Friday Memo 9/18/15

Kristie Breeding's Announcement

Words cannot express how grateful I am that I have been able to work with Kristie Breeding, Administrative Assistant to the Dean, over the last 2 years. Kristie has been so incredibly helpful to me and her presence in our office will be greatly missed. We wish her well and hope she comes back to visit us!

Kristie Breeding - We will miss you!

CAEP Conference

David Collum and I were invited to Washington D.C. to discuss our simSchool research with the CAEP's research team, Jennifer Carinci and Claire Jacobson. We spent about 2 hours talking about how our research can not only help our division as we are strive for continual improvement, but they strongly encouraged us to submit a proposal to present at the spring CAEP conference so we can share our findings with other Educator Preparation Programs. Jennifer and Claire believe that our work can be beneficial to other EPPs. And make sure you ask David about his first book signing!

David and I are looking forward to the information we are going to learn today at the sessions noted below:

• Identifying and Assessing Characteristics of Effective Clinical Partnerships
• Making your Case for Accreditation
• Measuring the Clinical Practice Component of Traditional Teacher Preparation Programs
• Navigating a Data-Driven Landscape
• Utilizing P-20 Partnerships to Maximize the Transition from Pre-Service Candidacy to In-Service Teaching
• The Critical Role of High Quality Assessment in CAEP Accreditation
• Transitioning from NCATE to CAEP
• Ensuring High Quality School-Based Experiences: Cooperating Teacher Training
• Preparing Science Program Reports

  

  David Collum, Jennifer Carinci, Claire Jacobson and me at CAEP conference.

Wildwood Middle School Partnership

Jason Lievanos, MBU graduate and Assistant Principal at Wildwood Middle School, reached out to me early in the week requesting highly recommended education students that are capable, confident and committed to impacting people. He will be working directly with our students through training, reflection, and helping them meet the needs of the whole child. Our students will further explore cultural diversity as they work to develop a RTI intervention from the ground up that meets the needs of a diverse society.  

Susan Hladky accompanied these students yesterday as they worked with Mr. Lievanos and his students who are in need of interventions. I am extremely grateful that Jason reached out to MBU, as this is exactly the type of partnership in which we need to participate. 

Jason Lievanos, Asst. Principal at Wildwood Middle School & our students

Our students observing in a Wildwood Middle classroom

Upcoming Professional Development Meeting

I am so excited about our meeting this coming Tuesday with Suzanne Bright. We will learn about the importance of using data to make decisions as we establish some professional learning communities within our division. We will talk about accountability, utilizing some of the concepts from a book written by Roger Conners, Tom Smith, and Craig Hickman, titled The Oz Principle, to guide our work. I highly recommend you read the book. Click here for more information about this book The Oz Principle.

Image Source: http://www.word.com.au/images/cover/61/612111.jpg

Image Source: http://www.fortuneofcolorado.com/2013/02/the-oz-principle/

Powerful Marzano Essentials Training in St. Louis

Susan Hladky attended the first part of a five part training on the powerful Marzano Essentials. They are diving into essential strategies that fortify the implementation of rigorous, standards-based instruction in every classroom. I am looking forward to her sharing with us what she has learned so that we can take the information back into our classrooms. 

National Association for Gifted Children Webinar 

Judith Scott attends weekly webinars sponsored by the National Association for Gifted Children. This week's webinar was based on empirical data, demonstrating the positive effect that acceleration can have on an academically gifted students' success.

Consortium for Global Education

Tonia Crane is currently at the CGE conference in Charleston, South Carolina. Tonia is working with the CGE president, Carolyn Bishop, and Nabil Costa, CEO - Lebanese Society for Educational & Social Development, to develop a model school for children with special needs in Beirut to serve as a model school in the Middle East. The goal is that once the school is established to have students at MBU participate in one of the many programs as part of their coursework. Counseling, assessment, and special education are a few of the many options for students. 

In addition to creating a model school, Tonia is working closely with CGE on another exciting project. Tonia, Sheri Brandt, and Dr. Dykstra will be meeting with Nabil Costa on Saturday morning to discuss a partnership with Notre Dame in Lebanon to offer 3 levels of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) training for graduate students.

New materials in the MBU library

Author	Title	Publisher	Year	Added
Blumenfeld, Samuel	Crimes of the educators	WND Books	2014	8/3/15
	Multicultural America (volumes 1-4)	SAGE Publishing	2013	8/3/15
DiPetrio, Janet A.	Studies in fetal behavior:  Revisited…	Wiley	215	8/3/15

What I wish my MBU teachers knew about me...

