Winter Solstice

Yesterday saw much of eastern Iowa in snow and windy conditions which caused schools to be released early and evening activities to be cancelled.  A typical event that occurs several times throughout most school years.  Yesterday was also an opportunity to view the unusual event of a total lunar eclipse.  Not only an eclipse, but one on the Winter Solstice. Wow!  And then to be obscured by clouds . . .  But now we live in an age where technology can offer a solution.  Several sites offered "live" web coverage of the eclipse and I have also seen several photos and videos posted on websites and you tube.  Great way to use technology but I am concerned that it offers an excuse for many to not get outdoors and experience the eclipse directly.

Although a rough metaphor, I am going to make the jump to that of comments made by Iowa's own Tom Harkin yesterday.  This is reported in "The Answer Sheet" blog by Valerie Strauss on Washington Post.com http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/congress/a-highly-qualified-gift-from-c.html
The office of Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), who is chairman of the Senate’s education committee, sent this statement late today:

“There is broad, bipartisan agreement among members of Congress and the Obama administration that it is the intent of Congress for alternative-route teachers to be considered highly qualified, consistent with the regulation that has been in place for several years. Chairman Harkin strongly believes that teacher quality is essential to student success, and intends to address this issue as part of a comprehensive ESEA reauthorization. While that process is underway, the 9th Circuit’s decision – which reverses a previous court ruling in favor of the regulation – could cause significant disruptions in schools across the country and have a negative impact on students. Maintaining current practice is a temporary solution, and underscores the need to act quickly and reauthorize ESEA early in the next Congress.”

Well, that is interesting.  Indirect experiences make you "highly qualified"?  I might be able to accept "qualified" in the sense that it is a warm, human body in a room that can be responsible for student behavior.  But where do we start to consider the learning?  Is there anything to be said about a warm,human body performance that engages learners and encourages a continued quest for learning?

Of course, our work here with the Teacher Quality Partnership grant is bridging the expression from "highly qualified" to "highly effective".  Now that is a whole other realm to wonder about what Tom would define to be.

Partnership Districts

As of yesterday we have five districts with which to partner for our project. We are all excited!

CAL
HLV
Midland
Springville
West Fork

We also had our holiday gathering for the seven of us . . . great food and conversation, made particularly special with the sharing of Lebanese traditions and Russian by Zeina and Ksenia. There was something magical about sitting in the 5th floor lounge watching the snow lightly fall. . .

Standing at the left of the stairs:
Dan Mourlam, Ksenia Zhbanova
Standing at the right of the stairs:
Leanne Lewis
On the stairs from top down:
Mary Herring, Stacey Snyder, Nadene Davidson, Zeina Yousef

National Teacher of the Year

I would venture to guess that it isn't too often that a typical educator gets to share a day with the National Teacher of the Year. So when I heard that Sarah Brown Wessling, an Iowan, was going to be presenting to fellow educators at Grant Wood AEA, I inquired about it. Myra Hall generously agreed that my presence as part of the Teacher Quality Partnership would be welcome.

Sarah's topic: "Ensuring Success: Iowa Core in Action . . . A Day of Learning with National Teacher of the Year, Sarah Brown Wessling". Part of the description of the day included the following: "Participants will have the opportunity to reflect on their own practice and consider how they might benefit from Sarah's approach and philosophy to improve teaching and learning in their school communities."

Indeed, this was a day for reflection and for being inspired by Sarah's approach. It left me wanting my children to be in classrooms inspired by Sarah's creative genius. From the moment she began I was enamored. She exclaimed that she was so excited to be a teacher for the day! This invitation mirrored (or renewed) my enthusiasm for being a learner. Wow! What if all classrooms offered this expectation of invitation to learn.

