Monday, October 22, 2012
Breakout Session 3: 3:30-4:30pm
Unless otherwise noted, there are two 30-minute presentations in each breakout session.
Session 3A (1 hour)
Location: Salon E
Facilitator: Kathleen Vinger
Facilitator: Kathleen Vinger
Using Data to Inform Your Teacher Education Program
John Beck
CREATE
John Beck
CREATE
With the increasing emphasis on teacher education accountability, having access to complete and easily accessible information about the employment patterns of program completers is essential. However, one of the challenges has been the absence of an efficient and accurate way to follow the completers. This presentation describes an existing
customizable data set that includes information on completers from each university who are employed in Texas public schools. The data set can follow any person certified through a university who begins employment as a teacher or a paraprofessional in a Texas public school district. If the person’s classification changes over the years of employment (e.g., specialist, administrator, counselor), tracking across employment years is still possible as long as the person
is affiliated with a public school district campus. The presenters will describe the data set and the information in it. Several
examples will be shared in an interactive session with the audience.
customizable data set that includes information on completers from each university who are employed in Texas public schools. The data set can follow any person certified through a university who begins employment as a teacher or a paraprofessional in a Texas public school district. If the person’s classification changes over the years of employment (e.g., specialist, administrator, counselor), tracking across employment years is still possible as long as the person
is affiliated with a public school district campus. The presenters will describe the data set and the information in it. Several
examples will be shared in an interactive session with the audience.
Session 3B
Location: Salon G
Facilitator: Diana Everett
Facilitator: Diana Everett
Need to Teach Students how to Write Lesson Plans? There's an App for That!
Jane Thielemann Downs, Janice Nath, Iren Chen
University of Houston-Downtown
Jane Thielemann Downs, Janice Nath, Iren Chen
University of Houston-Downtown
Our interdepartmental team (Urban Education and Computer and Mathematical Sciences) developed a“Lesson Plan tutorial software / iApp” program designed to help student-teachers write appropriate student-centered lesson plans. This iApp provides a hands-on, visual learning experience that helps students better understand the major components of a onstructivist, student-centered lesson plan. This iApp (and web version) contains comprehensive text, graphic information and examples for each of the lesson plan components: Goals, Objectives / TEKS & ELPS, Focus, Teaching Strategies, Assessment, Closure, and Accommodations. The iApp is designed to use with the Apple iOS on an iPAD. A similar web-based version has also been designed to work on PC/ Windows and ANDROID. Presenters will share their process of technology development and the pilot study of how the iApp/Website worked to increase learning in an undergraduate course.
The iPad: One Tool for Bridging the Gap Between Theory and Practice
Susan Hall, Stephanie Grote-Garcia, Mary Ruth Moore
University of the Incarnate Word
Susan Hall, Stephanie Grote-Garcia, Mary Ruth Moore
University of the Incarnate Word
Come and learn how instructors can use iPads or other tablet computers in small group activities in the education
classroom. Participants will experience activities first hand as well as see how students can work with online resources that help them connect theory to the practice and make the needed connections to the real world outside the college classroom. The session will begin with a very brief overview of how the iPad is being used in education and include a discussion of ways that instructors can build a productive class session around a small number of iPads.
classroom. Participants will experience activities first hand as well as see how students can work with online resources that help them connect theory to the practice and make the needed connections to the real world outside the college classroom. The session will begin with a very brief overview of how the iPad is being used in education and include a discussion of ways that instructors can build a productive class session around a small number of iPads.
Session 3C
Location: Salon F
Facilitator: Julie Teel-Borders
Facilitator: Julie Teel-Borders
Certification Preparation in an online format: Certification exams designed at the application level are challenging for
all students that are expecting a knowledge level approach. Test strategies are developed to help students access their content base and achieve success on the exams. All programs must find ways to provide direct test preparation for
students. Technology offers opportunities for personal connections for individuals or small group remediation. Panopto and Join.me are two programs used by our university to connect with students during our certification preparation course.
all students that are expecting a knowledge level approach. Test strategies are developed to help students access their content base and achieve success on the exams. All programs must find ways to provide direct test preparation for
students. Technology offers opportunities for personal connections for individuals or small group remediation. Panopto and Join.me are two programs used by our university to connect with students during our certification preparation course.
