities which are creative, customizable, entertaining, and sharable by email.  The website is open to the public.  We are seeking teachers who want to work with our developers and in-class consultants to evaluate these activities as teaching and learning tools.

Each school, a lead teacher and 5-10 students, will be eligible to receive a grant of $500 to support their school's educational technology activities.  Participants will also be invited to participate in a statewide workshop on the future of learning and teaching on June 1.  Selected high school students will be invited to an Educational Technology Camp at Eastern Connecticut State University, June 23 - 28, 2002, where they will earn college credit and skills in leading edge technologies for education.

For more information about this program, please visit our homepage at http://www.easternct.edu/depts/edu/yes/ or contact David Stoloff at stoloffd@easternct.edu .

General Education Committee's General Education Program Proposal

Wednesdays - A Compilation of Short Stories written by Eastern Connecticut State University Graduate Students

Educational Technology Resource Documents from the Connecticut State Department of Education.

American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) Public Policy Agenda - 2002.

The BEST Program Portfolio Resources 2001-2002: School Year

BEST 2001-2002 Rubrics.

NCATE State training information from January 29-30, 2002 meeting.

Faculty Handbook.

Our Reading/Language Arts, Webb Hall 113, has been enriched with past issues of Phi Delta Kappan, Academe, Syllabus, Converge, Journal of Teacher Education, and other resources.  Please feel free to use and encourage your students to use these materials.

The Condition of Education 2001 in Brief.  National Center for Education Statistics, US Department of Education.

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Please contact David Stoloff at (860) 465-5501, email: stoloffd@easternct.edu if you have any questions or comments on this newsletter.   Please invite others to receive this newsletter and be added to the Education Department e-mailing list by contacting David Stoloff.