Three
factors dictate the workshops offered by the Pisgah Forest Institute (PFI). The highest priority is given to the subject
matter in which participants request additional training. That information is obtained through the
surveys that are administered at the conclusion of each PFI course. The
second motivating influence is the North Carolina Competency Goals subject
matter. Those criteria, which are generated by the NC Department of Public
Instruction, largely dictate the curriculum in each K through 12 classroom. The Institute staff strides to have material
in their workshops which address as many Goals as possible. (It should be
noted that the NC Goals are quite similar to objectives in the K - 12
curriculums of most other states.) The third factor is the goals and
objectives of the agencies that sponsor the workshops.
"The
Wonders of Weather" workshop that PFI offered on February 25 and
26, 2005 was developed in response to a large number of requests for more
information on weather. This offering received high marks from the 23 attendees
in their workshop evaluations. Those who took this course were home schooling
instructors, teachers at public and private schools as well as camp
councilors. Twenty of the students
resided in Congressman Taylor's Congressional District. This program, including the expansive notebook
that each participant received, was organized by Operations Coordinator
Heather Cosby with the assistance of other Institute staff. Topics covered included: relationships between
climate and biomes; clouds and the factors that generate such formations;
storms (hurricanes, typhoons and cyclones); composition of the atmosphere;
observing the sky. The notebook included
a table that clearly linked the information presented with competency
goals in grades K through 12. Two staff members from the NOAA National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, William Angel and Axel
Graumann, provided information on each of those topics as well as guidance
as to how to access the wealth of computerized data that are
available through their agency. Heather
gave an excellent talk on relationships between forest types and weather. The
students also fabricated wind vanes and barometers, two projects that they
could incorporate into their own classrooms. They also heard information about how weather
has influenced history. The story of the
"Dust Bowl" and the governmental agencies and programs that were
created in response to that human, environmental and
economic tragedy was related. The
class was also given a tour of the erosion in the King's Creek watershed on the
Brevard College campus that was caused by
Hurricane Ivan and the hundred year flood that resulted from that deluge.
Another highlight was the discussion of Weather Bug that was presented
by Karin Hedberg. Weather Bug, which also is part of the
Adventure of the American Mind (AAM) program, is a
means through which students can access a wealth of information about
current and historical meteorological conditions as well as other related data.
The
PFI staff is appreciative for the cooperation of the Brevard AAM program staff, which provided
access to its computer equipped classroom which facilitated the
presentation of the Weather Bug material. In addition, the AAM Home School program personnel, and
especially Pam Johnson, were most helpful in advertising this
workshop. The Institute used the Weather workshop to make the participants
more aware of the AAM program as well as the other activities
being funded through The Education and Research Consortium of the Western Carolinas.
The
Summer 2005 PFI workshops continue to fill. There is
room in "Air - Not: Effective Pollution Abatement" course which
is a unique approach to the subject of sustainable development. (Sustainable development is a grades 9 - 12
NC competency goal.) Participants will visit the Asheville generating station
operated by Progress Energy as well as the Blue Ridge Paper Products, Inc. Mill
in Canton, NC. They will learn about how
recycling and energy conservation is resulting in economic as well as
environmental benefits. The next day the
students will "build" an industrial park in which the industries
involved use as raw materials chemicals and energy that are discarded by
other factories in the park. Because
over 60% of the class activities are in the field, participants will earn
Criteria 3 credit towards their NC Environmental Educator Certification.
Educators can register for this and the other PFI courses through the www.brevard.edu/pfi website.
Congratulations
to PFI Operations Assistant Jayne Hall upon her recent election as President of
the Brevard College Student Government
Association.
PFI’s website is located at www.brevard.edu/pfi.
KceeI is pleased at the overwhelming interest in the Geology of Northeastern
Pennsylvania course. As of March 7, the
course is currently at capacity.
However, the Institute continues to accept registrations and potential
attendees are put on a waiting list. The
presenters for this course are working enthusiastically on the development of a
schedule and reviewing resource materials.
The Watershed Concepts courses are at 75 percent capacity, and the
Forest Stewardship course is at 50 percent capacity.
Due
to the increased attendance and registration capacity for the courses, KceeI has been approved to run another course. Pennsylvania Land Choices (PLT) for teachers of
grades 6-12 will be a three day course which will be held on August 9-11, 2005. As with
other KceeI courses, the workshops, materials, room,
and board are offered for free.
Attendees will have the option of receiving 30 Act 48 hours, or 2 CPE
credits through the NEIU-19. The only
charge is if an attendee chooses the CPE credit option, which is $75 per credit
payable to NEIU-19. The instructors for
PLT will be Estelle Ruppert, DCNR Bureau of State Parks,
PA Land Choices Coordinator; Angela Lambert, DCNR Bureau of State Parks, Environmental
Education Specialist; and KceeI staff. Angela participated in KceeI’s
Watershed Concepts course last summer and will assist in this year’s course as
well. She is a very energetic instructor
and is exceptionally well-received by participants. The program description is as follows:
Pennsylvania Land Choices is a course for Pennsylvania teachers interested in
concepts and problem solving skills focusing on land use decision making,
communities and land conservation. The
course will include outdoor field and classroom instruction focusing on land
use issues in Pennsylvania. It is appropriate for teachers in 6th – 12th
grade science and social studies programs and will incorporate the proposed
standards from Environment and Ecology and Civics and Government.
