WOW! Once again the time is just flying by! February was an eventful month and March has surely “come in like a lion” in more ways than one! The first photo below was taken at the fabulous February 7th Johnstown Symphony Orchestra concert. I escorted my students in ED 119 Aesthetic Experiences for Young Children to this splendid concert at the Pasquerilla Performing Arts Center in Johnstown, PA. We heard pieces by Beethoven, Dvorak, and McLean under the direction of Istvan Jaray, Music Director. It was a wonderful evening which was preceded by a class discussion on ways to teach children about the symphony and field trip tips for taking groups of children to the symphony. Congratulations to the Johnstown Symphony Orchestra in celebrating your 80th Season!
The second photo was taken on February 16th in our wonderful Cosgrave Center. The MAC Children’s Advocacy Association and our Student Chapter of the Pennsylvania State Education Association came together to support “A Teacher Panel” featuring MAC Early Childhood and Elementary graduates who are currently full time teachers in school districts from Cresson, PA to Frederick, MD to Baltimore, MD. It was a wonderful opportunity for our current students to hear about the experiences of our recent graduates. Much of the discussion focused on securing your first teaching position, surviving the first year of teaching, strategies for classroom management, working with parents, collaborating with other teachers in the school, and innovative teaching strategies. Dr. Marilyn Roseman did a perfect job organizing this event for our students.
The next three photos feature a workshop titled “The Creative Use of Puppetry with Children” presented by Professor Joann Spencer Siegrist on February 24th. I invited Professor Seigrist to come to campus to share information on ways to use puppets with children. This event ties into my Service Learning project that I am working on with my students in ED 320 Applied Learning Strategies for the Exceptional Learner. Once again, this semester, my students are writing and performing puppet shows on disability awareness to young children. We were extremely honored to have her on campus. She conducted a morning session and an afternoon session that was attended by many students, faculty, and staff. Joann Spencer Siegrist is Professor of Theater and Chair of the Creative Dramatics and Puppetry program in the Division of Theater and Dance in the College of Creative Arts at West Virginia University. She has been on the faculty at West Virginia University since 1974. The Puppetry and Creative Dramatics program that she directs is one of three in the country that offer training in this field. Her students have completed internships with Disney World and other companies. This past July, Siegrist and three of her students attended the Puppeteers of America Mid- Atlantic and Northwest Regional Festival and met Jane Henson, the woman who co-founded the Muppets with Jim Henson, her late husband. In addition to teaching puppetry, children’s theater and creative dramatics, Siegrist has been the director of the WVU Puppet Mobile for more than 35 years, and has toured schools, libraries and art centers in all 55 counties in WV with her student puppeteers. She has served as a workshop leader and consultant for schools, museums, and teacher training programs throughout the United States and abroad. She was also president of UNIMA-USA, an international puppetry organization that fosters puppetry abroad. In 2005 she spent six weeks in China designing puppets for a production at the University of Beijing. She has developed educational puppet videos and worked as a consultant for national groups such as Very Special Arts, The Learning Channel, the National Environmental Education and Training Foundation in Washington, D.C. and the PBS/WQED Pittsburgh Children’s Pilot Franks Garage. She also served as the artistic director of The Wombat Club a children’s television pilot on Nickelodeon. Additionally, she has appeared on “Good Morning America” and has received numerous honors and awards. Professor Siegrist recently published a book titled “Great Puppet Heroes from Around the World”. The workshop was made possible by a grant from the Southern Alleghenies Learn and Serve Alliance (SALSA).
The first photo features Dr. Mary Ann Dillon, Sister of Mercy and President of Mount Aloysius College with Professor Siegrist. The second photo includes Dr. Helen Marie Burns, Sister of Mercy and Vice President for Mission Integration, Dr. Deanne D’Emilio, Associate Academic Dean, Dr. Marilyn Roseman, Chair of the Education Department, Professor Joann Siegrist, myself and Dr. Devorah Bozella, Education Department. The last photo in that series is of Professor Siegrist participating in a puppet show with children from our campus child development center, The Little People’s Place.
The cool purple photo is from the “Colleges Against Cancer” event on February 19th titled “Purple 101”. The students did a great job decorating Cosgrave in purple.
The last photo is of Dr. Roseman and I wearing our “FASFA Awareness Day” t-shirts reminding all of our students to file their financial aid forms. It was a very green day on campus (March 18th) as many faculty and staff were wearing these great shirts.
Another highlight of February for me was being invited by a student to the “Reception for Act 101 Academic Achievement” event held on February 24th. It was an honor to be chosen as an influential faculty member in the life of a new student and to speak on behalf of a new shining star in our department.
Lastly, I was excited to share information this week with my students from a professional development Act 48 presentation I attended on Wednesday March 18th. The event was sponsored by the Indiana County Reading Council and the Keystone State Reading Association and the keynote speaker spoke about “Connecting Visual and Verbal Languages with Literacy Instruction”. It was very informative and the best part is being able to bring back new innovative idea to my students.
Next time…Stand for Children, the Title III Grant, using the IPod Touch in my classroom, PSEA spring events, CAA spring events, the MAC Emergency Levels of response chart, and much more!
For the rest of the evening (morning), I will be working on our new undergraduate program development for the Pennsylvania Department of Education. As many of you already know, our new incoming students will have the opportunity to choose from three different certifications (early level, middle level, and secondary). Our faculty members in the Education Department have all been working around the clock to get ready for our program review (as you can see it is 1:15am and I still have a few hours ahead of me!). We are also excited to be starting a Master’s Program- more on that next time.
