May 4, 2009

End Of The Year Excitement

The conclusion of the academic is always an exciting time. Our campus is bustling with various activities. Below are some photographic highlights from the last few weeks of the semester. The first two are fun shots of my ED 119 Aesthetic Experiences for Young Children course and the creativity projects the students presented. The third photo is of one of the puppet shows my students wrote and performed at the Ann Harris Smith Little People’s Place Child Development Center on campus. The fourth photo is of the Department of Education Mock Interviews. This was a really wonderful evening. Superintendents, principals, head teachers, MAC administrators and community leaders were invited to conduct mock interviews with our current student teachers. The students did a fine job and the school district administrators were very complementary of our program and how prepared the students were to answer questions. The last photo is from the 2009 Humanities, Social Science, and Professional Studies Academic Honors Ceremony held on May 1st. It was additionally a pleasure to see so many of our students attend with their families. I am looking forward to attending graduation on Saturday. It is always a festive day with a beautiful Liturgy, splendid lunch and impressive ceremony. I especially enjoy finally meeting the families of my students. On Monday the 11th members of SALSA (The Southern Alleghenies Learn and Serve Alliance) will be meeting on the campus of Mount Aloysius College for the 2nd Annual SALSA Workshop: “Impacting Communities through Service Learning”. I am additionally looking forward to attending this event and presenting information concerning the service learning puppetry project in my ED 320 course. Have a great summer everyone!

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March 21, 2009

February and March Highlights

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.

March 20, 2009

First Day of Spring

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February 28, 2009

The Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art

On February 3rd, my student in ED 119 Aesthetic Experiences for Young Children and I visited the Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art in Loretto, PA. In this course we discuss ways to share aesthetic experiences with young children. One way to do this is by sharing and discussing art with children. Additionally we have been discussing characteristics of high quality field trips to places such as museums, concerts, and theater and dance productions. At the Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art we enjoyed “Biennial 2008? which is a celebration of the artistic talent that flourishes in this region. The students and I learned all about the educational outreach programs such as the arts-in-education program, pre-service seminars, art camps, home school classes, the lecture series, teacher/artist workshops, lunch a l’art, arts for healing, exhibition tours, and information on teacher resources. It was a fabulous day!

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January 27, 2009

Mark These Exciting Dates!

Please mark these exciting events on your calendar! My students will be presenting projects at the Service Learning Exposition.

Mount Aloysius College 2009 Service Learning Exposition
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
3:30-5:30 in Cosgrave Center

Fourth Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
3:30-5:30 in the Health and Physical Fitness Center

January 21, 2009

Digital Photography

The photos posted below showcase some of the great events that occurred last semester in our department. The first photo is of The Hot Chocolate Café (also known as my office) where students can come and warm up and chat on a cold day! The second photo is of my students at the Pennsylvania Council of Teachers of Math conference in November. There are long descriptions of both of these events below. The last photo shows an advising sessions with our Student PSEA President. This semester is off to a great start. It is amazing to me how crazy my days have become just two weeks into the semester. Our big departmental project this semester includes revising our education curriculum to meet the new Pennsylvania Department of Education Competencies for Teacher Education Programs. The new curriculum is already shaping up nicely and will prove to be very comprehensive in scope. We are additionally excited about providing our students with many opportunities to engage in classroom observations and teaching early in their college career.

January 19, 2009

Welcome Back!

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December 12, 2008

Happy Holidays!

As usual, the end of the fall semester has been very busy for the early childhood and elementary faculty. My immediate colleagues, Dr. Marilyn Roseman and Dr. Devorah Bozella, and I have been busy grading final exams, portfolios, research papers, observation papers, and projects. We have barely seen each other! We did, however, meet for a wonderful evening at Christmas at the Mount on Tuesday. I had brought my husband, son and daughter. Our children had an awesome adventure spending time in the Winter Wonderland that was designed by the student members of the Children’s Advocacy Association and the Student Pennsylvania State Education Association. All of the students worked so hard to create a Santa’s Workshop where the children wrote letters to Santa, made hot chocolate packets to take home, and painted wooden carvings. After visiting with Santa, the children were given a new Eric Carle book by Mrs. Claus. The education students also collected donations for Toys for Tots. The children of students, faculty, and staff all seemed to have a splendid time! Another highlight of the end of the semester was going to see one of my advisees, Samantha Petak, dance in the Nutcracker with the Johnstown Concert Ballet. She is a beautiful dancer and it was an absolute pleasure to attend the performance. Well, I am off to my public library to return three more books on CD which I checked out and listened to on my 45 minute drive to work each day. One additional benefit of teaching at Mount Aloysius is that it gives me time in the car to catch up on my pleasure reading. I usually spend most of my time reading academic books, textbooks, research articles, policy statements, etc. This month in the car I listened to: The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch, Big Russ and Me by Tim Russert, and Teacher Man by Frank McCourt. All of these books were inspirational in their own ways. I have to admit, though, that my favorite books this month have been the ones that I have shared with my own children. They have consisted of titles such as Frosty the Snowman, Clifford Helps Santa, Franklin’s Christmas Gift, Maisy Makes Gingerbread, The Night Before Christmas and Bear Stays Up for Christmas. I hope everyone has a restful and happy holiday season.

Next Time: The Brown Bag Lunch Series sponsored by the Faculty Affairs Committee

November 26, 2008

Multicultural Issues in Education and Society

Once again, it has been a very busy month here at Mount Aloysius College. I have just returned from two great conferences. The PaTTAN Assistive Technology Expo in State College was very informative and it was awesome to see children with special needs interfacing with new assistive technology devices that have been developed in the last year. The Pennsylvania Council of Teachers of Math conference was a huge success and the students and I both received some great information at the conference workshops and presentations. Lisa Segada, Director of the Ann Harris Smith Little People’s Place Child Development Center, accompanied us on the trip. It was wonderful to have her with us and she also brought back ideas from the conference to her splendid child development center on campus. The Little People’s Place is located in the Cosgrave Student Center and provides wonderful child care in an educational early learning environment to children of faculty, students, and members of the local community. My daughter attended The Little People’s Place and absolutely loved Lisa, her assistant teachers, the playground, and the curriculum.