Teachers will develop skills that enable them to
compare and contrast various patterns of land use, learn about the laws and
regulations regarding land use, determine the historic patterns of community
development in Pennsylvania and how social, economic
and environmental issues impact decision making. Teachers will also evaluate and apply
resources and methods in teaching about land use decision making and community
growth. Teachers will be expected to
document their community, to prepare a portfolio of maps and information on
their community and county, and to research and review articles on land use
issues.
During the course teachers will survey different
communities, compare zoning plans, examine maps, survey residents, and complete
a planning project.
Teachers will:
·
evaluate resources
·
define activities for grade level and curriculum
·
develop a portfolio of activities, writings, maps
and materials that will be utilized in their classroom, and
·
participate
in pre and post assessments.
KceeI’s brochure may be viewed at their website in a printable Adobe PDF form (http://www.kceei.keystone.edu/Workshops.htm).
KceeI’s website is located at www.kceei.keystone.edu.
DePaul University
DePaul University had its 16th live broadcast
with the Library of Congress at Jamieson Elementary School on February 15th. The workshop topic, “Library of Congress
Online!”, provided a great hands-on orientation to the
LOC website and a wonderful opportunity for teachers to meet an LOC staff
person and experience a live video conference from Washington, D.C. Additionally, DePaul’s AAM staff participated in
Jamieson’s History Fair on February 23rd, judging students’
projects. The principal asked that AAM staff keep the projects in
mind when planning the curriculum for the workshop series.
DePaul added five more schools to its Phase II
workshop-based program. The schools are
K-12 public and private inner city schools throughout Chicago.
DePaul introduced the AAM program to eight of its School of Education faculty members. The faculty enjoyed a hands-on orientation to
the LOC website. After the presentation, four more faculty members came
forth and expressed an interest in the program.
DePaul’s AAM program website is located at: http://aam.depaul.edu/.
Federation of Independent Illinois Colleges and
Universities (FIICU)
The Federation of Independent
Illinois Colleges and Universities AAM project presented two sessions at the recent national conference of the Association of Teacher Educators in Chicago. Mark
Newman led a roundtable
discussion on the value of involving pre-service teacher candidates in
curriculum projects. Former National Louis University students and first-year Chicago Public
School
teachers Leslie Bohnen and Sarah Manuel presented
visual literacy activities they developed for student teaching and discussed
how involvement with AAM enhanced their education. Sharan
Pittser of McKendree College led a roundtable of AAM project faculty on higher education faculty development activities at
the various partner institutions. Project staff and faculty participating
included Don Fouts
and Cindy Fuchs of the FIICU, David McMullen and Sherrie Pardieck
of Bradley University, Colleen Reardon of Dominican University, Cathy Taylor
from Greenville College, Donna Ogle and Costas Spirou representing National Louis University, and George Fero of McKendree College.
FIICU’s AAM program website is located at:
http://www.aamprogram.org/introduction/aam_partners_detail.aspx?id=18.
Governors State University
The GSU team has focused on
the current AAM Phase I group that started last month. This cohort has many teachers who are skilled
in computer technology and have pushed the staff to teach more advanced
techniques and software.
As the GSU program focuses on
the current group, planning is underway for the first Phase III group. The applications were reviewed and 17 faculty
members were selected to participate.
They will begin their 45 hours of training at the end of April during
“dead week,” i.e., between semesters. On
the instructional side, Luci and Sandi have already
started the process of modifying the curriculum so that it best meets the needs
and expectations of university faculty participants. Any suggestions from AAM colleagues are welcomed!
Planning for the first summer
institute has begun and will be devoted to digital story telling. The institute will be offered to Phase I alumni and their mentees. As an incentive, participants will be given
the new AAM-imprinted 128 mb USB
pens. GSU is proud to announce that Ed Shearin and AnneMarie
Walter from Mars Hill College in North Carolina will be the instructors for the three-day
session. Why not learn from the masters?
Governors State’s AAM program website is located at: http://aam.govst.edu/.
Loyola University
Loyola's AAM program has distributed its first four AAM logo memory sticks. The program
has begun using them along with recognition certificates with participants who
have used LOC materials successfully with their students. The intent is to use the certificates and
memory sticks motivationally within groups of teachers to call attention to
what their colleagues have done and, hopefully, to inspire additional
productivity.
Loyola’s AAM website is located at:
http://www.luc.edu/schools/education/aam/index.shtml.
Eastern Illinois University
EIU AAM has reached out to several East Central Illinois schools since the
beginning of 2005. Workshop series are
in progress or were recently completed at Arcola Elementary and High Schools,
Arthur Elementary and High Schools, Charleston Middle
School, Paris Middle School, and Martinsville Elementary
School. Presentations on AAM were given to faculty and administration at Mattoon Middle
School, as
well as Oblong Elementary and High Schools.
