Second Week of Summer 2003 - May 27, 2003, Education Department Newsletter, Eastern Connecticut State University

Questions about newsletter? Please contact David Stoloff, email: stoloffd@easternct.edu

EDUCATION DEPARTMENT NEWS
Volume XV, Summer 2003

Second Week of Summer 2003 – May 27 Edition

best viewed at http://www.easternct.edu/depts/edu/news/030527.html
on the WWW; for past issues Ed. Dept. News Index - http://www.easternct.edu/depts/edu/newsindex.html

Education Dept. Homepage

Alumni News

Departmental Documents

Please see the University Disclaimer.

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Words of Inspiration
the collection appears at http://www.easternct.edu/depts/edu/news/words.html

Contributed by Dr. John Caruso, Education Department, Western Connecticut State University

THE CLASS OF 2007

    Just in case you weren't feeling old enough today, this will
    certainly change things. Each year the staff at Beloit College in
    Wisconsin puts together a list to try to give the Faculty a sense of
    the mindset of this year's incoming freshman.

Here is this year's list:

    The people who are starting college this fall across the nation were
    born in 1985.

    They have no meaningful recollection of the Reagan Era and probably
    did not know he had ever been shot.

    They were prepubescent when the Persian Gulf War was waged.

There has been only one Pope in their lifetime.

    They were 10 when the Soviet Union broke apart and do not remember
    the Cold War.

    They are too young to remember the space shuttle blowing up.


Tiananmen Square means nothing to them.

    Bottle caps have always been screw off and plastic.

Atari predates them, as do vinyl albums.

    The statement "You sound like a broken record" means nothing to
    them.

    They have never owned a record player.

    They have likely never played Pac Man and have never heard of Pong.

    They may have never heard of an 8 track. The Compact Disc was
    introduced when they were 1 year old.

    They have always had an answering machine.

    Most have never seen a TV set with only 13 channels, nor have they
    seen a black and white TV.

    They have always had cable.

    There have always been VCRs, but they have no idea what BETA was.

    They cannot fathom not having a remote control.

    They don't know what a cloth baby diaper is, or know about the
    "Help me, I've fallen and I can't get up" commercial.

    Feeling old Yet? There's more:

    They were born the year that Walkmen were introduced by Sony.

    Roller skating has always meant inline for them.

Michael Jackson has always been white.

    Jay Leno has always been on the Tonight Show.

    They have no idea when or why Jordache jeans were cool.

    Popcorn has always been cooked in the microwave.

    They have never seen Larry Bird play.

    They never took a swim and thought about Jaws.

    The Vietnam War is as ancient history to them as W.W.I, W.W.II and
    the Civil War.

    They have no idea that Americans were ever held hostage in Iran.

    They can't imagine what hard contact lenses are.

    They don't know who Mork was or where he was from. (The correct
    answer, by the way, is Ork)

    They never heard: "Where's the beef?", "I'd walk a mile for a
    Camel," or "De plane, de plane!"

    They do not care who shot J.R. and have no idea who J.R. was.

       Kansas, Chicago, Boston, America, and Alabama are places, not
    bands.

    There has always been MTV.

    They don't have a clue how to use a typewriter.

    Do you feel old yet? If you do, then pass this on to some other
    old fogies...but don't send it back to me, I feel old enough.

Posted on May 27, 2003.

Announcements

Welcome to Summer Session 1. For our graduate courses, this session runs from May 19 - June 26. Our undergraduate courses run from May 27 - July 3.

The departmental annual report is due on May 30. Faculty members - please submit your accomplishments to the report as soon as convenient but not later than noon on Friday, May 30. Please attach your vitae to the appendix of the annual report.

1) Message from Dean Kleine -

"You did it!!! Eastern’s history/social studies program has been recommended for national accreditation by NCSS! "

Special congratulations to Dr. Leslie Ricklin and Dean Kleine for all of their efforts in making this dream possible.

2) Good news - bad news. The Experience for Future Connecticut Teachers (EFFECT Program) grant proposal was funded by the State Department of Education from Interdistrict Cooperative Grant program for $159,000; this project will combine elements of the Institute for Future Teachers Using Technology - a week-long educational technology camp for high school students - at the end of June, the Summer Institute for Future Teachers during July, the Future Teachers Conference during Spring break, and an online workshop in educational technology for future teachers.

Unfortunately, the SIFT program proposal was not independently funded. If the July program continues, it will be a smaller version, with less students, and perhaps not be for the entire month.

3)  Request for Collaboration by Ruth Ettenberg Freeman, M.S.W. , POSITIVE PARENTING positiveparent@earthlink.net



I know that it is winding down time for you but I am thinking about something interesting and would love some feedback from you or from one of your colleagues.



I am working on a small parent/school partnership project in Windham with the Windham Parent Network, Windham Regional Community Council and Windham Public Schools. As a result of some of that work, Jack Giordano, No. Windham principal, and I fell into a fascinating conversation the other day about homework and the role that parents, kids, and teachers play in that nightly drama. From my point of view as a parent educator, homework is in some ways where the parent/school partnership rubber meets the road. I hear from parents that homework can be a nightly battle that often negatively affects parent child relationships and family life in general.



I sent an inquiry to a wonderful listserv of which I am a member called the National Parenting Educators Listserv and I got back very interesting and rich responses to my question about homework. Mostly what I have concluded from my conversation with Jack and many distinguished parenting educators from across the country, including many who are doing research at big universities, is that homework is a key educational issue for both teachers and parents. And there is some information written about what is effective homework and what are the appropriate roles for parents, teachers, and kids in that effort.



