AGENDA for GK-12 Fellows’ Meeting August 24th 2-4 p.m. KBS Conference Room
1. Weekly GK-12 Fellows’ Meetings a. day and time 2:00-3:30 b. format 2:00-2:15 reports from 2 fellow, 2:15-2:30 business, 2:30-3:30 topical discussion c. syllabus We went over the syllabus. Some dates may change depending on availability of speakers. This syllabus will be posted on our website along with links to readings. Sara volunteered to lead the first “Fellow’s Choice” session. Sigrid, Brook and Katie will also lead a session this semester. 2. School Year Workshops a. dates - Oct ?, Dec 6, Feb 26, March 19 (snow day), April 22 October 2, and Oct 30 are good days for the group b. topics - Great Lakes under Change - Disease - Polar Climate Change (in conjunction with IPY) - Biofuels and Sustainability c. potential speakers for plenary session Names mentioned included Jean Tsao, David Lodge, Dr. Burton (Edi’s adviser), Tom Dietz, McAdam, Turetsky, Knute Nadelhoffer, Terry Adams, Bob Hollingsworth, Bruce Dale d. format and responsibilities – We discussed pros and cons of fellow-teacher teams and fellow-fellow teams leading sessions. Sigrid suggested we do fellow-teacher teams one semester and fellow-fellow teams another semester. The group liked the idea of slightly longer sessions. 3. Initial School Visits – Everyone has visited their school or made plans to do so. On the first weekly report, fellows will provide a synopsis of their initial school visit. 4. Newsletter a. submit a 300 word update from your district by 9/7/08 b. newsletter out by 9/13 Fellows will deliver newsletters to their district teachers/admin rather than mail them. 5. Poster Laurel will ask ECOS for the template for their “Be a Naturalist Calendar” and we’ll create one for our program. Fellows will create and print posters for their district using the template on our website or their own design. Fellows will submit photos and student artwork for the calendar when they submit their newsletter piece. Edi asked if we had a laminator. Yes, there is one in the Manor House. 6. Assessment a. weekly reports - Laurel will post template on-line.
b. portfolio – Eileen will e-mail a list of the portfolio items she would like fellows to assemble. Most of this stuff can go on your district webpage. We will get passwords for each of you so you can edit your own page. Eileen suggested looking at Martin’s page. c. school visits (2+ per semester) – Laurel will visit each school twice per semester. Let her know if there are preferred dates. d. teacher and fellow interviews in Nov. 7. International GK-12 Supplement Funded projects must have a science research component. Sonia told Laurel that one of the aims of the supplement is to encourage fellows to make international connections and consider collaborating internationally in their future careers. Think about international research that you might like to do and propose your ideas to Laurel. Laurel passed around a sample proposal from Kent State’s project in Iceland. Jay mentioned that he might have a need for some help at La Selva. 8. Updates about Delton-Kellogg and Gull Lake We (Sara, Lauren, Brook, Laurel) met with DK teachers last week. They would like assistance with locating suitable areas for long term monitoring plots (vegetation, soil organisms) and with creating a GIS map for a proposed interpretive trail that will run through the elem, middle, and high school campuses. Our next meeting with them is 9/6 at 3:30. Lauren and Sara can attend. We have submitted a description of the project to ROKS and may potentially have a ROKS intern that will be assigned to DK. We are meeting with Gull Lake on 8/30 at 3:00 to tour their outdoor area and talk about fellowteacher collaborations. Brook, Katie, and Sara can attend that meeting. 7. Other We discussed an idea to have a monthly science question that could be published as a column in the Kalamazoo Gazette. Ideas for the type of questions we might submit: - What evidence of climate change have you seen where you live? - Questions that we could analyze to see what students and public know about a certain topic. - Questions that have to do with our workshop themes. Katie suggested that the questions could also be part of our newsletter. Sara suggested that the questions also be a part of our workshop.