I will try to capture some of my learning and insights from the day:
* Sameness precludes learning
* Sometimes efficiency isn't efficient at all
* Learners who are process driven are lead learners
* Teaching for learner differences: targeting strengths and growth for each student individually~it's that simple and that complex all at once
* Scaffolding is like "Seeing the Board" in chess . . . plan ahead twelve moves
* There is a difference between teaching and playing school.
* Gap as an opportunity rather than an obstacle
* In Iowa we Grow Teachers (slogan with picture of corn field)
* Challenge us to flatten the hierarchy of learning by putting the learner in the center
* Intellectual risk taker (Story of water skiing with her grandfather and getting beyond the wake . . . resonated with me as I am oldest grandchild as well)
* Create in our learning environments, opportunities for mistakes
* Use of "Mona Lisa Smile" clip to discuss growth as an educator
* Use of Mentor and Critic dialogue with clips from Top Master Chefs and American Ido to talk about what makes good descriptive, precise feedback that propels further learning
* Not lowering but rather lengthening expectations
* Making the implicit, explicit through parallel experiences
* Dispositions for learning: Deliberateness, Intentionality, Purposefulness
* "Because you care"

What a blessing to have spent the day with Sarah Brown Wessling.

TQP Advisory Board Meeting

On Tuesday, December 7, our UNI TQP Staff (Dan, Leanne, Mary, Nadene and I) along with Dean Dwight Watson travelled to Des Moines for the first TQP Advisory Board meeting at the Grimes State Office Building. I marveled at the Memorial that adorns the sidewalk leading to the building from the north where we parked. It was a bit unnerving to get close to the memorial and read that it was dedicated to those Iowans that died at Pearl Harbor, the day of infamy. . . coincidentally almost exactly 69 years ago to the hour of the attack that I stood there. Hard to not have tears well up in your eyes. The sidewalk is described as "Victory Walk" and proceeds through the years of World War II.

Attending members of the Advisory Board:
Salvador Aguirre (Meredith MS-DMPS, 1st year teacher)
Isbelia Arzola (DMPS)
Molly Boyle (2011 Iowa Teacher of the Year)
Mary Jane Cobb (ISEA)
Mary Delagardelle (IASB)
Kevin Fangman
Jessica Gogerty (North HS-DMPS)
Deborah Humpal
Dara Lothi-Phaisith (Garton Elementary-DMPS)
Bill Lynch (Superintendent Partner School, HLV)
George Maurer
Terry Rhinehart (Superintendent Partner School, Springville)
Connie Richardson (Green Hills AEA)
Dan Smith (SAI)
Kim Swartz (AEA 267)
Dwight Watson (UNI)
Gail Wortman (2001 Iowa Teacher of the Year and Online Learning)
Others in attendance to listen included UNI TQP Staff and DoE staff including: Mary Beth Schroeder Fracek, Sue Swartz, Colleen Anderson, Kris Crabtree-Groff, Rosanne Malek, Connie Maxson, Geri McMahon, Jay Pennington as well as Julie Kearney as evaluator from the UofI.

The morning included introductions and setting the state and national context by Kevin Fangman. This was followed by the overview of the grant. Mary and Nadene overviewed Goals 1 & 2; Mary Beth did Goal 3; Jay Pennington talked about the role of integrated technology platform; Julie Kearney added grant evaluation information.

Lunch was delightful and included baked chicken breast with stuffing, tossed salad, winter mix vegetables, diced roasted potatoes, rolls and a caramel brownie (that was evidently heavenly, of course those that know me realize I don't care for chocolate so cannot speak directly to its merits).

After lunch Eric Docter and Ameetha Palanki of Show Evidence (from California) overviewed the platform they are creating for online storage of performance assessment data. She is an educator and is certainly well-versed in the needs of allowing evidence-based documentation about teacher effectiveness. They are very much interested in partnering with this process and feel that Iowa is on the right track and ahead of many others in the nation.

Ameetha sat at our lunch table with us and talked about coming with the only coat she had. Who knew I would already be this cold in December (teen and 20s). When we went back in to the meeting room after lunch, Eric Docter greeted me with "thanks for following us on Twitter". Wow! I was floored! I have actually been recognized in the Twitterverse! I asked how he knew I was following him and he said he recognized my picture. Then I asked him to vote for our football video and he said he would. Gosh, it is fun to meet new people!

All in all it was a good day. It feels great to have the process starting and some people in place to guide the process. Interestingly many of those in attendance were concerned that the model we create in small schools may not transfer readily to larger districts. I wonder how often small schools are represented at "think tanks" like this and if the concern is ever the other way?

GWAEA district recruiting

Today our TQP team traveled to Victor for a 9 am meeting with Bill Lynch, Superintendent. Since we arrived a few minutes early I just had to go meet with the counselor . . . you know me, always needing something! :) Actually, Ron Orf, the counselor there was my high school counselor and the person whose position I accepted upon his "first" retirement. It was great to see him in his district for which he has worked part-time for four years.

