Reich College of Education

A 5th grade classroom working on a unit on immigration.  The mini-grant purchased books on German, Irish, Chinese and Mexican immigrants.  Groups read aloud from the books, recorded the information and discussed what they learned about their nationality.

Mini-Grants

Mini-grants given to elementary, middle, or high schools in Partnership with a professor at ASU offer opportunities for:

• practical, thought-provoking preparation for novice teachers
• new understandings and professional development for experienced educators,
• research projects that add to all educators' knowledge about how to make schools more productive.
• exemplary learning programs and for diverse students

New programs and technologies can be tried out and evaluated. Faculties of the school and of the University experience working together at the edge of their knowledge.

For our students preparing to be teachers, just forming their knowledge and technique, they are able to explore the reality of classrooms similar to those where they are likely to get their first jobs. They also see the skills, hear the counsel, and feel the support of expert teachers. Below are the Mini-grants awarded for the 2011-2012 school year.

Benefits of Working with a Mini-Grant

Partners see many benefits to this enhanced collaboration including the opportunity to:

• Identify, implement, and evaluate mutually determined goals;
• Design, test, and evaluate models for training new teachers;
• Conduct research on issues related to teaching, learning, and school effectiveness;
• Increase and improve professional development opportunities for teachers;
• Strengthen collaboration with ASU faculty who work in related fields;
• Engage members of the broader community in related issues;
• Build teamwork by working together on authentic tasks;
• Enhance linkages vertically (across grades) and horizontally (within and across schools and with higher education);
• Inform policies;
• Seek funding;
• Advocate teacher quality (e.g., communicate concerns; share work);
• Increase contacts and expand expertise while building networks.

Goals for 2012-2013

Focus will be on implementing Common Core and Core Curriculum Standards.

Accomplishments

Partnerships with local schools has helped to inform local policy regarding student teaching.

• Creation of "Conversations with Teachers" seminars at the school site.
• Development of a co-teaching model and film for student teaching
• Early internships that focus on collaborative work with ASU faculty.
• Encouragement of beginning of the semester entry for student teachers

NCATE Standards for Professional-Development Schools

Our work in the partnership is informed by The National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education standards for professional development schools (condensed below).

• Standard I: Learning Community
  Partners include the university, school district, teacher union(s), or other professional education association(s), and may extend to arts and science faculty, other interested school and university faculty, family and community members, and other affiliated schools. They also ensure that all stakeholders collaborate to create a vision and implement it with the ultimate goal of integrating the learning and development of P-12 [preschool through 12th grade] students, prospective educators, and PDS partners through inquiry-based practice.
• Standard II: Accountability and Quality Assurance
  Partners collaboratively develop assessments, collect information, and use results to systematically examine their practices and establish outcome goals for all P-12 students, candidates, faculty, and other professionals. The program demonstrates impact at the local, state, and national level on policies and practices affecting its work.
• Standard III: Collaboration
  Partners collaborate to design roles and structures to support the PDS efforts and utilize them to improve outcomes for P-12 students, candidates, faculty, and other professionals.
• Standard IV: Diversity and Equity
  Programs include diverse participants and diverse learning communities and result in learning for all.
• Standard V: Structures, Resources, and Roles
  Partners use their authority and resources to develop a mission and establish a governing structure that support the learning and development of all involved.

2011-2012 Mini-Grants

Meeting Common Core and North Carolina Essential Standards through Science Informational Text: Integration of Language Arts and Science

Grade(s)/subject(s) applicable to project:  3^rd and 6th

Project: Blue Ridge Elementary School serves 548 students Pre-K through 6 in Ashe County, NC.  Currently the free and reduced lunch population is 75%.   Students tested below the state average in reading in 2010.  Although great gains were made last year by increasing our percentage by over 11%, we continually seek ways to increase the rigor of our instruction. With this partnership, Dr. Ellen Pesko will spend time with our targeted teachers to help implement integration of science through the reading of high interest informational books in grades three and six.

Teaching Assessment with Authentic Materials

Focus group: Teacher Candidates Grade(s)/subject(s) applicable to project: k-12 Project: For this project, we are seeking authentic examples of classroom assessments as well as student responses and evaluation tools such as rubrics and answer keys in order to support CI3400, Policies and Practices in Educational Assessment. This is a new professional core course required of all teacher education majors designed to help teacher candidates learn to evaluate and create authentic assessment materials.  An essential component of this course is the Analysis of Student Learning assignment for which teacher candidates examine student work from real classrooms to make decisions about student performance and to inform teaching. During the class, we will show teacher candidates some of the samples we collect from practicing teachers and discuss and analyze them. Also, independently or in pairs, the teacher candidates will complete the Analysis of Student Learning activity. Teacher candidates will be given materials in their own or a related discipline: an assessment, student responses, and an evaluation tool. They will be asked to analyze the assessment, thinking about its alignment to learning goals and then to use the evaluation instrument to analyze the responses.

The Impact of Digital Reading Devices on Reluctant Readers in 5^th Grade

Focus group:  Identified low readers Grade(s)/subject(s) applicable to project: 5^th grade Project: This pilot study will explore the impact of Kindle readers on six fifth-grade students identified by the classroom teacher as reading below grade level. The university faculty will administer a reading battery to the identified students to determine independent reading levels as well as an interest inventory to determine students’ reading interests. Based on this information, we will select and download up to 20 titles of books that match both the independent reading level and the reading interests of the individual student. Identified students will silently read daily from a Kindle during the designated independent reading block.  We are interested in exploring the impact of the Kindle on the following student behaviors: reading volume (how many books they read), student’s selection of books, reading attitude, number of re-readings, use of note-taking/highlighting, built-in dictionary and additional features; as well as students’ comprehension and discussion of the book, and individual reading abilities. The classroom teacher plans to request two additional Kindles to be rotated among the remaining students in the classroom so as not to isolate those students reading below grade level.