A few short weeks ago, it was also a pleasure to celebrate Mount Aloysius College Pink Out Day to show support for Breast Cancer Awareness. The campus was covered in pink balloons and streamers and many faculty, staff, and students were wearing pink ribbons.

I am additionally pleased to talk about my two sections of Multicultural Issues in Education and Society. It has been an absolute pleasure teaching the students in this course. Both groups of students are really fun to work with and I have been super impressed with the ideas they have come up with for their service learning projects. The students are working in small groups and will be presenting their projects at the Service Learning Exposition in the spring. For this course, I have my students complete a Social Action Group Project. In a group of four, the students investigate a social issue related to child advocacy, equity or social justice. The objective of the assignment is to: (a) explore the resources available for promoting child advocacy, equity or social justice for the following groups: children from low-income families, homeless, disabled, welfare recipients, language minority children, etc.; (b) identify strengths as well as areas in need of improvement for promoting equity for the disadvantaged group; and (c) outline steps that might be taken to improve services or promote equity for that group under study. Service hours with the group under investigation are required and all of the students have embraced the opportunity. I am looking forward to their formal presentations next week. This was an assignment originally created by my dissertation chair, Dr. Beatrice Fennimore and I have adapted it to meet the service learning plan at Mount Aloysius College. This course is jam packed with research, presentations, readings, and discussions related to multicultural groups in society. We have discussed strategies for teaching in a diverse classroom related to topics such as: race, ethnicity, social class, education, economics, family status, religion, English language learners, gender, sexual orientation, multiple intelligences, military, physical or mental ability, appearance, politics, lifestyle, personality, geography, age/adult learners, and occupation. This past week we additionally discussed multicultural issues related to “The First Thanksgiving?. Have a safe and happy holiday with your family.

October 27, 2008

Midterm

WOW! It has been a busy few weeks here at Mount Aloysius College. The MAC campus community celebrated a beautiful Opening Liturgy on a gorgeous fall day and now we are moving into the second half of the semester. Midterm is a busy time of year that involves creating, administering and grading midterm exams and assignments. It is also advising time which is a time when students meet with their faculty advisor and schedule courses for the next semester. In the education department advising also includes completing long-range planning with the students to ensure that they graduate on time. We additionally discuss issues related to the Praxis exam and various clearances that students need to enter classrooms. I take the job of academic advising students VERY seriously but I also like to check and see how the students are doing all around. Occasionally, I have a student peek their head around my door frame and look in and say, “I am sorry to interrupt you but…..?. So, I have placed a new sign on my office door with the following quote.

“A student is never an interruption of our work: he or she is the purpose of our work.?
~ adapted from Mahatma Gandhi

I enjoying spending time talking with students outside of class and try to find ways to make them feel welcome. Last year I hosted “Tea with the Teacher? but this year I am welcoming students to come my office on Wednesday afternoons for The Hot Chocolate Café from 2-5pm during my regular office hours. If you are a college student in central Pennsylvania, you know that there are two main factors that play a role in everyday life- the need to stay awake and the need to stay warm. Before winter blasts into Cresson, PA students at MAC curing up with a cup of hot chocolate may be heartened to know that cocoa showed the highest antioxidant concentration among three popular drinks, according to the American Chemical Society’s peer-reviewed Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry. This beverage of choice contains more cancer-fighting agents than tea or red wine, according to this new study. So, break out the marshmallows and have a chat over some hot chocolate! And, trust me, it is not to early for this. I saw small snowflakes in the air last Monday when I came to work.

Another exciting event in Education Department is the formation of our new student chapter of the Pennsylvania State Education Association. I am a co-advisor for the group and so far new officers have been installed, bylaws have been written and the students have already met at least twice. It is a very exciting time!

Additionally, next week I will be taking a group of seven students to the 57th Annual Pennsylvania Council of Teachers of Math Conference in the Pocono Mountains. We will be heading to the Split Rock Resort on November 6th for Pre-Service Teacher Day. The PCTM is an affiliate of the National Council of Teachers of Math. The conference slogan is Math Rocks at Split Rock: Restore Originality and Creativity in Kids. On the way to that conference I will also attend The Pennsylvania Department of Education Bureau of Special Education EXPO on Assistive Technology. The PaTTAN Assistive Technology EXPO will be at the Penn Stater Conference Center in State College. This is an opportunity for educators to explore software, devices, and strategies that enable students to access curriculum and meet with success. This will give me a great opportunity to learn more about AT solutions for a broad range of students including those with very mild as well as more significant disabilities.

Next Time: SO 301: Multicultural Issues in Education and Society


Dr. Sara Rutledge
Assistant Professor in the Department of Early Childhood and Elementary Education
As a teacher educator, Dr. Rutledge's teaching and research areas include technology in education, multicultural issues in education, differentiated instruction, thematic / integrated lesson and unit planning and curriculum / instruction / assessment. Dr. Rutledge also places great value on service to the college and community. She is the Co-Advisor for the Children's Advocacy Association and serves on the Board of Directors of three community organizations.
Fun Fact: "As a Girl Scout, I spent a summer in high school at 'Our Chalet' in Adelboden,Switzerland hiking, climbing and traveling in the Swiss Alps with other Girl Scouts from around the world. 'Our Chalet' is a World Centre of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts. I also love tennis and basketball."


 
 
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