Mount Aloysius College: Dr. Sara Rutledgetag:blogs.targetx.com,2009:/mtaloy/SaraRutledge//3032009-05-05T05:17:47ZMovable Type 3.34End Of The Year Excitementtag:blogs.targetx.com,2009:/mtaloy/SaraRutledge//303.102282009-05-04T14:18:52Z2009-05-05T05:17:47ZThe 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...Dr. Sara Rutledge
]]>
February and March Highlightstag:blogs.targetx.com,2009:/mtaloy/SaraRutledge//303.96182009-03-21T06:26:03Z2009-03-21T06:29:44ZWOW! 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...Dr. Sara Rutledge
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.
First Day of Springtag:blogs.targetx.com,2009:/mtaloy/SaraRutledge//303.96172009-03-21T04:00:51Z2009-03-21T04:09:32ZDr. Sara Rutledge]]>
The Southern Alleghenies Museum of Arttag:blogs.targetx.com,2009:/mtaloy/SaraRutledge//303.93302009-03-01T04:20:49Z2009-03-01T04:49:53ZOn 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...Dr. Sara Rutledge]]>
Mark These Exciting Dates!tag:blogs.targetx.com,2009:/mtaloy/SaraRutledge//303.88092009-01-27T15:33:19Z2009-01-27T15:38:10ZPlease 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,...Dr. Sara Rutledge
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
Digital Photographytag:blogs.targetx.com,2009:/mtaloy/SaraRutledge//303.87012009-01-22T03:28:58Z2009-01-22T03:31:04ZThe 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...Dr. Sara Rutledge
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.
Welcome Back!tag:blogs.targetx.com,2009:/mtaloy/SaraRutledge//303.86672009-01-20T03:24:23Z2009-01-20T03:45:18ZDr. Sara Rutledge]]>
Happy Holidays!tag:blogs.targetx.com,2008:/mtaloy/SaraRutledge//303.83702008-12-12T20:11:50Z2008-12-12T20:14:12ZAs 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,...Dr. Sara Rutledge
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
Multicultural Issues in Education and Societytag:blogs.targetx.com,2008:/mtaloy/SaraRutledge//303.81762008-11-27T04:32:54Z2008-11-27T04:34:56ZOnce 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...Dr. Sara Rutledge
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.
Midtermtag:blogs.targetx.com,2008:/mtaloy/SaraRutledge//303.77122008-10-27T05:00:58Z2008-10-27T05:06:01ZWOW! 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...Dr. Sara Rutledge
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
Creating Digital Teaching Portfolios in Chalk and Wiretag:blogs.targetx.com,2008:/mtaloy/SaraRutledge//303.72932008-09-24T05:26:14Z2008-09-24T05:27:46ZGreat News! Today, all of my students in CS 302 Technology in Education successfully logged into their Chalk and Wire accounts. A big thank you must go out to Lauren Lewis, Technology Training Coordinator and Misti Smith, Technology Literacy Staff...Dr. Sara Rutledge
Great News! Today, all of my students in CS 302 Technology in Education successfully logged into their Chalk and Wire accounts. A big thank you must go out to Lauren Lewis, Technology Training Coordinator and Misti Smith, Technology Literacy Staff who both spent time this week entering student data and training the students on using the software. The students will begin by creating a web-based e-portfolio for this class that will include course assignments and reflections. That exercise will then give them practice for developing their Digital Teaching Portfolio which is a requirement for graduation from the department. Teaching portfolios have been increasing in importance since the early 1990’s and, until very recently, have been presented in a binder format with tabs and sheet protectors. Digital teaching portfolios contain much of the same content as traditional teaching portfolios but present these professional materials in a digital format using a combination of multimedia technologies such as video recordings. These digital teaching portfolios will contain a variety of materials or artifacts. These artifacts are pieces or collections of evidence that, taken together, help to demonstrate attainment of a standard, principle, or goal. Each artifact includes a rationale which is a reflective narrative about the authentic evidence that provides insight into what the educator learned as well as information about the educational context. Items that might be used in a teaching portfolio include a resume, philosophy of teaching statement, academic transcript, clearances, a rationale for inclusion of the “artifacts? selected, sample lesson and unit plans created, digital pictures of bulletin boards created, sample tests or alternative assessments created, university supervisor and cooperating teacher evaluations, honors and awards, behavior management plans created, a link to a classroom web page developed by the student, evidence of communication with parents, etc. This spring, upon graduation from Mount Aloysius College, our students will be on the cutting edge in terms of applying for teaching positions. The digital teaching portfolios are web-based which means that the students will still have access to their portfolios after graduation and will have the opportunity the make additions and changes to their portfolios. Additionally, when our students write cover letters to school districts, they will be able to include their digital portfolio secure URL in the letter for employers to refer to. Lastly, the digital portfolios cut down on paper/printer use and the students spend less money on expensive binders and boxes of sheet protectors- another way MAC is “going green?.