2007-2008 GK-12 Weekly Seminar Schedule - DRAFT
8/24 Topic: First Meeting Readings: None Topic: Discussion with Diane Ebert-May, Dept. of Plant Biology, MSU Readings: see KBS GK-12 website for links Topic: Teaching Science for Motivation and Understanding Readings: Excerpts from TSMU and How People Learn (see KBS GK-12 website) Topic: Grant writing Readings: Sample applications (see KBS GK-12 website) Topic: Educational Opportunities at the Kellogg Bird Sanctuary (Field Trip) Readings: None Topic: Fellow’s Choice TBD Readings: TBD Topic: Brett Merritt, College of Education, MSU Readings: Chapter 3 from Scientific Teaching, Brett may have other readings in mind too, (see KBS GK-12 website) Topic: Discussion with Carol Brewer, University of Montana Readings: (TBD - see KBS GK-12 website) Topic: Discussion with Chris Wheeler, College of Education, MSU Readings: TBD Topic: Fellow’s Choice TBD Readings: TBD Topic: Readings: Topic: Science Education Publishing (journals, who reads what, why do it) – Charlene D’Avanzo Readings: TIEE website, D'Avanzo C, et al. 2006. Design and evaluation of TIEE, a peer-reviewed electronic teaching resource. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 4: 189-195. (see KBS GK-12 website for links) Topic: Fellow’s Choice TBD Readings: TBD Topic: Writing a Teaching Statement Readings: Sample Teaching Statements (see KBS GK-12 website) Topic: Fellow’s Choice TBD Readings: TBD Topic: Feedback session for Teaching Statements and Manuscripts Readings: fellow-submitted Teaching Statements and Manuscripts
8/31
9/7
9/14
9/21
9/28
10/5
10/12
10/19
10/26
11/2
11/9
11/16
11/30
12/7
12/14
Initial School Visits 1) Do some research about your district. a. # of schools, # of students in each, # of teachers in each, # who teach science b. Socioeconomic data (% of economically disadvantaged students, % special education students, % of students in single parent households, median income, % of parents with college education). c. MEAP results d. Are there local areas that could be used for “outdoor classrooms”? e. Identify science community partners if there are any. f. Find out which teachers were active in the K-12 Partnership. 2) Introduce yourself to other teachers in the Science Department and to the administrators. See if you can sit in on a department meeting or other in-service meeting. The purpose of this is to make yourself a familiar presence and to learn about teacher “culture”. 3) Learn the school building and protocols for visiting it. a. Ask for a hallway map. b. Find out where you can park and what entrances you can use. c. Learn how to sign-in and out during a visit. Complete any required security clearance paperwork. d. Obtain a copy of the class period schedule and school calendar. Find out when there will be deviations from that schedule (e.g. assemblies, standardized testing, holidays). 4) Talk to your teachers about the demographics of their classes and about their classroom management style. a. How many students will there be per class? What is the age range for the students? What is the range in student ability level? b. What are some common classroom management issues that the teacher encounters and how does s/he deal with them? c. Figure our how and when will you be introduced to the class and what the students will call you? Consider using a fun ice-breaker activity that will teach the kids more about you and/or more about being a scientist. d. Obtain a copy of the list of topics that the teacher will cover this semester.
What does the acronym mean?
AP __________________________ HSCE ________________________ MEAP ________________________ NEA __________________________ PTO __________________________ KWL _________________________ TOPE ________________________ PD _________________________ IEP ___________________________ NCLB _________________________ NSTA _________________________ POE _________________________ WYDIWYL _____________________
Teacher Terminology
TERM Do you know what the term means? yes could No guess clue How often do you use the term? often seldom never
benchmark block schedule Bloom’s Taxonomy charter school constructivism core knowledge domain highly qualified teacher inquiry learning community learning progression mainstreaming metacognition multiple intelligences rubric Scaffolded learning Title 9 Title 1/ Chapter 1 tracking
Pick one of the terms and explain it.