The workshop at Charleston Middle School was attended by 37 teachers and featured a video conference with the LOC.
The session was a great success.
A workshop was held in
collaboration with the education staff at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential
Museum. Springfield-area teachers from
a variety of grade levels and schools attended.
The meeting also featured time to address teacher expectations and
desires regarding visits to the Museum.
EIU AAM Director Cindy
Rich and Illinois State
University AAM Director Rick Satchwell
presented a session titled “Facilitating the Illinois Learning Standards Using
Primary Sources” at the Illinois Technology Conference for Educators on March 2nd.
A database is being designed
that will cross-reference the American Memory “Collection Connections” with
Illinois Learning Standards. This
database will be placed on the EIU AAM website. EIU AAM staff continues to develop an online module for teachers unable to
attend traditional workshops.
EIU’s AAM program website is located at: http://www.eiu.edu/eiuaam/.
Illinois State University
The AAM program awareness campaign is in full swing at ISU. Richard Satchwell, AAM director,
and Judy Bee, digital preservationist, have been busy sending
letters of introduction, visiting schools, and e-mailing principals to
introduce the workshop series and schedule training sessions. These activities
will continue to be their focus until they have reached their training goals.
The awareness campaign was
interrupted briefly with an office move within Milner Library. The AAM program at Milner Library is temporarily housed in a suite of offices
while a renovation project is underway that will provide offices and a
digitization laboratory on the first floor of the library. Satchwell
is working with the Dean of University Libraries, Dr. Cheryl Elzy, and a team of architects to develop this space and
specify the equipment needs for the lab.
Satchwell co-presented a pre-conference workshop with Eastern Illinois University’s AAM director, Cindy Rich, on March 2. The workshop, entitled “Facilitating the
Illinois State Learning Standards Using Primary Resources,” preceded the
Illinois Technology Conference for Educators in St. Charles, IL. Participants were provided an overview of the LOC
website and time to engage in standards-based activities. The response from
participants was very positive. Satchwell looks
forward to future opportunities to collaborate with Illinois AAM partners.
ISU’s AAM program website is located at: http://www.mlb.ilstu.edu/aam.
Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville
SIU-E AAM Director Amy Wilkinson, AAM Technical
Specialist Binod Pokhrel, and Dr. Randall Smith, Department Chair of
Curriculum and Instruction at SIU-E, presented at the Society for Applied
Learning Technology conference in Orlando, FL on February 16. The presentation, "Primary
Source Analysis and Integrating Technology", offered
information about LOC digital library collections and how AAM teachers integrate digital resources into their classrooms.
The teachers at Bond County High
School in Greenville, IL have completed 12 hours of basic workshops.
Another basic workshop series consisting of 12 hours will be presented to
elementary teachers in Teutopolis in late April.
A recruitment presentation
was given to K-12 teachers at the Tri-County Institute in Centralia. Another teacher institute presentation is
scheduled for April 1 for St. Clair County teachers in Belleville. Continued goals for Phase II are to
increase workshop participation in surrounding counties and modify workshop
content, evaluations, and assessments for workshops.
SIU-E’s AAM program website is located at: http://www.siue.edu/education/aam.
Metropolitan State College of Denver
Librarian Day, hosted by AAM-Colorado and the Auraria Library on Friday,
March 4th, was a huge success! Almost 100 Colorado librarians and teachers participated in
presentations, beginning with opening remarks by Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, Denver Public Schools Superintendent Jerry Wartgow, Metropolitan State College of Denver’s Interim
President Ray Kieft, and Chairman of Metro State’s
Board of Trustees Bruce Benson. Librarian Day continued with presentations by
the Denver Public Library, Collaborative Digitization Program, Colorado
Historical Society, Auraria Library, and Penrose
Library at University of Denver.
A special video conference presentation featured Dr. Derrick de Kerckhove, holder of the prestigious Papamarkou Chair in Education and Technology at the Library
of Congress.
Also on Friday, March 4th, AAM-Colorado
held an Open House inviting educators to stop in and see its new facilities. AAM-Colorado
staff members were busy greeting visitors all day Friday, and the Open House
continued Saturday, March 5th with a drawing for three Colorado
teachers to win equipment for their schools. Three Colorado schools
will soon be the new owners of two NEC VT-470 projectors and a 72 inch SB580
Interactive SMART whiteboard and stand.
AAM-Colorado’s second In-Class Saturday workshop series
began March 5th. Registration for the second Saturday series filled
up during Librarian Day. Blended Learning workshops, offering both online and
face-to-face learning, are also in progress and will continue through May. The AAM-Colorado Summer 2005 schedule is online as well, with workshops in
June and July. Curriculum Institutes and Digital Storytelling workshops are
also planned for Summer 2005. Please visit AAM
Colorado’s website for more information.
MSCD’s AAM program website is located at: http://aamcolorado.mscd.edu.