| Volume
2 Issue 2 Spring 2000 |
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| Madison PDS Participants Present at National Conference in Chicago Electronic Portfolios |
| In early March a collaborative team from the Madison Professional Development School Partnership made a presentation at the American Association of Colleges of Teacher Education conference in Chicago. |
| Lisa Stein presented the electronic portfolio she developed to the AACTE conference. Lisa developed her portfolio while she completed her student teaching at Lincoln last fall, and was one of two education students to pilot the use of an electronic portfolio. |
| Lisa used her electronic portfolio as an assessment tool to tie her learning and teaching experiences to the new UWMadison teaching standards . |
| Lisa explained that many of the students worry that they are not technically skilled enough to create an electronic portfolio. However, she said the system is easy to use and felt she had no particular technical ability when she started her portfolio. Now she finds she enjoys sharing what she has learned to help her colleagues with the process. |
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In early March a collaborative team from the Madison Professional Development School Partnership made a presentation at the American Association of Colleges of Teacher Education conference in Chicago. Attending from Madison were Associate Dean Jack Kean, MMSD teaching and learning coordinator Mary Ramberg and presenters. The group presenting at the conference included Mary Kay Johnson and Cookie Miller, from Midvale and Lincoln schools. They provided a chronology of the use of portfolios for student teaching in the UW program. Nancy Booth, from Thoreau, and Michele Genor, a UW teaching assistant who works with education students at Cherokee, discussed the connection between portfolios and the teaching standards and how these two components of the Madison elementary education program support each other. Ken Zeichner from the University presented a general background to portfolio use in teacher education. Sarah Gramar and Lisa Stein, both of whom completed their PDS student teaching experiences last semester, shared their portfolios and Susan Wray, a UW project assistant, assisted in the set up and organization of the presentations. The Madison PDS portfolio presentation was well attended and well received with a standing crowd and questions and discussion after the presentation.
Lisa Stein presented the electronic portfolio she developed to the AACTE conference. Lisa developed her portfolio while she completed her student teaching at Lincoln last fall, and was one of two education students to pilot the use of an electronic portfolio. The portfolio
was created using the electronic portfolio system and template available
to education students at Educational Placement and Career Services
(EPCS). Lisa worked with EPCS staff to develop a special version
of the template that allowed for the incorporation of the UW-Madison
teaching standards as the organizing structure. She found that the
electronic portfolio template structured around teaching standards
provided a rich environment where she could use one teaching activity
to readily demonstrate multiple standards.
This semester Lisa is working as a project assistant to the elementary education program. She has conducted computer sessions with the current PDS student teachers to introduce them to the electronic portfolio template. She also works one on one with student teachers who want help with specific problems or general support constructing their electronic portfolios. Lisa explained that many of the students worry that they are not technically skilled enough to create an electronic portfolio. However she said the system is easy to use and felt she had no particular technical ability when she started her portfolio. Now she finds she enjoys sharing what she has learned to help her colleagues with the process. |
| Madison Representatives Attend National Conference |
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The National Professional Development School conference provided an opportunity for the Madison representatives to interact with representatives from other PDS partnerships around the country. The conference also created a forum for discussing issues of education, teacher education and education reform within Professional Development Schools at regional and national levels. |
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In January, another national meeting for the 1998-99 year is planned to take place in Boston. For the January meeting and future meetings, the Madison PDS will send a different team of representatives, enabling national-level participation for as many PDS members as possible. |
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A six-member team from Madison's Professional Development School Partnership attended the National Holmes Partnership PDS meeting in Pittsburgh at the end of October. Thoreau Principal Dr. Margaret Planner and IRT Nancy Booth attended as representatives from the schools; Joyce Murphy, a teacher at Cherokee, attended as a representative of Madison Teachers Incorporated; Professor Ken Zeichner and School of Education Associate Dean Jack Kean represented the U.W.