Last Wednesday, Marie Tudor, Director of First Year Experience, sent a powerful email listing comments from first year students. Swing by the first floor of the Field Academic Building bulletin board to see the student responses in their own handwriting. The students' responses resonated with me, and I want to give you another opportunity to read their responses in case you didn't get Marie's email.

• I get things done as soon as I get them. I am not a procrastinator.
• I wish you knew about how much I’m willing to serve God.
• I’m adopted
• I dream of playing in the NFL one day
• How much I like to learn but I learn a different way than others
• My past does not define me as a person or my future
• That I’ve played volleyball since I was 7 years old
• That I’m a really hard worker & I really value education & school
• That I care about everything
• I wish you knew that I am actually a really loud person
• That I struggle with change so I like being helped!
• I would like my teachers knows that I really work hard for doing my homework & my tests but it is hard for me and I spend a long time on it.
• I wish I had more time to sleep lol.
• I wish you knew that I’m in for any activity as long as it’s entertaining
• I have trouble paying attention in school
• I wish you know how hard this move was for me - Cali to Missouri
• I wish you knew that I would do anything to not feel so alone here on campus
• I’m from Spain. I’m a basketball player. I miss my family and girlfriend.
• I wish you knew that I usually feel like the whole world is sitting on my shoulders and have no one to talk to about how I’m feeling
• I want to travel the world
• I have a brother with down syndrome
• I am not your mediocre Mobapian, I am willing to work hard!
• That I dislike being called on
• That I’m not as smart as my ACT suggests!
• I wish you knew how funny I am!
• I work really hard outside of class
• I wish you knew my name
• I wish you knew I’m not a very social person
• I have the best family I could’ve asked for
• I can dunk a basketball and I hate classes that are pointless to my degree
• The excitement that was running through me when I heard I’m going back to school, after being out for 5 years.
• That I want to know about the stars and galaxy
• I hate planners but I am bad at remembering tasks
• I wish you knew that I love people and that I want to go on a mission trip sometime
• I am not a good test taker.
• I’m outspoken & hardworking
• I like to study in peace
• I work really hard for good grades
• I suck at math
• I am very introverted and usually afraid to ask questions or do not know what kind of questions to ask.
• I am extremely busy and try to get homework done when I can.
• I wish you knew that sometimes I am intimidated by my professors.
• I use my spare time to catch up on sleep
• That I am very shy, but like to express my feeling & thoughts
• I wish you know that I used to be terrified of college (not anymore!)
• I have really bad testing anxiety
• I am good at retaining information for tests and then forgetting when class is over
• I have a heart for serving others.
• I try really hard in school & I’m still a horrible test taker
• I like to write
• I work harder that the average person for my grades and it doesn’t really show.
• I strive for good grades.
• My dad passed away 3 years ago
• How driven I am to follow my dreams and goals with my racing career
• I’m an avid reader, as in I read for fun
• I didn’t choose to come to this school. I wanted to go elsewhere.
• I wish you knew that I’m very friendly.
• I have social anxiety.
• I am lazy.
• I have ADHD
• I have a 1 year old son!
• I wish they would respond to e-mails promptly.
• I have anger problems
• I’ve had a great time at MBU so far
• I wish you knew I’m from Texas and that I love school but hate doing homework HaHaHa!
• I’m a very nice person but I’m shy sometimes and very quiet.
• I wish you knew how scared I am about my future!
• That I love to be with others

Strategic Planning
Alicia Noddings and I continue to work on the strategic plan. We are currently in the process of determining exactly what data we need to guide our work. I forgot to include the pictures below in last week's Friday Memo. Thanks again to the faculty members who participated in our strategic planning activity. Your feedback is truly valued.

Upcoming Meetings

• Division Professional Development Meeting -Tuesday 9/22 10:15am - 11:45am    FLD 120
• Faculty Meeting - Monday 9/28  3:00pm  Recital Hall
• MoCASE Fall Conference - Sunday 9/27-Tuesday 9/29  Tan-Tar-A  Lake of the Ozarks
• Directors' Meeting - Tuesday 9/29 10:15am - 11:45am  FLD Conference Room

Isaiah 32:8 reminds us ...

But he who is noble plans noble things, and on noble things he stands. 

As we participate in planning, I am encouraged by this verse that we should plan noble things so we can stand on those noble things. Our work with students is important and noble work.

Have a blessed weekend,

Melanie