Digital Literacy in the 21^st Century

Focus group:  Expeditionary Learning Community Grade(s)/subject(s) applicable to project: k-8 Project: This mini-grant project will provide professional development for up to 14 teachers –the entire licensed teaching staff - at Two Rivers Community School (TRCS) in the integration of digital storytelling into their Expeditionary Learning curriculum.  Training will be conducted by Dr. Paul Wallace, a specialist in the innovative use of mobile technology in the classroom.  Dr. Wallace will conduct two training seminars on digital storytelling, providing teachers with hands-on practice in the production of their own digital stories and dialogue on how digital storytelling can enrich the tools of inquiry and creative engagement within class expeditions.

Capstone Experience for Peer Study Group on Teachers’ Dialogues in a PLC Project

Focus group:  Mathematics Professional Learning Community Grade(s)/subject(s) applicable to project: k-12 Project: The Mathematics PLC in the Public School Partnership participated in a project during the fall of 2011 involving teachers’ dialogues.  The group read selected material from the book Faster Isn’t Smarter: Messages About Math, Teaching, and Learning in the 21^st Century” by Cathy L. Seeley.  At each PLC meeting, the group discussed the reading for that month.

This project proposes to use the North Carolina Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCCTM) Spring Leadership Seminar as a capstone experience for the previous project.  The keynote speaker at the NCCTM Spring Leadership Seminar is Cathy L. Seeley.  The focus of the keynote and the conference is the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSSM) implementation that begins in North Carolina fall 2012.  This will be a chance for the Mathematics PLC members to hear and speak to Cathy Seeley as well as help them connect what they have been reading and discussing to the CCSSM.

“A Hoot and a Hollar:” An Interdisciplinary Owl Unit: A Collaborative Effort among University Professors, a 4^th Grade Classroom Teacher and Her Students

Grade(s)/subject(s) applicable to project: 4^th grade classroom Project: This project will provide an opportunity for ASU faculty members from Curriculum and Instruction and Reading Education and Special Education to collaborate with a Public School Partnership teacher to develop and implement a series of lessons that integrate science and language arts into the curriculum.

Professional Learning Communities Mini-Grants

Science PLC

Our objectives in what we see as a three-year project (begun in'08-'09, running through'10-'11) is for each of us to become familiar with the core goals and objectives of science instruction at each level. Realizing that science progresses and is taught in different sequences:

We will determine the basic skills and competencies necessary for success at each level. In examining curriculum at each level, it our objective to provide effective age-appropriate instruction at each level while at the same time, prepare students for success at each subsequent level regardless of the path they follow.

Social Studies PLC

The members of the Social Studies PLC will work together to propose a session called "Preparing and Disseminating Best Practices and Resources for Pre-Service and In-Service Social Studies Teachers" to present at the North Carolina Council on the Social Studies state conference in February 2010. Once approved, the members will work together to develop, format, and prepare the presentation in the upcoming Social Studies PLC meetings. The members will also develop a resource c.d. to give to all group members and their respective schools as well as all of the people that attend the session at the conference. This session will bring together all three levels of teachers and ultimately help the social studies who are taught by these teachers.

2010-2011 Mini-Grants

Writing the World - Visiting Future Classics

Focus group: English Professional Learning Community Grade(s)/subject(s) applicable to project: 9-10 Project : We wish to meet the needs of 21st Century students by exposing them to different levels of literacy, cultures, and experiences: to connect these experiences to their lives with new and varied writing themes. We will come together as a group, discuss the novels, develop innovative writing curricula, and incorporate technology through the use of digital lesson plan templates.

What They Don't Know Can Hurt Them: Preparing Pre-service Teachers for Real World Students

Focus group: Middle Grades English Language Arts Project: Last year, members of the Middle Grades English Language Professional Learning Community worked on a collaborative project to write profiles about young adolescents in our schools and classrooms. Each member of our group wrote profiles on two students. For each student, the PLC member wrote a profile about the student from the teacher's perspective and one from the hypothetical perspective of the students. After writing the profiles, our group co-authored a manuscript for publication. The article has been accepted and will be published this fall in the North Carolina Middle School Journal. Presentation at NC Middle School Association.

"Preparing and Disseminating Best Practices and Resources for Pre-Service and In-Service Social Studies Teachers"

Focus Group: Social Studies PLC Grade(s)/subject(s) applicable to project: Secondary Social Studies and History (Grades 9-12) Projects: The members of the Social Studies PLC will work together to propose a session called "Preparing and Disseminating Best Practices and Resources for Pre-Service and In-Service Social Studies Teachers" to present at the North Carolina Council on the Social Studies state conference in February 2010. Once approved, the members will work together to develop, format, and prepare the presentation in the upcoming Social Studies PLC meetings. The members will also develop a resource c.d. to give to all group members and their respective schools as well as all of the people that attend the session at the conference. This session will bring together all three levels of teachers and ultimately help the social studies who are taught by these teachers.