-Madison; and Mary Ramberg, Director of Teaching and Learning in the Madison Metropolitan School District, attended as a representative from the district office. The theme of the Pittsburgh conference was assessment. Madison area PDS representatives had the opportunity to visit innovative schools in the Pittsburgh area to observe, share and discuss methods and issues of assessment. The National Professional Development School conference provided an opportunity for the Madison representatives to interact with representatives from other PDS partnerships around the country. The conference also created a forum for discussing issues of education, teacher education and education reform within Professional Development Schools at regional and national levels. Once the representatives returned from this conference they were able to share with their colleagues at the district, schools and university the experience and information relating to the national agenda for the PDS network, as well as insights and new information particularly relevant to each job site. In January, another national meeting for the 1998-99 year is planned to take place in Boston. This national meeting will be held in conjunction with the general meeting of the Holmes Partnership. For the January meeting and future meetings, the Madison PDS will send a different team of representatives, enabling national-level participation for as many PDS members as possible. |
| Education Students in the Schools |
| This
semester 30 UW-Madison education students are work- ing in the partnership schools. |
| The students at these PDS sites spend more time in the schools and working with the teachers than most education students. The Thoreau-Cherokee and Lincoln-Midvale sites hold their seminars at the schools, rather than on the UW campus. |
| As an outgrowth of the seminars and commitment to issues related to urban education, the Thoreau-Cherokee seminar took a field trip to the Urban Waldorf Elementary School and the Starms Discovery Center in Milwaukee. |
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This semester 30 UW-Madison
education students are work- The Thoreau-Cherokee PDS has thirteen education students, eleven of whom are working on their 1-9 certification and the other two on a 1-6 certification. The Cherokee-Thoreau pairing allows these students to spend time in an elementary school and a middle school setting, preparing the education students to teach in all the grades of their certification. The students at these PDS sites spend more time in the schools and working with the teachers than most education students. The Thoreau-Cherokee and Lincoln-Midvale sites hold their seminars at the schools, rather than on the UW campus. The PDS education students also have the advantage of working with students at different stages in the program. Practicum students in their first placement can see student teachers successfully completing the program, and student teachers can reflect on how much they have learned as they guide students new to the program. The Thoreau-Cherokee seminar meets every Wednesday during the semester, allowing the PDS students to discuss a variety of educational topics. For example, Ken Zeichner met with the education students to update them on changes in the Wisconsin teacher license laws and current teacher education reform efforts. Other seminars have been spent working collaboratively on action research questions students have about their practice and classrooms. As an outgrowth of the seminars and commitment to issues related to urban education, the Thoreau-Cherokee seminar took a field trip to the Urban Waldorf Elementary School and the Starms Discovery Center in Milwaukee. This experience allowed the students to discuss, in context, issues related to inner city schooling. The PDS seminar also tries to keep in contact with former students. Malisa Garlieb, who is now teaching at Urban Waldorf, visited a seminar to share her perspective as a new teacher and helped to debrief the earlier school observation. The Midvale-Lincoln seminar meets on Friday afternoon, rotating between the two schools each week, making it possible for teachers from both schools to share in the seminar periods. This semester the Lincoln-Midvale seminar spent one session in the CIMC computer classroom, where they had hands-on time working with the electronic portfolio templates. Later this semester the seminar was visited by an educator from New Zealand, David Turner. David presented and discussed work being done in upper elementary literacy in New Zealand, its development, implementation and assessment. For the PDS students this was an exciting chance to connect with an educator from another country.
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| Burmeister Scholars Honored for Literacy Work |
| At Thoreau, the team of Lisa Goetzman, Karen Roth and Ellie Schneider received awards for their work. Individually each of these teachers has worked with children in Reading Recovery. |
| Cherokee Middle School honored two teachers this year, Lori Hamman and Cindy Koehn. Cindy is Cherokee's computer resource teacher... Lori currently teaches seventh grade language arts. |
| All the teachers honored this year have demonstrated their long term commitment to improving literacy education in the Madison schools. They are congratulated for their success and inspiration. |
| Lincoln honored Susan O'Leary as its Burmeister Scholar... Susan's work in literacy is extensive and diverse. In addition to her teaching she has published a book, Five Children, which was based on her experiences working with children as a Reading Recovery teacher. |
| This year Midvale chose to honor Shelly Wells from the MMSD district office. Working with the school district since the mid-1990's, Shelly has been instrumental in altering how primary grade teachers assess their students in literacy. |
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| Courses Offered at PDS Sites this Spring |
