Second to Last Week of Classes, Spring Semester 2006-April 30, 2006, Education Department, Eastern CSU

1) Education Department faculty meeting, Thursday, May 4, 12:30 - 1:45, Webb 115. Please send items for the agenda to David Stoloff. Tentative list includes - Dean Kleine facilitating discussion on the changes in certification regulations and the announcement of the endowed chair in Early Childhood Education, approval of the April meeting minutes, outreach activities in the schools - coordinating efforts, planning for department retreat, planning for SP 2007 schedule.

3) Sara Stockton will be serving as Graduate Program Student Marshall, Courtney Tuller will represent our Kappa Delta Pi chapter, and Dr. Leslie Ricklin will be representing our Department as a Marshall at Commencement on Sunday, May 21. The commencement schedule is posted below.

4) On April 27, 2006 at the University Awards Ceremony, these students identified as being from our department were recognized -

7) Associate Professor Ken Dobush, former colleague in the Education Department, has been granted tenure in Special Education at Bridgewater State College.

News from Cori (Beckwith) Allard (Early Childhood Education program graduate, January 2000)

I just have to take this opportunity to share with you how proud I am of my Eastern education. Upon my graduation from Eastern in January 2000, I taught for 2 years in Willimantic, then for three years in Brooklyn, New York, and have been working as a school psychologist for the past year in California. I was so well prepared by Eastern for the positions I took on, and often watched my colleagues (who graduated from other prestigious colleges of education such as Columbia University's Teacher's College) struggle to adjust to real-life classroom teaching.

Please forgive me for not knowing the current status of education certification programs at Eastern, but I think that, since the education provided by the faculty there is so comprehensive, realistic, and developmental in nature, a special education track would naturally blossom from what has already been established. I taught in an inclusion classroom in Willimantic and in a school for Emotionally Disturbed students in Brooklyn, and I cannot emphasize enough how well-prepared I was for those types of settings even though my program of study was not specifically entitled Special Education. I believe that graduates from Eastern will have no problem implementing the new standards set by Response to Intervention because of the training they have received there.

I just had a call from Sandy Boscarino's father telling me that she is the first in this year's graduating class! Sandy is doing her student teaching right now in the 5th grade in Andover and doing a terrific job; she passed Praxis II with flying colors (199 out of 200 on the multiple choice section, for example). Oh, by the way, her other major is History. I bet that Dept. is proud of her, too.

My husband got orders to the USS Alaska, so we will be moving to Norfolk, Virginia around the first of March. I resigned my position as a math teacher at Grasso Technical High School and am subbing until we leave. Parting is such sweet sorrow. I have so many memories of our 7 years in Connecticut, some of the most special being spent at Eastern in our Real Analysis study group. We spent 4-6 hours a week outside of class (studying) just to impress Dr. Kenton! My love and best wishes go out to Dr. Kenton, John, Lisa, Matt, Kevin, Sita and all of the other math geeks who gutted it out with us. We are truly a bounded unique subset (in the infinite domain of humanity) in which no other subsequence will converge near our epsilon neighborhood! In Bolzano-Weierstrass we trust.

Looking forward to having Violet Lukasik student teaching here with Lyn Williams, ECSU graduating class of 1998, this spring.

posted on November 2, 2005

****

Message from Mike Hetherington, Master of Science in Elementary Education program graduate, 2003

On October 7th, my 6th grade class at Horace W. Porter School launched their first podcast. A podcast is an Internet radio broadcast available for download. If you or the alumni would like to listen, just go to our class weblog at http://room613talk05.edublogs.org/tag/podcasts/ or look for Room 613 Talk in the Educational Podcast section of Itunes. My students worked collaboratively to write the introduction, feature stories, transitions and closing. So far we have received positive feedback on the podcast from listeners as far away as Georgia, Arizona, and New Zealand. As far as I know, this is the first class podcast in the State of Connecticut.

In other news, I'll be visiting China for 10 days starting on November 4th as part of a Connecticut Educators delegation. During that visit I will have a chance to teach at Horace Porter's sister school in Jinan, China. It's been an busy year so far!

Mike Hetherington

6th Grade Social Studies Teacher

Horace W. Porter School - Columbia, CT

MS Elementary Ed. - Dec. 2003

posted on November 1, 2005

****

Good news from Michelle Ridolfi O'Neill -

Sharon Hagen was hired for one of a language arts positions in Montville.

posted on October 31, 2005

****

Good news from Bethany Champagne (bethany_champagne@yahoo.com):

"Hello everyone

I just wanted to inform you that I have been offered a job as a long-term substitute counselor at DePaolo Middle School in Southington. I went today to meet everyone and it is wonderful. I love it. I will keep you posted. I should be there until Feb. or March because the person I am replacing just had TWIN BOYS! Yikes. I am so happy and finally using my degree. Thanks for everyone's support.