Technology in Educationtag:blogs.targetx.com,2008:/mtaloy/SaraRutledge//303.72272008-09-15T05:17:00Z2008-09-15T05:19:07ZCS 302 Technology in Education is one of my favorite courses to teach here at Mount Aloysius College. In the next few weeks, I will be posting information about our new Digital Teaching Portfolio Project but for this blog I...Dr. Sara Rutledge
CS 302 Technology in Education is one of my favorite courses to teach here at Mount Aloysius College. In the next few weeks, I will be posting information about our new Digital Teaching Portfolio Project but for this blog I wanted to write about all of the exciting teaching and learning activities that take place in this course. This semester I am teaching Technology in Education on Tuesdays in class and Thursdays on-line. Each week I meet with the students face to face in addition to creating an on-line assignment for the second class of the week. Blackboard is the course management system we are utilizing in this course and so far it has been working perfectly. During the first few weeks of the semester, the students have been involved in their readings of the course textbook, selected on-line resources, policy statements and ISTE (International Society of Technology in Education) standards. Additionally, the students have already created a classroom newsletter, completed WebQuests, and have been engaged in classroom discussions focusing on such topics as types of digital media and computers, digital citizenship, netiquette, and classroom internet safety. Thursday, my students will be logging into and viewing a Webcast on “Making Sense of Fractions with New Math Tools in Kidspiration?. During the course of the semester, the students will also have the opportunity to develop a multimedia lesson presentation, an educational software evaluation, their digital teaching portfolio and learn about additional topics such as Smartboard technology, assistive technology, and using PDA’s, digital cameras, digital camcorders, virtual reality, digital microscopes, scanners, e-pals, electronic grade book software, virtual fieldtrips, and the amazon.com Kindle in the classroom. Based on my last group of student evaluations, most students considered their favorite course assignment to be the development of their own Teacher Web Page/Classroom Web Site. A classroom web page can include such things as a teacher profile, spelling lists, links to helpful web sites for parents and students, homework help, upcoming events such as field trips, breakfast and lunch menus, list of days for special classes, important school district dates, permission slips, classroom rules and procedures, virtual classroom tour, digital photos of children’s art work, or a school supply list. Next Time…Creating E-Portfolios/Digital Teaching Portfolios in Chalk and Wire.
Back to School Excitementtag:blogs.targetx.com,2008:/mtaloy/SaraRutledge//303.71472008-09-04T03:53:24Z2008-09-04T04:09:21ZWe are now into our second week of the fall semester at Mount Aloysius College and it has been a busy start to the year. My favorite part of the back to school season is meeting all of my students....Dr. Sara Rutledge
]]>
Have a Wonderful Summer!tag:blogs.targetx.com,2008:/mtaloy/SaraRutledge//303.62772008-05-05T04:54:10Z2008-05-05T13:54:41ZThe end of the year is always a busy time here at Mount Aloysius College. The last few weeks have been full of excitement in our department with Student Teacher Mock Interviews, Student Teacher Portfolio Presentations, and the grading of...Dr. Sara Rutledge
The end of the year is always a busy time here at Mount Aloysius College. The last few weeks have been full of excitement in our department with Student Teacher Mock Interviews, Student Teacher Portfolio Presentations, and the grading of culminating projects, papers and final exams in our undergraduate courses. Additionally, I observed an awesome student teacher last week who utilized the Smartboard technology in his classroom in a very creative way. It is exciting to see our students passing their Praxis exams and accepting teaching positions before they have even graduated. In relation to college-wide events, I enjoyed attending the Academic Honors and Pinning Ceremony on May 2nd and it was an absolute pleasure to mentor a student at the Undergraduate Research Symposium on April 22nd. I also had the honor of meeting many members of the Mount Aloysius College Board of Trustees at the Board Retreat on April 11th where many faculty and staff presented their Work Group Strategies, many of which will be reflected in the new MAC Strategic Plan. In the upcoming week we can all look forward to the Baccalaureate Liturgy, Brunch, and Commencement Ceremony. During the next few weeks I will be completing additional research on some great upcoming fall projects including a service learning project for SO 301: Multicultural Issues in Education and Society, the development of a hybrid course for the fall, the development of the Digital Teaching Portfolio Project in our department, and the creation of a Curriculum Resource Room for our Early Childhood and Elementary Education pre-service teachers. And, please remember, if you see faculty and staff walking around campus with little clicking pedometers, it is because many of us (including me) have decided to make a commitment to enjoy a more active lifestyle by participating in the 10,000 Step Challenge. This is a great program that has been started by our new Director of Human Resources, Tonia Gordon.
Have a great summer! Click, Click, Click…
Service Learningtag:blogs.targetx.com,2008:/mtaloy/SaraRutledge//303.62752008-05-05T03:23:52Z2008-05-05T04:02:28ZThese are photographs from our service learning project collaboration with the Pennsylvania Association for Individuals with Disabilities. Students in ED 320: Applied Learning Strategies for the Exceptional Learner worked with PAID and created puppet shows on individuals with disabilities and...Dr. Sara Rutledge
]]>
]]>
]]>
]]>
]]>
]]>