Bill has been the superintendent at HLV for 31 years! Wow! He spoke about the reality of small rural districts and how it is important to get the right fit for folks as not all want to be in small districts or recognize its importance. It was also fun to connect with him and learn about all the folks he knew that we were connected to. For me it was Allan Hjelle, my first principal when I was at Underwood.

After our meeting at HLV we traveled to the Grant Wood AEA building. That was a thrill for me. It was strange to put on the "Visitor" badge and go upstairs. Unfortunately folks were not in that I had hoped to see but I left a few little smiley notes for them! :) I did get to talk with Andy Crozier, Keith Stamp and Trace Pickering, all of which I was delighted to see again. Oh, and Cathy, at the front desk!

We met there with Brian Rodenberg of Midland. He has also been in education for many years (30) although in seven different districts. He also knew people that we did. He had great questions such as preparation for candidates in small rural schools and whose responsibility the ARRA paperwork might be for the grant. His insight about community and relationships really resonated with me.

Great news! They both agreed to become involved and partner with us!

Hopefully this means I will get to meet up with more of the comrades I gained from my time at GWAEA.

Thanksgiving

The UNI Campus has gotten very quiet this week with no students roaming around . . . I think I have only seen three people on this floor in these three days. It is quiet enough that I have accomplished much reading.

As my mind turns to Thanksgiving I sit here in my office reading research about teacher effectiveness it gives me opportunity to reflect on the past year and my contacts with former students. Although I have not outrightly asked them if they felt I was an effective teacher I do from time to time get feedback that warms the heart.

For instance, Megan Meier McDonough, a student from Fredericksburg recently shared a story about her young son, Vaughn, and how she is teaching him about the moon phases. LLL (lit on the left in the last), LOL. And Amber Dilger O'Neill has told me how her involvement with the Envirothon shaped her career choice. Others have shared fond memories of science lessons including monarch tagging, jelly making, and dandelion eating. Although I haven't heard too many stories about my years as a school counselor, I hope also, that I made a contribution in some way to the lives I touched there as well.

I have no data to prove or disprove my effectiveness as a teacher but I do have small testimonials from former students that make me smile. I also have the knowledge that I did get better each year, with more experience, greater time for reflection, increased opportunities for professional development, exposure to students, and an awareness that teaching really does touch the future. Teaching is a profession that touches all others.

The longer I am away from the classroom the more I wish I could have the chance to go back and teach again. My goal is to teach would-be teachers and I think I have positioned myself in places to enrich my life and offer me the opportunity to be good at that. This makes me thankful for mentors along the way: David McCalley while a graduate student; John Verdon while a young teacher in Waverly; John Rothlisberger while teaching in Fredericksburg; Ed Redalen, Nancy Lockett, Karen Garvin, DJ Corson, and Julie Crotty while serving as AEA consultant; Marti Roling and Traci Penning while serving as school counselor; and Janel Lesan, Bruce Frana, Phyllis Anderson and Kelly Jones while at GWAEA. Many of my friends are teachers and people that I call on for advice along the way: Ginny Elliott, Di Sinclair, Kristie Schult, Jean Eells, Vern Fish. And then there is also a teacher that effected my growth and development all along, my grandmother, Aura Snyder.

Gosh, with all the publicity that teaching receives in the news I hope people take the time to recognize from where we have been as we look for direction into the future. Educators are some of the most flexible folks I know . . . it is with this flexibility and optimism for the future that we need to see how to guide the ship into the future for the next generation of learners. We have the capacity and we have the reason, we now need the enlightened vision of leaders both within and outside of education to collaborate.

Happy Thanksgiving . . . and be sure to thank and recognize your teachers (including those students from which we learn) and our mentors.

Two Big Events and Discovery of Presidential Sense of Humor

Yesterday (November 17) marked the first day of our newest team member, Leann Lewis. She will serve as Project Coordinator of TQP. It was great to be able to meet her and to give her a little bit of background on the project. I also gave her an abbreviated tour of our building and then we headed across campus to get her UNI ID card. As we were leaving that office we were asked if we were planning to attend the ground breaking celebration for the new campus apartments. We were not aware of the event but we decided to take advantage of the opportunity. There I ran into my friend Brenda Buzynski and we caught up a bit. We also heard the remarks of several dignitaries and what this building could come to mean to student life on campus. President Ben Allen had most of us laughing with his remarks about the brisk weather and his reserve from taking off his jacket for what that might mean to the fellows that would speak after him.

