Memorandum of Courses

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

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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.

Sean Bailey

Here is the e-mail contact for Sean Bailey: seabail@lps.org.

Why David Letterman was brilliant

Questionnaire

General Guidelines and Expectations

MAet Fall 2015 Semester Overview

MAet students have five (!) classes to complete this semester on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays (on campus), including one evening course.  Lincoln Public Schools interns will be in classrooms for full day on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  UNL officially begins on August 24^th. 

1.     2015-16 Calendar. MAet interns are required to generally follow the Lincoln Public Schools’ Elementary Teacher Calendar. There are days when interns will be required to attend seminars or other events on campus. The UNL and LPS calendars do not align (e.g., fall break, holidays, etc.), but we ask interns to follow the LPS calendar. 

2.     LPS Professional/Work Days in August. It is always difficult to require UNL students, in non-student teaching semesters, to participate in non-University functions prior to the start of a semester. Nevertheless, we will be strongly encouraging interns to communicate cooperating teachers (CTs) about joining them in any professional or work day activities, August 7 and 10-11. Interns are completing UNL coursework Aug. 3-6.  It is up to the CT’s discretion and what she believes is useful for intern learning about the school and classroom.  Any participation prior to August 7^th is to be negotiated between the intern and the CT. Generally speaking, we would like the intern to “shadow” CTs, and participate in, in-service and professional development events the CT attends at this time.

3.     School site days. The program provides Tuesday and Thursday for interns to be at school all-day. Interns will follow CTs before and after school times for arrival and dismissal and CTs are encouraged to work personally with interns in determining and reinforcing these times.

4.     Field assignments. Interns will talk with CTs about field assignments from their fall coursework. Interns will be required to complete observations and teach small lessons for their UNL methods courses.

It is the responsibility of the intern to keep the CT informed about assigned lessons, to seek out advice on how to complete these and how they can best complement, not compete with, curriculum objectives for LPS.

5.     Cooperating Teacher Role. Cooperating teachers determine how much the intern should be active in the classroom and when. At the beginning of the experience many interns often need specific direction and will wait to be told what to do. The CT will, offer concrete suggestions, however the intern should always be actively pursuing involvement and not get into a habit of waiting to be told what to do.

During the semester, the intern may, for instance, work one-on-one with students, assist with small groups, help students during seat-time, grade papers, etc. There may be times CTs think the intern simply needs to observe students at work (up close, not from afar in the back of the room). Interns should never be reluctant to take initiative and be aware of what is being taught and learned. As the semester progresses, CTs may feel the intern is ready “take over” small things such as openings, walking to and from other classrooms and specials, etc.

Each intern’s experience will look different and while they may hear about other interns doing different things, we trust that CTs know what is best for their classroom and students as they ease the interns into the life of a teacher.

6.     Supervisor visits. Lynna Gene Cook will make weekly visits to the classroom in the fall semester. She will not have a formal instructional role (i.e., a class), but will act as a facilitator to support the CT in mentoring, advise the intern on completing field assignments, and troubleshoot any conflicts that may emerge.

7.     Fall evaluation. The fall practicum requires an evaluation that offers the intern formative feedback and a final Pass/No Pass grade. This grade determines whether the intern may continue in the program in January. Lynna Gene will coordinate gathering CTs input and 3-way meetings with the CT and the intern.

8.     Parent-Teacher conferences. While UNL coursework always takes priority, we strongly encourage the interns to attend any parent teacher conferences in both the fall and spring semesters. CTs can decide the level of interaction they wish interns to have, but this is a great opportunity to meet parents and for CTs to explain communicating with parents. Interns will be expected to attend these nights during the Spring student teaching experience.

9.     Professional Learning Communities. We expect interns to attend PLCs on the fourth Tuesday of each month (except January when they have a class, see below) and attend staff and/or team meetings that occur on their fall practicum days.

10.  After-school activities.  Interns may want to participate in after-school activities, family nights, bike rodeos, or other school activities.  However, these activities are optional during first semester.  The first priority is to complete and pass five graduate classes with high marks.  We encourage interns to participate in after- school activities, but without sacrificing study-time to complete assignments.