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This spring three professional development courses for school faculty are being offered at Madison PDS sites. Cherokee is hosting a supervision course taught by Ken Zeichner which meets the participants' DPI requirements to work as cooperating teachers for full time student teachers. |
| (the teachers) discussed how ideas from research in cultural theory and classroom behavior, brain studies and second language acquisition could be applied to reading instruction. |
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This spring three professional development courses for school faculty are being offered at Madison PDS sites. Cherokee is hosting a supervision course taught by Ken Zeichner which meets the participants' DPI requirements to work as cooperating teachers for full time student teachers. It is also possible to take the course for UW graduate credit with the costs reimbursed to the participants. There are twelve participants in this spring's supervision course and all four schools in the partnership have faculty participating and preparing to work with UW education students in the future. The course focuses on the multiple roles that mentors have when they work with student teachers. Case studies and video tapes create common experiences for the group to discuss. This way they gain experience observing classrooms and can rehearse how they might give feedback to a student teacher they observed. The course has also drawn on the experience of mentor teachers already at the PDS sites. Rita Kehl, Julie Melton and Nan Youngerman joined the class one afternoon to share how they work as mentor teachers. In their presentation they shared what they have found to work well, as well as some things they wish they had done better. The course is geared towards preparing PDS teachers for working with the UW education program. Therefore it provides an opportunity for the teachers to discuss aspects of the UW elementary education program. This way they can tie their support to helping the student teachers meet their school requirements as well as future teaching demands. For example, one class period was spent discussing the new teaching standards and portfolio development tied in with the standards. With this information the cooperating teachers are made aware of what the UW expects of education students, and they have the opportunity to learn about changes in teacher education around the country. Cindy Gleason is continuing her literacy course this semester. She is working with teachers who are interested in becoming coaches in the "Gateways to Literacy" initiative supported by the school district. Thoreau teachers involved in Cindy's class were able to take the course for UW credit, with the tuition covered by the generous grant from Lou Ella Burmeister. The course meets at Thoreau one afternoon a week. For many of the participants, working with Cindy on the Gateways program has been a long term commitment to learning and improving their practices in literacy. At Lincoln, Susan O'Leary has been working with a group of 15 teachers this semester on the continuation of her course "Observing Children." Last semester, the course engaged the teachers in multiple theories and approaches to learning from several disciplines. They discussed how ideas from research in cultural theory and classroom behavior, brain studies and second language acquisition could be applied to reading instruction. The second half of the course has been focused on individualizing reading instruction for different children. The teachers have been asked to pull this information together through observing two children in their classrooms. The teachers selected children with different learning needs and reflected on how they were teaching to meet these needs. Several teachers in this course are taking the class for UW credit, with the tuition covered by the Burmeister grant. The teachers need to keep a reflective journal and then use this journal to write a paper based on their teaching experiences and how the theoretical information from the first half of the course has guided and been applied to their practice. |
| Grant Brings Teachers, Children and UW Faculty Together to Learn about Technology |
| University based and school based educators are working in pairs to explore and implement video and web technologies with their students. |
| ...Julie Melton's fifth grade class received a G4 computer with Internet access, a camcorder, microphone and new software... The camcorder and computer provided many learning opportunities for the students beyond those specified in the grant. |
| The camcorder and computer provided many learning opportunities for the students beyond those specified in the grant. |
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The project "Educating Teachers for the 21st Century through the Collaborative Use of Classroom Technologies," funded by a UW System grant, is in full swing this semester. University based and school based educators are working in pairs to explore and implement video and web technologies with their students. Clare Seguin, from Lincoln Elementary, and Kathy Blomker, UW science methods instructor, are developing a joint water study program with their students. Clare and her students used a scope -camera to film fairy shrimp. In the picture above, Kathy and Clare are discussing how to transfer the video clip onto the web-site their students are developing. At Lincoln, the fourth grade students are working on a presentation to share with the UW elementary methods students on the use of the video scope for taping water creatures.