Later in the afternoon President Allen and Provost Gibson visited the College of Education. During the first half hour two projects were chosen to highlight their programs. The first was about USA and Olympic training opportunities through five world-class coaches. It was totally new info to me and I found it pretty incredible. Then Mary and Nadene presented about the TQP opportunity. Following this both the President and Provost made their remarks.

Again, President Allen showed his sense of humor. I laughed again (and again as I recall the story). Apparently both he and Gloria Gibson have a degree from the University of Indiana. Not far from the podium there was a broken chair on the stage. He felt it was appropriately welcoming that the COE had saved Bobby Knight's chair for the event. LOL! Interestingly enough, during the time for questions, Mary turned this comment around to ask when we might see some funding to renovate and update the building to keep up with the innovative education appropriate for our next generation learners.

Whoa and Wow

The "whoa" was attending a training session for "Managing Projects" offered by the Office for Sponsored Programs. There were moments when I wasn't sure I was even speaking the same language as the presenters. Fiscal management . . . how did I get here?! Did they really choose me for this position?! Me, the one who is fiscally challenged and overwhelmed with the amount of money I have overcommitted to in the remodeling/construction project for my home. My brain is in a panic. (Sigh)

The "wow" was visiting our first LEA district, Springville. We (Mary, Nadene, Dan and I) had a delightful visit with Terry Rhinehart. It appears that he is very interested in participating in our pilot project. We also had a good discussion while traveling to and fro.

Nadene said something that resonated with me and my mixed feelings of the day . . . if you can be comfortable with ambiguity then you possess a next generation skill.

What a Week

Whew . . . what a week!

Working on Logic Models takes lots of brain energy!

Good thing I have had many diversions in my "off"-time to keep me fresh:
~My eldest turned 18
~We traveled to Preston for football tourney game and we won 44-7
~Voted with my adult child
~We traveled to Cedar Rapids for volleyball tourney, beating Preston to get to state tourney
~Cooking class at my newly-found loved cabin (we made squash soup, paninis and pumpkin trifle)
~New flooring in my dining room & kitchen remodel
~Mock Trial practice

Getting ready to wind down the day in the office and head across Hudson Road to the UNIDome to watch the Tripoli Panthers in the Quarterfinals!! GO PANTHERS!

A corrected link . . .

One of the links posted earlier today does not appear to work. Try this instead:

http://blog.nj.com/njv_editorial_page/2010/11/teacher_evaluations_shoud_be_m.html

Visual Representations

As my mind twists and turns around the Logic Models I have found myself visualizing the life of the grant over the next five years in my mind.  In my attempts to get these thoughts on paper, I have turned to a couple of web-based tools.

One of these was Webspiration.  This allowed me to see the goals and objectives in a format other than a list or table.  If you are interested in seeing this the link is:
http://www.mywebspiration.com/view/625548a87cd

Then I turned to a tool that was introduced to me by my GWAEA colleague, Erica.  The Mindomo tool has many options.  My "mind map" is still in development as there are many things yet to place on as inputs, activities and outputs but this initial draft shows a large part of our current status of our work in progress on the grant.  If you are curious:  http://www.mindomo.com/edit.htm?m=af6c605a15684e13b40f90ebdd9dcbb6

Mary is in Kansas City today presenting about this and Nadene is in San Diego as part of the TPAC training.  

Over the last week I have seen several articles and references from other states (see below for two such links) talking about teacher evaluation and effective instruction.  Here we are, right in the midst of the national transformation.  Sort of exciting and overwhelming all at the same time.

http://blog.nj.com/njv_editorial_page/2010/11/teacher_evaluations_shoud_be

_m.html

http://www.teachermagazine.org/tm/articles/2010/10/22/pilotassessments.html?tkn=ZNYDpvo1ApI9NZ%2F3CJYT2LRfTJrvQkI3N9ja&intc=es

I am now going to do some reading.  On top of the list is an article by Linda Darling-Hammond entitled "Evaluating Teacher Effectiveness: How Teacher Performance Assessments Can Measure and Improve Teaching", October 2010.

