College of Education

Eastern Michigan University

Issue No: 112
November 15, 1993

FACULTY NOTES

We neglected to mention last week that Thomas Fleming was part of the EMU delegation to the Renaissance Group meeting at Sam Houston State University in Texas recently.

Leah Adams and Jerry Robbins are at Yale University the first part of this week, attending a briefing session on the Yale Child Study Center's Comer Project for Change in Education.  This is in connection with EMU's role as the "university partner" in the Skillman Foundation's work with the Detroit schools.

Robbie Johnson will attend a called meeting of the Michigan Deans Council in East Lansing on Monday.  The meeting is in response to proposed legislation adversely affecting administrator and teacher preparation and credentialing.

Ron Saunders, Gary Navarre, and Lou Thayer are departmental representatives for this year's Faculty-Staff development campaign.  Merri McClure is the COE coordinator.

Jaime Grinberg presented "Make It Up=Autobiography as Fiction and Voice in Teacher Education" at the American Educational Studies Association meeting in Chicago recently.  Grinberg also participated in a discussion with the "Small Schools Project" of the University of Illinois-Chicago on his collaborative work with classroom teachers, "Toward a Different Model of University-School Cooperation."

EMU student teacher supervisors--36 of them--participated in a November 8 inservice activity on Student Teacher Portfolio Development.  Wayne State University personnel--Jo-Ann Snyder, Hal Dittenber, and Vincent Maccioche--were resource persons.

Steve Moyer conducted an inservice activity for 14 elementary physical educators in the Livonia school district on November 3.  The event focused on fundamental motor skills and appropriate drills and lead-up activities.

Bobbie Anderson and Jody Smith conducted a workshop in Frankenmuth on November 12 for MI Department of Education personnel on "Strategies for Teaching At-Risk Students."

Ron Saunders published "Is a Simulated Hunt Necessary in a Hunter Education Program?" in Hunter Education Instructor.

Valerie Polakow addressed the Congressional Policy Conference on "Women and Welfare Reform" in Washington on October 23.  The conference was sponsored by the Women's Congressional Caucus and was attended by legislators, legislative staff, and Clinton administration representatives.

Valerie Polakow presented "Savage Distributions" at the Third Interdisciplinary Conference Reconceptualizing Early Childhood Education: Theory, Research, and Practice held at the University of Michigan October 7-9.  She also led a panel discussion on "Advocating for Educational Equity and Social Justice."

Polakow was the November 9 speaker in the Ann Arbor Public Library's "Booked for Lunch" series.  She spoke on her book Lives on the Edge: Single Mothers and Their Children in the Other America.

Polakow co-edited a special issue of the Review of Education, "Deconstructing the At-Risk Discourse: Power, Pedagogy and the Politics of Inequity."  The issue appears this month.

"The Other Childhood: The Classroom Worlds of Poor Children" is a chapter in Jensen and Goffin's Visions of Entitlement: The Case and Education of America's Children (SUNY Press, 1993) by Valerie Polakow.

Matilda Sayegh attended the "Depression in Primary Care" symposium held October 30 in Dearborn.

Christine Phelps is the author of "The Faculty Fellow Program at the University of Arizona" which appears in the Fall 1993 issue of the College Student Affairs Journal.

Martha Tack and her book (with Carolyn Patitu of Miami [OH] University) Faculty Job Satisfaction: Women and Minorities in Peril are the subjects of an article "Problems Faced by Women and Minorities in Higher Education Create Revolving Door" in the November 4 issue of Black Issues in Higher Education.  The article was based on lengthy interviews with both Tack and Patitu.

STUDENT NOTES

EMU Ballroom Dance Club members Mat, Ali, Judy Bareis, Tricia Cherney, Laure Gill, Sarah Nichols, Kim Reynelles, Kristen Roedel, Anweet Singh, Keith Thompson, Jim Werner, and Angela Westrick entered their first Intercollegiate Ballroom Dance competition on October 30 at the University of Illinois.

The EMU dancers competed against 80 dancers from Carnegie-Mellon, Iowa State, U of Illinois, Ohio State, Purdue, and U of Wisconsin.  The local team took four first place, three second place, five third place, one fourth place, and one sixth place awards.

Club members are coached by Suzanne Zelnik.  The Club sponsors dance lessons on Monday nights in the McKenny Union ballroom from 8:00-8:50, followed by general dancing until 10:00 p.m.  Fees are $1 for beginning lessons and $2 for intermediate lessons.

PROSPECTIVE TEACHERS GRADUATE WITH HONORS FROM THE HONORS PROGRAM

Twelve prospective teachers are expected to graduate with honors on December 19:

(With honors in Basic Studies):

Tammy Callebs, Melinda Dennis, Lisa Ferrante, Jill Geiman, Darlene Hadden, Shannon Holbird, Jeffrey Lounsberry, Lisa McGraw, Rachel Mowery, Tammy Stebelton, and Veronica Wulff.

(With honors in Emotionally Impaired):

Linda Loveland

Congratulations to these persons on their substantial academic accomplishments!