Simone Schweber from the UW and Julie Melton at Lincoln are working together to integrate technology into social studies learning. In order for the students to become comfortable with, and frequent users of, technology, Julie Melton's fifth grade class received a G4 computer with Internet access, a camcorder, microphone and new software as part of the grant. When the equipment first arrived, Julie Melton told her class that she had good news for them. She explained to the students about the equipment they received and what they would be able to do with it. She told the class they were also receiving a camcorder that belonged to all of them in the classroom. "We get to use it and we are going to get a new computer for our classroom also." She explained to the students how they were going to be helping people learn to teach at the same time as they were learning to use the camcorder and computer and making a class web-site. Julie explained that the sense of ownership of the equipment was very important to her students. When talking about the technology gap, it is not just computer access that needs to be considered. She asked her students about the technology they had at home, and few of her fifth graders had camcorders. So for them the camcorder provided a chance to see themselves learning and to take a copy of their school experiences home for their families to watch. The camcorder and computer provided many learning opportunities for the students beyond those specified in the grant. Julie explained, how together she and her students investigated the camcorder's gears, microphone and other features. Then they experimented with how it worked, making a tape of all of the students introducing themselves. The camcorder even provided an applied problem solving activity, because the length of the shoulder strap needed adapting to the size of the children. Julie and Simone are making plans for how they will use the technologies to benefit the Lincoln students and help UW education students learn about social studies education. They have brainstormed and discussed different projects involving both sets of students and the new technologies. These ideas include: pairing the students as electronic pen pals to communicate about class activities, integrating work with the Constitution and Presidents with the upcoming election and "Kids Vote" materials, and working on multicultural awareness related to Pre-Columbian cultures and explorations. Simone and Julie also talked about documenting their students' learning in social studies and technology use. The combination of the PDS and the technology grant is helping to bridge classrooms in public schools with classrooms at the university. This creates exciting learning experiences for UW and school-based teacher educators, and for student teachers who are preparing to work in technologically equipped classrooms.
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| Literacy Methods Class Held at Midvale Again This Semester |
| The literacy methods course coincides with the education students' first practicum experience, so being at a school provides them with the opportunity to see several different teachers and classrooms. |
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Midvale is hosting the prek-3 literacy methods course again this semester. Similar to last semester the education students meet in the Midvale conference room on Monday mornings during their 9 to 11:30 class time. Dawnene Hammerberg is teaching the course this semester. Dawnene completed her Ph.D. last semester and has worked as a teacher and reading specialist in the Mount Horeb and Madison schools for thirteen years. The literacy methods course coincides with the education students' first practicum experience, so being at a school provides them with the opportunity to see several different teachers and classrooms. In order to insure this happens, the course is structured to provide a half hour observation period during each class. Eleven Midvale teachers, who have their literacy block during the class time, have opened their rooms up to the education students for visits. This way, over the course of the semester, each education student visits eleven classrooms at Midvale in addition to their practicum placement. The education students are asked to observe with a different focus area each week. The observations are tied in with the class readings, presentations and discussions. This way the discussion can take place in the context of real teaching and learning situations. Some of the areas have included classroom organization, forms of writing students are engaged in, or the types of assessments teachers use. Frequently these observations are followed by a presentation by one of the teachers who can contribute further to the context of the observation and answer the education students' questions. Dawnene says one of the real advantages of being at a school and having access to classes is that the student teachers have the luxury of just watching. After the observations, the students take some time to write a journal entry, in which they can think through what they observed, what they liked or didn't like, and how they think different styles or strategies would work for them. The ability to be in multiple classrooms and see different teachers work towards the same goal, helps the education students gain a feel for the teaching profession. |
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For more information about the SHAPE program, contact Professor Mimi Bloch at bloch@mail.soemadison.wisc.edu |
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The UW-Madison SHAPE project (Students Helping in the Advancement of Public Education) continues to flourish. This semester, 16 university undergraduate tutors returned to work with students in kindergarten through 5th grade classrooms at Lincoln and Midvale Elementary Schools. These tutors, some of whom are in their 6th semester with SHAPE, enjoy the warm welcome they receive from students, staff, and teachers at the schools and the satisfaction that comes from working closely with children in educational environments. Another group of 14 UW tutors are working with approximately 20 6th, 7th and 8th graders at Cherokee Middle School. These middle school students, who are called "SHAPE Scholars," have been nominated by school staff as motivated students who may benefit from additional mentoring and tutoring. Each SHAPE Scholar meets with a tutor for 2-4 hours per week during classroom time or after school in the LMC. The Scholars receive tutoring in a specific subject area or general assistance with homework assignments |
| Visit the Web sites of participants in the Madison PDS program to learn more about them. |
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Have
you Seen these Web Sites?
The
PDS web-site is now on-line. Check it out as well Madison
Metropolitan School District: The
Cherokee cyberzine:
Madison Teachers Incorporated(MTI)
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For more information about the Madison PDS: UW Contact.......... Ken Zeichner Lincoln.................. Cookie Miller Midvale................. Mary Kay Johnson Thoreau................ Nancy Booth Cherokee............. Jessica Doyle UW Supervisor... Michele Genor PLEASE
NOTE |
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Links Helen
Meyer |