Friday Memo 1/16/15

The Education Division was busy this week as we are in the second week of this spring semester. Read below for more information.

Teacher Certification

Through collaboration, a decision was made that we will not be participating in the DESE pilot of the MoPTA Task 4 Alternate Assignment. Our spring student teachers will complete tasks 1-3 of the MoPTA just like in the fall. Seminar instructors will grade the tasks and submit results to Gina Walker.
Curriculum, Assessment, and Data-Driven Decision Making course - Sheri Brandes, Mary Ann Bouas, Judith Scott, and David Collum met to continue the work needed to create this new course and syllabus.
DESE Webinar - DESE conducted an informative webinar regarding the following topics: transition process, annual performance report, CAEP schedule (they are coming to MBU February 25, 2018), MEGA assessments, MEES, CEEDAR/Missouri Partnership (MBU is one of the participating schools), and the upcoming webinar schedule. Thanks to all of you who listened. Unfortunately, the webinar was one hour before our faculty meeting. The next webinar is next Tuesday. I will email information this afternoon. It is important that we participate in the webinars, or at least view them later so that we can stay current with the latest changes.
simSchool - David Collum and I met with the EDCL 200 students (students who are transferring in Foundations for our Diversity course) Wednesday night to review the simSchool requirements. Student feedback from last semester made us realize the importance of a face-to-face meeting with students prior to their work in simSchool. David continues to collect data regarding the effectiveness of simSchool. He will be defending his dissertation Thursday, January 29th at 8:30am in FLD Conference Room. All are welcome to attend.
Program Redesign Task Force - This group met to work on a variety of topics related to the new certification requirements. Although the work gets tiresome and tedious, some excellent dialogue takes place while we determine the best way to incorporate the new requirements in our program - topics such as teaching our candidates how to teach their students writing skills. I would like to encourage ALL faculty members to take a look at the MCA (previously Praxis) Frameworks to make sure we are teaching the important information for which students will be held accountable - MCA Test Frameworks.

Counseling

Mary Ann Conaway conducted a Skype interview with a candidate for the full-time counseling position. The candidate will be coming to main campus in two weeks for a full committee interview.
Jan Speck has been instrumental in organizing our participation in the spring pilot of the MoSCPA - Missouri School Counselor Performance Assessment.

Mobile Learning Initiative -

Sheri Brandes and I were invited to spend some time out in the Wentzville School District to see how they are integrating a one-to-one initiative. I spent the day learning alongside of some first year teachers as they were receiving professional development of applications, websites, and other cool ways to integrate technology into the classroom. Greg Lawrence, an MBU adjunct instructor in our MET program, is a Technology Coach in Wentzville and he conducted the workshop. See picture below of one of our recent graduates, Kylee Grant, who is now teaching in the Wentzville School District.
Student Interviews - The mobile learning initiative committee has been conducting interviews of recent graduates to learn their perceptions of their preparedness to use technology in the classroom. These interviews will be included in our METC conference presentation.
Brown Bag CDL presentation - I attended the Brown Bag presentation by Guy Danhoff and Karana Phillips on the Top 10 Most Popular Teaching Tools used in 2014. Email Guy or Karana for information regarding this event. They recorded the event.

Faculty Meeting - The division faculty met and reviewed a variety of topics. We also learned a lot more about Tonia Crane. If you were not able to attend, ask her about her childhood pets.
Lunch with Dr. Eric Knost - I had the privilege of joining Susan Rutledge to her Kiwanis club luncheon. Their guest speaker was Dr. Eric Knost, superintendent of Rockwood School District. It was a pleasure getting to hear his vision for the district and his response to my question, "How can we do a better job preparing teachers, counselors, psychological examiners, and administrators?" He responded by noting that he has been pleased with MBU graduates, but he continued by discussing the importance of charisma.
Assessment - Tonia Crane and I met to discuss the upcoming CAEP visit. We are determining what needs to be done now to prepare for that visit in three years.
Faculty Evaluations - I have been busy meeting one-on-one with each full time faculty member as we discuss their performance. I treasure this time getting to sit down for at least 30 minutes with each full-time faculty member. I am continually blessed by your commitment and efforts for our students and the university.

Upcoming Meetings:
Monday, January 19 - MLK - Offices closed - No day classes - Night classes DO meet
Tuesday, January 20 - DESE Webinar 1:00pm
Thursday, January 22 - Mobile Learning Initiative - 11:30am - SRC 115
Monday, January 26 - Faculty Meeting - 3:30pm - Recital Hall
Tuesday, January 27 - Division Faculty Meeting - PD presented by Amber Henry - 10:15am
Wednesday, January 28 - Program Redesign Task Force - 1:00pm
Thursday, January 29 - David Collum's Dissertation Defense - 8:30am - Fld Conference Room

This week I would like to encourage you to think about how you can be an ambassador for MBU and an ambassador for Christ.

We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. 1 Corinthians 5:20

Enjoy the beautiful weather this weekend,
Melanie

Lunch with Dr. Eric Knost - Rockwood Superintendent