ALUMNI NOTES

Mary Gallagher, a recent graduate of the community counseling program, received the "Counselor of the Year Award" for 1993 from the MI Association for Humanistic Education and Development at the annual conference of the MI Counseling Association in Traverse City on October 25.  Gallagher is an elementary school counselor in the Monroe public schools.

Marshall Borden, professional actor since 1967, is currently appearing in the Michigan Opera Theatre's production of The Merry Widow at the Fisher Theater in Detroit.

Borden is a former secondary social studies teacher.  He taught in Wayne, Dearborn, and Taylor schools before taking to the stage.  Among many other roles, he has appeared in ABC's "One Life to Live."

COE COUNCIL APPROVES CHANGES IN MASTERS PROGRAMS, ADOPTS ELECTION PROCESS

At its November 10 meeting, with Alison Harmon presiding for part of the meeting and Nancy Halmhuber presiding for the remainder of the meeting, the COE Council referred 16 curriculum items to the COE Instruction Committee for "workup" and report.  (There are now some 37 items before the Instruction Committee; however, the COE Council has not yet elected a chair of this group.)

 Reports were received from several COE and university groups.  Proposed revisions in several Teacher Education master's programs were approved. 

These changes include:  delete four SFD courses; change the description of CUR 512, create a new EDM 633 "Instructional Message Design," change the name of a concentration in educational psychology to "development, learning, and diversity," change the content of two educational psychology concentrations such that they have a common core, create a new course CUR 676 "Teacher as Intellectual Inquirer," change the title and description of CUR 694, and change the structure of master's programs in elementary, middle grades, secondary, and common learnings.

The Council approved an election process for faculty vote on the proposed "COE Council and Related Structures" document.

At about the time of the Thanksgiving weekend, full-time, tenure-track faculty in the COE will receive a formal notice of the election and other materials, including a summary of the proposed document.  Ballots will be distributed on December 3, with a voting period of December 5-10.

The Council canceled its previously scheduled meeting on November 24.

DUFFIELD WORKS WITH EMU ON COLLABORATIVE EFFORTS

The three-year joint project between Duffield Elementary School in Detroit and the EMU C-SIP structure has focused on three goals.  These are (a) to improve reading scores by 10% on the MEAP and CAT tests, (b) to infuse the curriculum with the African-American perspective, and (c) to provide a safe environment for learning.

University facilitator Alison Harmon has assisted the teachers in identifying resources to support the project.  The teachers wrote a proposal to train student teachers at Duffield specifically for the urban experience.  Six student teachers per semester are placed at Duffield for a field experience that includes training in the school improvement process and in the African-centered curriculum.  The Duffield project was selected in a national competition to present an overview of this unique field experience at the 1993 ATE conference in Los Angeles.

The infusion of the African-centered curriculum at Duffield has involved students in reading books about and by African-Americans, hands-on experiences with African artifacts, presentations by African drummers and dancers, and learning more about the contributions of Africans and African-Americans in each of the academic disciplines. 

Students have been excited over the new content that has been included in their classes.  "Students have a greater sense of belonging as a result of the newly acquired knowledge about their culture," said teacher Cheryl Howard.

Students, parents, and teachers enjoy the preparation for and celebration of Pre-Kwanza during the holiday season.

Reading scores have increased slightly for all grades tested on the MEAP and CAT.  Teachers attribute this small success to their training and use of the whole language approach, the children's increased interest in reading, and the re-opening of the school library.

Retired teacher volunteers worked arduously to catalog new books and to salvage old books in the school's library.  The volunteers are on hand daily to assist students in the library, to teach library skills, and to read stories.  Students also enjoy the "reading caravan"--carts of grade-level African-American books that can be wheeled between classrooms.

PRESIDENTS COUNCIL SPONSORS "RETHINKING CURRICULUM K-16"

The Presidents Council of the State Universities of Michigan is sponsoring a one-day forum "Rethinking Curriculum K-16" in Lansing on November 23.

Speakers include Robert Schiller, state Superintendent; Ernest L. Boyer, President, Carnegie Foundation; and a number of K-12, community college, and university personnel.

For additional information and registration ($35 cost), call 517-482-1563.

PLANNING AHEAD

November 15--manuscripts due to Teaching Education on "Teaching on the Cutting Edge: Transforming Students & Ourselves, Schools & Societies"; proposals due to Joyce Foundation on restructuring, parent involvement, and school finance.  Proposals due to FHP foundation on health care, including studies of national health issues.  FCIE "Feminist Pedagogy: Its Implications for all Classes" conference.

November 16--Assessment, "Practicum/Co-Op/Other Field Experience" 3-4:30, Starkweather.  Ad hoc Graduate Certification Programs committee--1:00 p.m., Boone 40.

November 17--FCIE "Students Speak: Latina/Latino Students" conference.

November 18--Provost's Research Support Awards for New Faculty applications due.  Assessment, "Basic Studies" 3-4:30, S'weather