Logic Models

The majority of this week I spent reading and re-reading the text of the grant.  My mission was to understand the goals, objectives and timeline of the next five years of the life of this grant.  Also, I spent time looking at various logic model examples, reading a chapter about how to write one, and participated in an online training on creating one.

After my head was full of both of these tasks and I received a pep talk from Julie, I set out to create my first set of logic models.  As of now I have the beginning of twelve different logic models on paper.  Next week I plan to get them up electronically so our team can look at them and add and detract from them as necessary so that these may become our working documents.

Another task of which I am in the midst is creating a progress report for our Dean on the TQP goals.  I have the information in a word notebook, now to just figure out the best way of representing it to pass on.

Two other documents I have worked to create are letters of recruitment for information and participation.  I am anxious for Mary and Nadene to have time to review them to see if I am even in the right place.

Dan has been busy working to create powerpoint slides for the five targeted audiences on our horizon.  He and I came up with some of the pertinent information from our meetings with Nadene and Mary and then he diligently went forward and created slides to match the content.

It has been a productive week and I am looking forward to the weekend.  Busy time for Tripoli Panther Fans and also a crazy time for me as Monday my child that started my motherhood becomes an adult . . . sigh . . . she wil be eighteen!

IACTE

 Last Thursday and Friday I attended the IACTE (Iowa Association of Colleges for Teacher Education).  This was a new place for me to be but I was excited to walk into a room where although the context was new, I found two people I knew and even recognized a few familiar faces.  The people I already knew and were able to connect with were:  Cheryl (Budlong) O'Brien, one of my education professors and early mentors from Wartburg College, and Barb Ehlers, a good friend and ICEC Co-Chair now teaching at Upper Iowa University.  The familiar faces were from UNI and UIU but also a couple from my time at IMSEP in August and one from GWAEA/U of Iowa.

Friday morning's session was presented by Circe Stumbo (West Wind Education Policy, Inc) and Nadene Davidson.  They presented the Model Core Teaching Standards form InTASK (Interstate Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium).  I liked Nadene's comment that, this isn't just about tinkering or tweaking but rather a major systems change!  This has been a continual theme I have heard in education over the last two years and I am glad I had the opportunity to talk about second order change in Advanced Contemporary School Leadership last year at GWAEA (Thanks, Susan Leddick).

I sat at a table with the staff of three from Faith Baptist Bible College and a UNI colleage, Dianna Briggs.  She said something that really resonated with me and that I want to keep with me and share with  others.  We need to move beyond the sage on the stage and guide on the side to "Mentor in the Center".  Wow!

Perhaps most stimulating were the comments about public policy related to teacher standards.  In the national arena there is movement toward measuring "Teacher Effectiveness" (what the teacher can do) and beyond the traditional from NCLB, "Teacher Quality" (what the teacher knows).  So how do we measure teacher effectiveness?  Policy folks are tempted to take the student test scores (which are known to be valid & reliable) and connect these to teachers and then to take the teachers and make the connection to their teacher prep programs.  Or another option is the value-added models but the psychometrics aren't strong enough to differentiate the "middle" 80% of folks.  Currently Iowa is involved with the SMARTER Balanced Assessment Consortium to determine achievement on Common Core . . . perhaps through authentic measures.

The afternoon I attended the session on Iowa Core and what is happening with Assessment for Learning.  Kris Kilibarda (Central College) hosted the session and invited Julie Hukee (AEA 11) and Sue Uppdegraff (AEA 1).  I was amazed to learn how few in IHE knew about the Characteristics of Effective Instruction.  The moodle site was introduced and there was emphatic emphasis on the urgency of getting the teacher prep programs and the AEA Iowa Core teams on the same page and in the same conversation.

This made me feel like I had a place and role to play . . . I sent off an email to my GWAEA friends and we have engaged in the conversation and will continue to do so~

Today I attended the IACTE (Iowa Association of Colleges for Teacher Education) Conference in Ames. Mary, Nadene, Sue & Mary Beth introduced the TQP project.

Orientation

Today was Orientation for new employees.  Evidently they hold these sessions once a month.  It just so happens that I have begun my position already on October 1.  And I have already needed to take emergency leave even though I didn't know how to account for it until now.  sigh~

The session began at 8 am and it went until 4:30.  Many different campus personalities arrived at various times during the day to tell about what was offered.  Highlights included two free tickets to a Gallagher Bluedorn performance and a free day pass to the Wellness Center!