Preparing Preservice Teachers to Integrate CCRS into their Instruction
Kayla B. Rollins, Beverly L. Alford, Danielle B. Brown, Jacqueline R. Stillisano, Hersh C. Waxman
Texas A&M University
Kayla B. Rollins, Beverly L. Alford, Danielle B. Brown, Jacqueline R. Stillisano, Hersh C. Waxman
Texas A&M University
The present study describes the TAMU Educator Preparation Collaborative project, which integrated the instruction of college and career readiness standards (CCRS) into a post-baccalaureate teacher preparation program. Surveys were administered to preservice teachers at four different time periods over the course of the program to determine the program’s impact on their level of confidence in establishing an effective learning environment and integrating the CCRS. The
results of the study suggest that the project was successful in educating preservice teachers on the implementation of the CCRS; however, there is still a need for widespread implementation of the CCRS.
results of the study suggest that the project was successful in educating preservice teachers on the implementation of the CCRS; however, there is still a need for widespread implementation of the CCRS.
Session 3D
Location: Salon H
Facilitator: Irma Harper
Facilitator: Irma Harper
TExES Certification Exam Review for Teachers (T-CERT): What is Next?
Irma Harper
Texas A&M University
Irma Harper
Texas A&M University
The Texas A&M University System has partnered with the Texas Education Agency to provide all teachers and potential teachers assistance in taking the TExES exams. T-CERT website was created for this purpose. T-CERT participants have access to online review modules, review videos and synchronous chat review sessions, all for the purpose for remediation on the TExES exams. T-CERT is in its second full year of implementation. What is next? Session participants will be given the opportunity to offer feedback for the direction of the T-CERT site.
Domain Analysis of the TExES: On the Frontline
Barba A. Patton, Diane E. Prince
University of Houston-Victoria
Barba A. Patton, Diane E. Prince
University of Houston-Victoria
There are a various number of domains on each of the TExES tests whether it is PPR, content or one of the professional tests. Students are expected to master the overall test with a weighed score of 240. As university professors, how are we to advise and propose study tactics when we do not know what content the student is lacking? Students want to know what to study and how to improve if they are not successful on the first attempt at the TExES. Professors on the frontline cannot give the student that information because they do not have a way to analyze the students’ scores. This breakout session
will outline the challenges presented to the “frontline” when advising students on test preparation.
will outline the challenges presented to the “frontline” when advising students on test preparation.
Session 3E
Location: Creekside I
Facilitator: Eloise Hughes
Facilitator: Eloise Hughes
Success and Challenges of Using iPads for Teacher Education Students
Dennie L. Smith, Cynthia Boettcher, Jodie Mangum
Texas A&M University
Dennie L. Smith, Cynthia Boettcher, Jodie Mangum
Texas A&M University
This study was conducted in two undergraduate teacher education coursesto determine the feasibility of using iPads for both teaching and learning during the academic year 2011-12. Freshman students (N=37) were provided iPads to use during both the fall semester and spring semesters.The courses were designed to use iPads for problem solving activities
and for other appropriatecourse activities. Qualitative methodology was utilized to develop a deeper understanding of the successes and challenges of using iPads by the professors and students through interviews and surveys. A six-minute
video was also developed to give “voice” to both students’and professors’ experiences and to reflect the evolution of this study. The findings of the fall semester’s study, questionnaire data (only) from spring semester, as well as the video of students’ reactionswill be presented in the session.
and for other appropriatecourse activities. Qualitative methodology was utilized to develop a deeper understanding of the successes and challenges of using iPads by the professors and students through interviews and surveys. A six-minute
video was also developed to give “voice” to both students’and professors’ experiences and to reflect the evolution of this study. The findings of the fall semester’s study, questionnaire data (only) from spring semester, as well as the video of students’ reactionswill be presented in the session.
Lessons Learned (and Solutions!):
Preparing Students to Actively Engage with Content Using Immersive World Technology
Deborah Anne Banker
Angelo State University
Preparing Students to Actively Engage with Content Using Immersive World Technology
Deborah Anne Banker
Angelo State University
Many teacher preparation programs are taking their courses and entire programs into an online delivery model. These deliver models result in the online learner learning in an isolated environment (Ke & Carr-Chellman, 2006). Zhu (2012) contends that it is desirable to bring the learner out of isolation and to actively engage with the course and content.
Immersive world technology (IWT) allows for both but then there are problems with preparing the student to learn the IWT to be able to actively engage. The lessons learned by an online teacher preparation program instructor are presented, along with solutions to those problems to give a learner the skills necessary to actively engage with the content and collaborate with classmates and instructor to bring the learner out of isolation.
Immersive world technology (IWT) allows for both but then there are problems with preparing the student to learn the IWT to be able to actively engage. The lessons learned by an online teacher preparation program instructor are presented, along with solutions to those problems to give a learner the skills necessary to actively engage with the content and collaborate with classmates and instructor to bring the learner out of isolation.
