|
The second class of participants in NC Quest, known as Cohort 2, met
at UNCW on August 6, 7 and 21 to focus on the second year of the jointly
sponsored program between the UNCW’s Watson School of Education/College
of Arts and Sciences and coalition partner school districts in Southeastern
North Carolina. Cohort 2 is composed of fifteen teachers from Pender,
Sampson, Brunswick and New Hanover Counties. They brought with them their
own knowledge of public middle school education, an understanding of
the relationships among teachers, thoughts on the relationship between
teachers and their students, and a desire to increase and improve their
current knowledge and skill base.
Day one was kicked off with energizing introductory activities from
the instructional staff and project directors which included presentations
from Dr. Karen Wetherill and Dr. Ron Sizemore, directors of the NC Quest
grant, and Mr. Marc Zolar, Instructional Leader for the grant. The morning
welcome emphasized NC Quest’s innovative approach for Middle School
Math and Science teachers and mentors through the use of interactive
workshops, on-line collaboration and support along with a fresh approach
to academic coursework. Ms. Diane Calhoun discussed mentoring and its
dynamic place in middle school education and assisted cohort teachers
with skills needed to support and retain new teachers in and outside
of their respective fields.
“Constructivism” was presented as a learning/teaching philosophy
with relevance for all learners, using the premise that all participants
are given the opportunity to make sense of their own personal experiences
and to find meaning and learning through their unique mental processes.
Using this approach, right and wrong answers become less important than
constructing knowledge. Mr. Zolar described the teacher/leader role in
Constructivism as the “teacher becomes more the facilitator or
guide and less of the authority on any give subject”, and in this
particular educational experience of science education, math concepts
or mentoring peers.
Mr. Jeff Ertzberger, Technology Outreach expert for the Watson School
of Education, partnered with Mr. Zolar to present and train students
on TaskStream, a savvy web-based, electronic portfolio and program management
system to assist teachers in documenting the learning process, to showcase
or share their lessons or power point presentations and to assess, report
or archive student work in a digital form. It was referenced as course
materials and support made easy for the participants! One student noted, ”I
have always planned and written lesson plans using my own complicated
method on my laptop. TaskStream will make this process simple. I found
TaskStream amazing!” which speaks volumes for the web-based tool.
National Math and Science Standards were reviewed and concrete activities
tied to the standards were practiced by the students under the guidance
of Dr. Rich Huber, Professor of Science Education at UNCW and Mr. Mary
Sugerik, Mathematics Faculty at Ashley High School in New Hanover County
and part of the NC Quest Instructional team at UNCW. Ms. Diane Calhoun,
Director of the Professional Development Systems in the Watson School
of Education, trained the mentor team on successful strategies for working
with adult colleagues, tried and true communication skills and content-specific
mentoring. The five cohort mentor participants were inspired by the TaskStream
information sharing related to a discussion board assignment. One NC
Quest student notes, “Taskstreaming was the most useful because
it gave all of us a way to collaborate.”
Science, math and mentor teaming groups were created that
will continue to meet throughout the fall semester. They will support
each other and learn together through “teaming time” group
meetings, coursework, portfolio development and analysis of student
work samples. NC Quest Cohort 2 participants have begun their personal
quest for knowledge with the support of each other and the instructional
staff and directors of the UNCW Watson School of Education and the
College of Arts and Sciences.
Back
to News and Announcements > |
|