Jack and I have an interest in creating a pilot project in which we create or locate a training curriculum to provide an experiential learning experience for a cohort of teachers, parents, and maybe kids around the homework issue which clarifies who does what – roles, how it can be done effectively, and what is effective design for homework and appropriate feedback, quantity, etc.



Do you have any material in this area or any folks up at your shop that might be enthusiastic about creating something like this with us? I hope to talk with Graustein about possible funding for this effort. It is a long shot but I think worth the effort. Homework seems to be a universal challenge!



Let me know your thoughts. Thanks for listening, Ruth



4) From information disseminated by Mitch Sakofs, Director of Education Experience -

Educational Testing Service (ETS) reports on the HEA-Title II 2001-2002 Academic Year Quatrile Ranking that Eastern Connecticut State University has 100% pass rate and is in the first institutional quatrile rank for the following assessments:

Type of Assessment

Number
Taking
Assessment

Number
Passing
Assessment

Institutional
Pass Rate

Institutional Quartile Rank

Aggregate - Basic Skills

104

104

100%

1

Aggregate - Academic Content Areas (Math, English, Biology, etc.)

67

67

100%

1

Summary Totals and Pass Rates

122

122

100%

1

5 ) NCATE workshop on Dispositions, ITBD, New Britain, Friday, June 6, 9 am - 3 pm. Please contact David if you haven't registered for this workshop. For directions to the Institute of Technology and Business Development, please visit http://www.ccsu.edu/ITBD/iiet/DirectionstoIIET.htm .

6 ) The Reading/Language Arts clinic will be at Chaplin Elementary School from July 2 - August 8th, 8 am – 1 pm. RLA consultant candidates seeking certification should enroll in RLA 519 – Clinical Experience in Reading/Language Arts. Linda Rogers will be the supervisor of this experience.

There will be an orientation meeting for the summer school/clinic on Wednesday, July 2, 8:30 - 12.
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Faculty photo at
http://www.easternct.edu/depts/edu/faculty.html
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A message from Professor Ross E. Koning, PhD
Chapter President ECSU-AAUP
Biology Department - Goddard Hall
email: Koning@EasternCT.edu
http://Koning.EasternCT.edu/
Greetings ECSU-AAUP Faculty,
I am pleased to announce that our on-line (html) version
of the 2002-2006 CSU AAUP-BOT Collective Bargaining
Agreement is on-line at the usual URL:
http://www.easternct.edu/aaup/cba.html
This version is, of course, unofficial...but we have worked
hard to make it identical with the printed version in content,
and have hopefully corrected most of the printed version's
flaws.
We encourage you to try it out. All internal and some external
references are linked so navigation is better than in the print
version. You can also use the find and find-again feature of
your browser to search for words in the contract...so finding
items is perhaps easier. On the down-side, the contract is now
in a single file that is sometimes slow to open if you are on a
modem connection...but we think your patience will be rewarded.
I also encourage you to right-click (PC USERS) or click-hold-drag
(Mac USERS) on the CBA link on the home page to DOWNLOAD
the contract to your hard-drive for improved loading times. Our
home-page is:
http://www.easternct.edu/aaup
Best wishes for the fall semester.
ross
Professor Ross E. Koning, PhD
Chapter President ECSU-AAUP
Biology Department - Goddard Hall
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Graduate News

Dan Rothermel reports that "one of our core III secondary student, Maggie Tarbox, has just accepted a position to teach 7th grade language arts at Bloomfield's Carmen Arace Middle School.

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                              Call for Graduating Senior Information
A request from Institutional Research -
Please share news about the plans of graduating seniors.
If they are going on to graduate school, please provide the graduate's name, undergraduate major,
graduate university, location (city, state), field of study and degree program sought, and any information
on scholarships and/or fellowships.
If they have been accepted for employment positions, please provide the graduate's name,
undergraduate major, company, location (city, state), position, salary.
Please email the information to David, who will compile it for the department. Thanks.
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                                         Other Events
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                       ECSU - ThinkQuest for Tomorrow's Teachers Projects
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.preservice.org/] and 13 other universities throughout the US. This project's homepage may be at http://www.preservice.org/ecsu/ .
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Long Term Announcements
Alumni news may be found at http://www.easternct.edu/depts/edu/news/alumninews.html.
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Planning

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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
Planning forms for field experiences and student teaching for Spring 2003 are now posted at
http://www.easternct.edu/depts/edu/dept/stinfo.doc
and
http://www.easternct.edu/depts/edu/dept/stpreferencefall2003.doc
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Research and Creativity Activities
chronicling the ongoing progress of the Education Department at Eastern Connecticut State University

                   also found at http://www.easternct.edu/depts/edu/news/rca.html

Seventh Report - November 15, 2002
During Career Day at Putnam High School, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2002, David Stoloff met with 41 students to discuss their interests in teacher education. Of this group, 12 were interested in Secondary Education, 8 in Elementary Education, 7 in Early Childhood Education, 1 Elem/ECE, 6 in Special Education, 2 in HPE, 1 in Music, 1 in Art, and 3 were undecided.

Sixth Report
October 20, 2002
Results of the Open House – Sunday, October 20, 2002
Leslie Ricklin, Richard Reynolds, Delar Singh, Cathy Tannahill, and Ingrid Enniss and David Stoloff met over 121 students interested in coming to Eastern for teacher certification on Sunday, October 20, 2002 at the Fall 2002 University Open House.
The majority expressing interest in elementary education (68), early childhood education (17), secondary education (24), special education (3), and middle level (2), with the remainder uncertain.
Another 15 students/family may not have signed in but received information about the programs. The information sheet at http://www.easternct.edu/depts/edu/dept/questions.html was distributed.
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Searches

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searches pending approval - we had request an additional faculty member in Elementary Education.

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Recently acquired media - in the Chair's Office or on the Web

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

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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.