Session 3F
Location: Creekside II
Facilitator: Laura Mitchell
Facilitator: Laura Mitchell
Integrating Cultual Identity Stories from Perservice Teachers in a Bilingual Education Program:
An Action Research Study
Laura Mitchell, Irene Chen
Universty of Houston-Downtown
An Action Research Study
Laura Mitchell, Irene Chen
Universty of Houston-Downtown
This presentation is going to describe an action research study conducted in a Bilingual Education Program in a 4-year public university in Texas. As the teacher candidates began to make connections with their students through language, traditions, and background, they began to see their students differently. They began to connect their cultural identity stories to the students’ cultural identity stories. They developed their confidence in the teaching process because the students began to see them as teachers. In the action research, the teacher candidates began the reflective process of looking back at their own culture through the lenses of culture, language, and perspectives. They were able to name their culture, identify their experiences that they had growing up in schools, and described their own cultural perspectives. In this study teacher candidates found that culturedid matter and was important as they began developing as teachers.
Preparing Educational Leaders to Partner with Diverse Families
Michelle Abrego, Jesus Abrego - The University of Texas at Brownsville
Renee Rubin - Consultant
Michelle Abrego, Jesus Abrego - The University of Texas at Brownsville
Renee Rubin - Consultant
National program standards for building level leaders identify the need for school leaders to possess the knowledge, skills and dispositions to build and sustain collaborative relationships between schools and families. Research indicates that educational leaders are underprepared to partner with families especially those from minority backgrounds. This presentation will share with participants an assessment that is currently used by a principal preparation program to prepare principals to effectively engage all families in schools. The project requires future school leaders to design, implement and evaluate authentic partnerships with families focused on the needs and wants of families at their respective schools.
Session 3G
Location: Bonnell
Facilitator: Sue Owens
Facilitator: Sue Owens
Shaping the Future of Teacher Induction Research: Findings and Insights from a Longitudinal Study
Virginia Resta, Leslie Huling, Pat Yeargain
Texas State University-San Marcos
Virginia Resta, Leslie Huling, Pat Yeargain
Texas State University-San Marcos
Findings will be shared from the latest phase of longitudinal research on approximately1,000 teachers who entered teaching between 2002-04 and were participants in a collaborative multi-institutional teacher induction program. This longitudinal
research provides perspectives that are not readily available in the first years of program implementation. This study involved research collaboration between seven universities and 37 school districts and combines a number of quantitative and qualitative outcomes measures. Researchers will share their views on future directions for induction research based upon their decades of experience conducting research on mentoring and teacher induction.
research provides perspectives that are not readily available in the first years of program implementation. This study involved research collaboration between seven universities and 37 school districts and combines a number of quantitative and qualitative outcomes measures. Researchers will share their views on future directions for induction research based upon their decades of experience conducting research on mentoring and teacher induction.
Guerrilla Marketing
Cindy Woods, Jennifer McDonald, Shelby Grissett, Ashlee Woods
University of North Texas
Cindy Woods, Jennifer McDonald, Shelby Grissett, Ashlee Woods
University of North Texas
Recruit new students into your program with low cost strategies that are imaginative, creative, and simple. Leave with at least five marketing strategies to increase enrollment in your program.
Session 3H
Location: Tannehill
Facilitator: Alma Rodriguez
Facilitator: Alma Rodriguez
Call Me Maybe?
Debby Hopkins-Higham, Suzy Adair
Tarleton State University
Debby Hopkins-Higham, Suzy Adair
Tarleton State University
Do your pre-service students have difficulty securing a field experience placement? Do they (or you) wait for a call from a school district that may or may not come? Do you feel powerless as to when field experiences can officially begin each semester because you and your students have difficulty securing placements? What one rural university does for securing field experiences for its pre-service teachers in rural Texas and changes to this model needed for their cohorts in metropolitan areas- and the public schools’ response to our call.
From Students to Teachers: Transforming Preservice Teachers' Views of Themselves through Early Field-Based Experiences
Kathryn Hall, Gae Lynn McInroe, Stephanie Scott
McMurry University
Kathryn Hall, Gae Lynn McInroe, Stephanie Scott
McMurry University
This study investigated the effectiveness of tutoring experiences on the confidence and self-perceived efficacy of preservice teachers in a university-based teacher preparation program. Subjects were preservice teachers in EC-6 math and reading methods courses who tutored kindergarten through fifth grade public school students. Quantitative and qualitative measures indicated growth in confidence and feelings of efficacy of subjects after the tutoring experiences, as well as movement along subject’s self-perceived position on a scale from“student” to “teacher.” Student journals indicated that tutoring sessions in which the tutee learned successfully resulted in sudden changes in the tutor’s view of self.