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