11.  IEP and MDT meetings. Interns should attend MDT, IEP and other student conferences on practicum days, as appropriate. These are sensitive, but they are invaluable learning experiences.  CTs will check with the principal and building SPED coordinator to approve intern attendance at these meetings.  This is an opportunity for interns to learn about confidentiality of these meetings.

12.  Spring Student Teaching, looking ahead.  Student Teaching in the spring for MAet students has a slightly different timeframe than for a traditional student teacher. We will provide additional information about the student teaching semester in November, but provide the following general items for your information:

a.     Student Teaching Phases.  As described in the UNL Student Teaching Handbook, formal student teaching has 3 “phases”.  For the MAet this 2015-16 year the phases are scheduled as follows:

b.     Student Teaching Phase 1.  The interns will begin the LPS spring term, January 4, and be at school every day that entire week. Beginning Jan. 11, the interns will be attending a mini-session at UNL for 4 weeks. During this mini-session interns will reduce their time in the classroom to the equivalent of 2 full days/week (as they did in the fall).  This schedule should be negotiated between the CT and intern and you and may be a combination of one full day and two half-days, or 2 full days. Our goal is to maintain continuity and facilitate the transition to Phase 2. 

In Phase 1, intern should plan with the CT the how s/he will make the transition to Phase 2 and take on teaching responsibilities, how testing and test prep will be managed, etc.  Phase I is an excellent time for interns to visit other classrooms, including other grade levels and “specials” such as music and art, to talk with and see the SPED teachers at work, and to talk generally with other staff such as school psychologists or counselors about issues they work with when seeing children.

c.     Student Teaching Phase 2.  Interns should assume full teaching responsibilities as much as possible by Feb. 8.  They will be at school every day like a traditional student teacher (with the exception of Education Recruitment Day on the UNL campus in late March).

We are aware that circumstance and readiness moderate the transition to full-time student teaching. However, it is extremely important that the interns experience complete, full-time teaching responsibility as much and as early as possible. This is crucial to both their learning and to their eventual employability. CTs will create a plan in Phase I where the intern will fully “solo” teach no later than March 14. 

d.     Student Teaching Phase 3.  This is different for the MAet interns as they stay with CT through the end of school year; there is no need for a “transition back” to the cooperating teacher. Nevertheless, there remains “final reflection” and closure. Interns still stand to learn a great deal about wrapping up and reflecting upon the school year and thinking ahead to a career in the classroom.

During Phases 2 and 3 all general expectations remain in place e.g., participating in PLCs, team meetings, school-wide, staff meetings, MDT & IEP meetings, etc.  Specific information regarding the student teaching experience will be shared in November.

13.  Substitute teaching.  Interns are not permitted to substitute teach during the fall semester as they have much learning to do. They may, however, substitute after all UNL coursework (papers, exams, etc.) is completed in December, assuming they have completed the LPS substitute certification process.

In the November information we will clarify the formal CEHS policy for substitute teaching in the spring semester as it applies to the MAet.

14.  Other questions?  Contact Lynna Gene Cook! She is your go-to and she is ready to help with any questions or concerns:

E-mail: lcook5@unl.edu

Tel:      402.420.4620 (home)

Invest in a notebook

I urge you to invest in a high quality, hardcover, bound notebook that is dedicated to your MAet work and experience.

REVISED: Summer Course Registration & Enrollment

See changes in RED.    Also, we will administratively add you to TEAC 890 this summer due to the time conflict.  Please enroll in the other courses and email Jess Hustad when complete.

SUMMER 2015 COURSES

Course #	Class #	Section	Time	Days	Dates	Instructor
TEAC 800	4330	301	0830-1200P	MTWR	5/19-6/6	S. Swidler
TEAC 813M	4336 15836	592	12:30-0400pm	TWR	6/14-7/10	S. Wessels
CYAF 971	4618	691	MTW 9-12pm (first week) and then online	MTW	7/6-8/7	J. Torquati
TEAC 890	4419	693	0800-0600P	MTWRF	7/13-7/17	C. Rudasill
TEAC 861	4086 4338	691	0100-0400P	MTWR	7/20-8/7	E. Bruening

Welcome to the MAet Blog!

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