Bethany"

I am pleased to let you know that Windham Tech is employing two outstanding new educators, fresh from the latest graduating class:

--Glenn Anderson, English

--Chris Morgan, social studies

As you know, I recruited Chris Morgan for our system last year as a substitute after I saw first-hand the work he was doing in mentoring middle and high school students over the summer at ECSU. He soon became one of our most-requested subs that fall and student taught at Norwich Tech last spring.

Glenn Anderson was a student in my seminar for student teachers last spring. He completed an exemplary portfolio and had an outstanding student teaching experience at Dr. Helen Baldwin School in Canterbury.

Both have done a great job in their first week- a testimony to the instruction and experiences that they have had at Eastern. They are going to make a difference in the lives of our students.

Fred Ashton

posted on September 7, 2005

Call for Graduate News -

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.

For opportunities for technology resources and recognition for exemplary leadership, please visit http://www.futureready.org/about/ .

******
Recommendation from Diane Reale, OnlineCSU instructor, to subscribe to Edutopia:

"You may already be familiar with Edutopia, but I recently received an invitation to a free magazine subscription from them, in the mail, so I thought I would send the link along to you....(re: exemplary programs in K-12 schools)....thought your faculty and students might be interested.

http://www.edutopia.org/foundation/foundation.php

Diane"

Description: Free educator job search. Apply online, get email job alerts, find 1000s of teaching jobs from dozens of sites with the SchoolSpring SuperSearch. Apply to any job, anywhere with SchoolSpring PLUS!

Looking for an internship, co-op or full-time job? Then check out our new on-line system-eRecruiting at http://eastern.eRecruiting.com

Walter Diaz
Director
Career Services
Eastern Connecticut State University
83 Windham Street
Willimantic, CT 06226
Phone: (860)465.5244
Fax:(860)465.4440
Email: diazw@easternct.edu
University Web Page: www.easternct.edu
Department Web Page: www.easternct.edu/depts/career/

Announcement from Robin Shefts, Career Counselor, Career Services:

"I discovered this website recently which I wanted to share with you, faculty and students. http://careers.education.wisc.edu/projectConnect/MoreInfo.cfm

Project Connect is a national cooperative resource between school districts and universities to assist with teacher/education staff employment efforts on the internet. If you are not familiar with Project Connect, it's worth checking out!"

This scholarship program supports and encouraged persons of color who are committed to a career in public school teaching. A scholarship award of at least $1,500 a year for two years will be granted to an individual who has been admitted to a teacher-preparation program in a Connecticut College or university. For more information and an application, please contact David Stoloff in the Education Dept, Webb 129 or visit http://www.almaexleyscholarship.org .

1) Thank you, Ann, for enriching the Education Department Chair's office with

Cambre, M. & Hawkes, M. (2004). Toys, tools & teachers: The challenges of technology. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Education.

back to top

*********
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.


*Saturday, May 20, 2006*	4:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.	*Eastern Celebrates!* President Pernal & the ECSU Alumni Association Board of Directors honor the Class of 2006 and their families with a Social Hour, Barbeque and Concert at Eastern's Outdoor Athletic (baseball) Complex. Complimentary admission for each graduate and two guests. More details to follow in the mail. Questions? Please call the Alumni Office at 860-465-5238.

*Sunday, May 21, 2006*	10:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.	Baccalaureate Service Francis E. Geissler Gymnasium, Sports Center
	11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.	Light Luncheon for Full-time Undergraduates, Graduates and Guests Lawn between the Library and Webb Hall Rain site: Hurley Cafeteria
	11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.	Continuing Education Luncheon for Part-time Undergraduates and Guests Niejadlik Hall Commons
	12:15 p.m.	All Undergraduates begin forming a line at the Foster Clock Tower for "Make-A-Wish" procession
	12:30 p.m.	Faculty Line-up for "Make-A-Wish" Tradition Line-up: Along sidewalk path from Foster Clock Tower to Basin Fountain (between Goddard and Wood)
	12:45 p.m.	Chimes will cease and the "Make-A-Wish" procession will begin
	1:00 p.m.	Students Line-up for Academic Procession and Commencement according to School
	1:15 p.m.	Faculty Line-up for Academic Procession and Commencement
	1:45 p.m.	Academic Procession and Commencement Exercises Windham Technical High School Field Rain site: Geissler Gymnasium, Sports Center