Besides learning about various services we were also informed about our benefits (of which there are several) and vacation/holidays.  As an 11 month P&S faculty member I will need to work 208 days with 9 paid holidays.  Mostly I think I understand but there is much more to this than I figured.  The UNI website is rich with information if I only take the time to look.  Something particularly new to me is that I will need to fill out a monthly time card.  This time card is for us to indicate when we are not at work and to indicate the reason why.  I hope I remember to do this!

Lunch was on Human Resources.  We ate right in the Union which I hadn't done since 1990 when I think there was a Hardees to choose from.  Times have changed!

State Leadership

Today I traveled to Des Moines for the State Leadership Team meetings.  This is a new format for the Department of Education.  I was encouraged to see pK-16 representation and hope this continues.

It was fun to walk in and see my Grant Wood colleagues seated together~both math and science.  I was able to pull up a chair and join them.  It was so good to see them again and to be able to share our thoughts and to catch up on projects.

Kevin Fangman, acting DoE director, opened the morning session.  He gave an over view of the Common Core which now becomes the Iowa Core following the recent adoption (translates to standards, word for word).  He was excited to have the inclusion of IHE at this meeting.  Another highlight of which he wanted us to all be aware was that Iowa is one of several states participating in an assessment consortium~more information to come as they develop.

He also was very impressed with New Tech High and their interdisciplinary approach and hopes that we consider this during our discussions.  He mentioned that he had seen them on Saturday at UNI!

The key difference between the Iowa Core an Common Core is that the Common Core is by grade sections and the Iowa Core is organized by grade clusters.  The key similarity is they are both a set of shared goals and expectations for student success.

The next session was on STEM education, facilitated by Jeff Weld.  A common thread for all STEM topics is that of the Inquiry Process.  One group offered the thought of whether STEM was exclusionary . . . for instance, what about the Arts?  I quipped that it could be STEAM.  The discussion turned to integration rather than splintering.  Following this was teaching literacy through science as the content and including problem solving and higher order thinking skills.   Jeff encouraged us to become a member of iowastem.org (currently a group of 70)

Some "take aways" for me today that parallel some of the thoughts that I have had for TQP:

• Integration of PK-16
• Change Process (Institutional Constraints fo Development)
• Theory of Action/Logic Model
• Statement made:  Iowa put a schoolhouse on our quarter, are we living up to it?  It made me ask, should we be?  Should we limit education to brick and mortar and the four walls of a classroom?  I think not and challenge us to go beyond the schoolhouse and value all forms of education.

The Unexpected

My blog has been interrupted for an unexpected chain of events . . .

Ever since my childhood when my father took our family to Canada for summer vacation I have had an affinity for the North Woods.  So when my sister said she had the use of a cabin in Ely for the weekend, I decided to go and clear my mind and rejuvenate; leaving Friday evening after Austin's football game Megan, Conner, Kenny and I arrived at 3:30 am.  We enjoyed our time on the lake, near waterfalls, at the International Wolf Center evening feeding of the wolves and then the drive along the North Shore for Gooseberry Falls and smooth stone collecting.

As we neared the Iowa border I received a text from my mother saying, "I just had my chair break and my foot was under it and I cannot put any weight on it."  Calls to my daughter, Erica, and sister, Ally,  sent them to her house and found her crawling on the floor.  Ally took her to the ER around 8:30 pm while Erica and Austin watched Cameron and Cade til I arrived at 10 pm.  Her ankle turned out to be broken in three spots and she will have surgery on Wednesday.

So yesterday morning I attended our research meeting and took notes.  After that I spent the day with mom at the hospital making calls and being proactive about her care with my sister, Ally.

Today I have been at the hospital for a short time this morning and then I created a Google Site for me to keep track of details of our work and then have been grappling with the timeline and the concept of a logic model to organize our work.

I am going to close for today and go back to visit at the hospital.  I will hope to post again on Thursday and get back "on track" on Friday as long as all goes well for my mom . . .

Reading . . .

On Thursday I met with Jody Stone and we worked on a crosswalk between the Iowa Teaching Standards, the Iowa Core's Characteristics of Effective Instruction, and the AACTE Teaching Standards.  What interesting work.  We were not able to get very far partially due to time but also because of the rich discussion that engaged us.

I also spent some time getting to know Ksenia and Zeina.  K is from Russia and working on her EdD here in Curriculum and Instruction.  She had taught in an elementary school in Russia before coming here.  Z is from Lebanon (we had fun talking about Tripoli (ee) and Tripoli (la)).  She is working on her doctoral degree in Educational Psychology. 

Today I have been reading and continuing to wrap my mind around the tasks ahead.  And a friend from my summer after high school graduation and a parent from my years of teaching at Fredericksburg, Linda Rosulek, was walking through the hall and saw me and stopped in.  How fun to see her!

This afternoon UNI's College of Education is hosting a Leaders in Education Lecture Series in the Maucker Union, Old Central Ballroom.  Mary and Nadene have both been quite involved with the planning of this.  The featured keynote is Sharon Robinson who currently serves as the President and CEO of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE).  Her topic is "Envisioning a Premier Pre-K through 12 Teacher and Educational Leader Preparation Program: An Institutional Commitment".  I am excited to hear her and hopefully meet her as well.

Following her talk a reception is planned to welcome the new College of Education dean, Dr. Dwight C. Watson.

If you are in the area and have an interest in teacher preparation, please plan to join us from 3:30 until 6 pm.

At the end of a full day . . .

As I sit at my desk looking out at campus I am amazed by the swarm of Asian beetles that have chosen to make our bank of windows their temporary home.  I only hope they don't find their way in!  The trees are taking on their autumn colors and the late-afternoon sun gives them great highlights.

This morning was filled with three meetings.  The first was a teleconference with our Iowa Department of Education representatives, Mary Beth and Sue.  Our task was to put together a half hour introductory session about the grant for the October 21 IACTE Conference in Ames.

As I was leaving my office to go to Bartlett Hall I noticed a woman coming down the hall looking at room numbers.  Soon I recognized her as Ana Housel, a friend from my graduate school days!  What a pleasure to see her again!  She had heard I was on campus and brought me an "office warming" gift of a plant.  This is the first time in many years I have had an office with sunlight to have a plant so it is very appropriate.  What a wonderful and thoughtful gift.  It sure looks nice, too.  Thank you, Ana!

Next I met with Christie in the Office of Sponsored Programs.  She also introduced me to some of her staff with which I will consult.  It is their role to assist with all the details of grant programs and it is here that I will turn with many of my early questions.  All I have to remember is 4-3-2-1. It is also here that it sunk in that my title "Program Manager" truly means that I am a manager. (A what?!  Celina, help!)  After hearing it described that way for the third time, an uneasy feeling came over me and I exclaimed, "but I am an educator".   Sigh.  Guess I will learn to be both.  Two books loaned to me to read are:  "You're in Charge-Now What?" and "The Accidental Leader". 

Then the rest of the TQP (Teacher Quality Partnership) Team (Mary, Nadene, Dan) joined me in a meeting at the Office of Sponsored Programs with Christie, Paul and Anita.  Here we talked about the Logic Model, using TQP to build capacity, operationalizing the elements of effective instruction, documenting our process, whether or not we will be at the table for TPAC, process evaluation, our elevator speech, PAIT, a potential Brown Bag Lunch, and using social media to stay transparent.

For the afternoon Dan and I worked on a visual way of making sense of the goals and objectives for the grant and I went over to get my UNI ID card.  On the way back I stopped in to talk with Jane and Beth from yesterday.  They both made me feel welcome to the campus and we have vowed to find time to have lunch soon.

My mind is full and there will be more to learn tomorrow~

Room with a View

As I hit the top of the stairs on the fifth floor I look out onto the campus, catching my breath, and check the time on the Campanile.  Then I round the corner into 525 where I am greeted to an office with windows!  In the Schindler Education Center (sort of a roundish square building with a strange room numbering system)these are high commodity spaces and I am thrilled to have the view.  From the far side of the office I can look west and get a view of the UNI Dome.  Oddly enough, there are people walking on top of it as I write.  I am told they are doing repairs . . . not the type of work I would want to do.  I wonder if they do windows though (the windows here on the 5th floor need washing!)  From my desk as I look out I am oriented toward the south and I see West Gym, the Curris Business Building, the Strayer-Wood Theater, the Communication Arts Center and the Kamerick Art Building.  It really is a great view!  If you are ever on campus, let me know or stop by.  My phone on campus is 319/273-7631.

Yesterday (I am still not "on" the date yet~the remodeling project at home has me displaced and staying at my mom's for a bit and just don't have it all together yet) I received my keys for my office and this building.  One small step at a time it is feeling like a new home.  I have a picture of the kids in here and one from Isle Royale but due to the remodeling project at home I still haven't found all my items to bring to personalize my space yet. . . that day will come.

Mary gave me a tour of the building (six floors and a basement) yesterday.  Not only was I able to meet some new folks but I was also able to get reaquainted with several from my past.  Most notably, a former roommate of mine from my short stint off-campus during my senior year at Wartburg (fall of 1985).  When Mary said Jane Bentley-Gadow, my jaw dropped.  Although Jane was in class with students, Mary could see the urgency in my eyes to reconnect with this piece of my past.  Jane instantly recognized me and we shared a hug and laughter for a brief moment before Mary and I continued on our way and allowed Jane to complete her work.  I look forward to popping in on her again today.

Barb Hill from Tripoli is also in the building; a friend from my days as naturalist in Pocahontas County is adjunct and a doctoral student, Beth Van Meeteren; Greg Stefanich and Linda McCartney are here from my days in graduate school; Linda Nebbe is just down the hall, whom I knew in my naturalist days as a rehabilitator; Lois Lindell is also here and I knew her from Wartburg as well.  So many new and familiar faces and all very welcoming.  And the package comes with a room with a view~life is good!

More Clarity

October 4 we had a conference meeting via Polycom with the external review team from the University of Iowa.  Our team on-site included our researchers (4 of 5 available), Mary, Dan, and myself.  Nadene was in Washington DC for a P21 meeting.  We are also missing a Department of Education representative.  We will continue these meetings each Monday at 8 am.   Mid-December is our deadline to have a draft of the initial research findings compiled.

Then Mary sat with Dan and I and shared the vision, ideas, and questions as well as some direction for each of us in the coming days.  We may just be on the right path at the right time.  Energized by Mary's comment, "If we get this right, Iowa will be leading the nation."   WOW!

I also now have a new email address:  stacey.snyder@uni.edu

In the Beginning . . .

Yesterday was my first day . . . I was able to meet all sorts of people~even the President!  The morning was spent on paperwork and purchasing a parking permit and beginning the long process of internet and email access (still none!)

Spent the afternoon reading through the actual grant itself to learn what it is we will be doing.  Entitled "State of Iowa Teacher Quality Partnership Program" submitted by State of Iowa Department of Education and participating entities: Iowa Department of Education, University of Northern Iowa, and Stanford University School Redesign Network.

Mission: to increase the learning and achievement of Iowa PK-12 students by continuously developing more highly effective teachers from pre-service through the entire teaching career.  A key innovation is development and implementation of an integrated technology platform to store digital artifacts documenting effective teaching.

Some key phrases from the grant:  universal design for learning, teacher work samples, communities of practice (collaborative teams), and Performance Assessment of Iowa Teachers (PAIT).

For more information please see our website at  www.uni.edu/tqp

Transition

My life isn't necessarily new to change or transition and I don't necessarily shy away from it but this change seems to be different for some reason.  As a friend said, it is "pivotal" . . . I like that. 

It is strange to me to leave a position that I truly loved.  It was the first time in my professional career where I truly felt I was a respected and valued member of a team.  Actually, more than one team.  The relationships created will stay with me forever.  Memories of thinking till my brain was numb, being energized by conversation, creating and innovating new ways of approaching work with schools and the synergy of sharing in the work of doing what's best for kids.

"Best for kids" is the only reason I am leaving . . . maybe it sounds ironic, but now I am talking about my own 3 kids.  Traveling to Grant Wood AEA would have me on the road 2.5 hours a day.  As another friend said, decisions about job changes made for family are never wrong.  With my new position that starts today at UNI I will only be gone from home for travel about an hour.  And the opportunities to work with both pre-service and in-service teachers on something that matters: quality teaching, seems like a great place to be.

So the new journey begins today with the support of my friends at Grant Wood AEA and a new sense of eagerness to meet the co-workers with which I will join on this five year venture through the $9 million dollar grant.  Here we go!

Thank you for opportunities and courage to try the unknown . . . where would our world be without people who ventured in these ways~