Joint Senate Meeting
February 2, 2012
3:30
Elm Room, