CANCELLED

There seem to be too many scheduling conflicts and regretfully we need to cancel. Happy Holidays all the same!

Dr. Wessels and I would like to invite you to join us Friday, at 4:00 PM, at Yia Yia's and celebrate the end of the semester.

Info for LPS Student Teachers

If you are student teaching second semester in LPS (that is all of you even thought you do not begin until February 8!): Information meeting - January 22, 2016 8:30 until 11:30 a.m. LPSDO in the Board room. There is no registration, just show up and sign the attendance sheet.

MAet SPRING 2016 COURSES ENROLLMENT INFO

Students search with CLASS number (see directions below).

****Be sure to select the appropriate number of credit hours from the drop down menu when enrolling.****  Email jess@unl.edu if you have registration problems.

Spring Semester 2016

Information on the spring semester schedule:

Talking to children about terrorism: Start from their questions

Mental Health Break

Happy Halloween

  

Math NAEP Scores Drop for 4th and 8th Grades

From Education Week today:

U.S. 4th and 8th grade students are performing worse in math, and somewhat worse in reading, than they were two years ago, according to new data from a national test. 

The results were a surprise to some since scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress had been showing an upward trend over the last two decades.

read more>>

How Can UNL Students Get a Flu Shot?

Make an appointment by calling 402-472-5000.

It is highly recommended to make an appointment to get your flu shot at the University Health Center.

Walk-in flu shots are available during the following times, but due to the high traffic in the Medical Clinic, expect a wait.

Monday-Thursday: 7:45-11:30 am
Friday: 8:00-11:30 am and 1:30-4:00 pm

more info here>>>

You can help protect the most vulnerable groups by getting vaccinated yourself

Here is why you should get vaccinated.

Good words

Better late than never

If our kids had more free time at school, what would you want them to do with it?

A) Learn to play a musical instrument?
B) Study a new language?
C) Learn how to code HTML?
D) Take more standardized tests?

Take the quiz, then watch President Obama's message about smarter ways to measure our kids’ progress in school.

The President finally concedes that there is too much testing and his administration and his Education Secretary have done nothing about it. Better late that never, I guess. If there is one area that the Obama administration has failed badly, it is in education policy. It doubled down on testing and made life miserable for teachers and chased amy away. 

Columbus Day

Extra Cash

It is now OK for you to go ahead to register for the ETS NOTE pilot test. Yeah, $250 cash. You should use the e-mail contact on the flyer to initiate the process: Collaborate@ets.org.

Once you e-mail them, you will get information on how to register. It will be just the same way you registered for taking the PRAXIS CORE exam at the Prometric test center.

I want you take this as close to the Dec. 4 deadline as possible.  The more of your reading and math methods coursework you have behind you the better your score and more valid the results.

Math Studio Visit Update

It will work out for the entire cohort to visit the Math Studio classrooms on Wednesday and Thursday of Oct. 28 and 29. 

You should verify with your CT that you will need to leave both of those days early from your internship site so you can travel and arrive at the school before 1 PM. Again,  you should verify with Dr. Heaton the particulars of the visit.

Mental Health Break

Math Studio Visit

Dr. Ruth Heaton has arranged for you for visit schools that are using Math Studio. This is a fine and rare opportunity to see cutting-edge mathematics education and teacher professional development up-close and that is firmly aligned with your math methods class. 

There are 2 schools in the Omaha Public Schools for these visits. This will involve half the cohort visiting one school, the other half visiting another, for 2 consecutive afternoons 12:30-3:30 PM half-days. The dates are Oct. 28-29 and Nov. 4-5 respectively. 

What you need to do.  Consult your schedule and speak with your CT. Determine which of the 2 days is better for you apropos any field assignments you are doing at your internship site. After your course field assignments, anything else is a secondary concern at this point (TEAC 894 is not full-time student teaching, but a deliberately flexible practicum to take advantage of opportunities like Math Studio). If there are major conflicts with any assignments let me know.

I would like you to do this ASAP (today) so that when you arrive at your TEAC 808 class tomorrow, you and Dr. Heaton can finalize the plan. This will involve a commute and you should plan on leaving Lincoln 11-11:30 AM (think about car pooling). This will still permit you to be at your internship site in the AM. 

Have a great week!

Supermoon

LiveText, Hold On!

If you have not purchased a LiveText account yet, please do not do so. Wait to hear from Jess.

Substitute Teaching in LPS

There have been a few questions and comments about substitute teaching.  Here are the things to keep in mind apropos the MAet.

• Substitute teaching cannot be considered a form of income. CEHS student teachers are allowed to sub a maximum of 10 5 times.
• In order become a certified local substitute teacher, a school system must request the certification. LPS will only recommend issuing a certificate if you have gone through a complete application process.
• A complete application process requires completing a formal “orientation”. The orientation sessions are always scheduled on a Friday, early in the month, from 8:00 am – 1 pm.
• Given that your TEAC 811A class is scheduled 10:30 am-1:20 pm on Friday until Dec. 11, and that the instructor has clear expectations for “professional commitment and class participation,” the earliest orientation you could attend is Jan. 15.
• You can begin your application today, and you should, but it will not be compete until you do the orientation and take the TeacherInsight test.
• Here are some salient points about that Gallup TeacherInsight test. 

• You only get to take it once per school district. No “re-takes” in the short-term.
• You will never learn your score. Hard cheese.
• Like many districts, LPS uses it as a screen for applicants and it sets a cut-score for whether an application is reviewed for an interview (this is the right of a school district to screen applicants the way it wants).
• The score you get when you take it for a sub application is the same score that will be used for an application for any other certified teaching position in a district.
• It is a timed, forced-choice test with multiple choice and Likert scale questions. No time for reflection.
• You can prepare for it only by knowing what it is about. There is no way to “study” for it since it is not about content (subject matter), teaching or curriculum. It is a “values inventory.”
• You can read one of the only published scholarly articles on the TI here.

I will offer a small information workshop in December for those who are interested. 

Note from Melanie Kellogg re: LiveText

Good news about LiveText

I have some good news. The CEHS Dean and the Chair of TLTE have advocated for you to receive donated funds that will cover the cost of your LiveText account.  We are all sensitive to the out of pocket expense of LiveText, especially for students like you who are here for only one year.

Next week you will hear from Jess Hustad about how these funds will be processed. You will also be hearing from Melanie Kellogg in the Dean’s office about your writing thank you notes to the College benefactors who have donated the funds so you can have the LiveText account at no cost.

Mental Health Break

LiveText

By now you have gotten the letter from Dean Kostelnik about LiveText.  Please look it over and let me know if you have any questions.

Great Story About Student Teaching

Matthew Dicks is a legendary storyteller and Moth story slam champion. He tells a great story about why it is important to know the kids.

 

Teachers on the Common Core

Miriam Hall has a nice blog called Schooled. She has been reporting on what teachers think of the Common Core. She has gathered some thoughtful reflections about how they have encountered the Common Core, how it has changed their work (for the better), and the biggest misconceptions.

There is a consistent theme running through their comments: 

There's a conflation of the standards and standardized testing...what they're really pushing back against is an increase in standardized testing, which is not in the Common Core at all. Common Core is a set of standards.

I think that people are confused...It’s a completely different thing than the set of standards.

In its heart it's just trying to elevate the standards across the U.S. I don't think the government's trying to take over our lives and rule who we are through the world of education...That said, I'd be remiss to not talk about the testing. And the testing is the worst thing ever.

Common Core...is based off of the same math principles that have allowed people to be successful at math for a long time. It's just actually expecting students to understand underlying principles.

The Common Core standards are what teachers are required to teach and what students should be able to do independently. The standardized tests are supposed to evaluate the Common Core standards. When people are protesting against standardized tests, I 100 percent support that.

I think the biggest issue that causes the political hullabaloo about the Common Core is that people think that testing mechanisms are the Common Core.

Read more here and here.

Feel bad at math?

Here is one reason why. Chase Felker writes:

It seems that the origin of math phobia is not the content of math itself; it cannot rest solely on someone’s inability to sit through logic puzzles, because people exercise careful abstract reasoning in every other field without the same sort of fear. Instead, I think the form is largely to blame. All of high school math is basically a one-way linear staircase that leads to calculus. If you fall off at any point, you’re doomed.

read more>>>

The Potluck is On!

            When:   Friday, Sept. 11
                           5:30 - 8:30 PM, or beyond
           Where:   5235 S. 75th St.
What to bring: This is a guided potluck. Sign up here. 

Scheduling Glitch

The Dept. apologizes for the problem in scheduling overlap with TEAC 808 and SPED 801A. This will be resolved by the end of the week and you will be notified of any alteration of the Tuesday schedule. Never worry about the MAet; there has never been a problem that we could not resolve.

Have a great Wed and Thurs at school!

FYI

Sometimes there is confusion, but you should NOT attend the Fall Professional Development Day on the UNL campus August 24. That is for those who are doing their full-time student teaching in the fall.  There will be one for you in the spring 2016.

Required Reading

I cannot recommend strongly enough this new, powerful book by Ta-Nehisi Coates:

It is my hope that you have and will develop commitments to working to close the "opportunity gap". This requires that you have some social justice sensibilities and a disposition to embrace diversity in your work as practitioner. Strong empathy begins with knowledge of others' experience: you cannot feel what you do not know.  Any effective elementary teacher is disposed to not only see things from children's point of view, but to feel it. What children bring to school includes their cultural history, even though they cannot articulate it (can you articulate your own?). It is your professional and moral obligation know about school, society, history and your students' cultural inheritance.  I hope you can join Coates when he says:  "When the final tally comes up, I would like to say I was on the side of the people who were trying to not live in a world with subjugation."  As a teacher you have special opportunity to actually do things to be on that side of you commit yourself to being on that side.

Read an excerpt from the book here>>>

Check out this interview with the author:

The Daily Show
Daily Show Full Episodes,  More Daily Show Videos,  Comedy Central Full Episodes

Pluto

PLC Question

Heather,

A good rule of thumb is to start with the district schedule. The SPED 801 instructor has traditionally allowed students to leave early on the few days there are PLCs. But one should always be respectful, not presumptuous or demanding,  and ask her if this is possible. Remember, UNL coursework always is the priority in the fall. Wednesdays and Thursdays are the dedicated time for being at the school site and PLCs are strongly encouraged when possible since they are opportunities to see collegiality in action.

SAS

Sent by Outlook for Android

On Sat, Jul 11, 2015 at 8:56 AM -0700, "Heather" <heatherrichey@hotmail.com> wrote:
Good morning Dr. Swidler, I have noticed that on the schedule I received from my CT the scheduled time for PLCs at Elliott is 1:50 PM on Tuesdays.  I notice that the time listed on the MAet calendar is 2:30 PM on Tuesdays.  In talking with other cohort members it seems as though they are also on early dismal schedules of 1:50 PM on Tuesdays.  With the difference in time I'm wondering how this will impact the cohort's Special Education course on Tuesday afternoons.   Kind regards, Heather Richeyheatherrichey@Hotmail.com

U...S...A!

I Hear America Singing by Walt Whitman

I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear,
Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe
     and strong,
The carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam,
The mason singing his as he makes ready for work, or leaves off
     work,
The boatman singing what belongs to him in his boat, the
     deckhand singing on the steamboat deck,
The shoemaker singing as he sits on his bench, the hatter singing
     as he stands,
The wood-cutter’s song, the ploughboy’s on his way in the
     morning, or at noon intermission or at sundown,
The delicious singing of the mother, or of the young wife at
     work, or of the girl sewing or washing,
Each singing what belongs to him or her and to none else,
The day what belongs to the day—at night the party of young
     fellows, robust, friendly,
Singing with open mouths their strong melodious songs.

Advising Meeting

Please sign up for an advising meeting this fall here.

The 14th Amendment

This week shows us the power of the 14th Amendment of the Constitution:

Section 1.
All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

Here is the conclusion of Justice Anthony Kennedy's majority opinion today, and it could not be any clearer:

No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice, and family. In forming a marital union, two people become something greater than once they were. As some of the petitioners in these cases demonstrate, marriage embodies a love that may endure even past death. It would misunderstand these men and women to say they disrespect the idea of marriage. Their plea is that they do respect it, respect it so deeply that they seek to find its fulfillment for themselves. Their hope is not to be condemned to live in loneliness, excluded from one of civilization’s oldest institutions. They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law. The Constitution grants them that right.

read!>>>

Mental Health Break

TEAC 894

A technologic step needs to be taken to allow you to register for 16 credit hours in the fall, i.e., adding TEAC 894. This should be resolved within the next 24 hours.

Fall Enrollment

Lynn Gene's Checklist

Click here to download

It is rigged

You asked for it

Memorandum of Courses

Please download and then fill out the top of this form with your information. Bring it with you to class Wednesday.

download

Historic Day

Whatever your personal stance on the death penalty, this was a historic day.

From the NY Times:

LINCOLN, Neb. — Nebraska on Wednesday became the first conservative state in more than 40 years to abolish the death penalty, with lawmakers defying their Republican governor, Pete Ricketts, a staunch supporter of capital punishment who had lobbied vigorously against banning it.

Opponents of the death penalty here were able to build a coalition that spanned the ideological spectrum by winning the support of Republican legislators who said they believed capital punishment was inefficient, expensive and out of place with their party’s values, as well as that of lawmakers who cited religious or moral reasons for supporting the repeal. 

Amazing. Nebraska NEVER leads the nation on social and political issues. Today it did. This organization was important in forming an effective legislative strategy. George Norris would be proud of what the unicameral did this day.

Read more here, the OWH here and the LJS here.

This is a nice piece by Matthew Hansen in the World Herald.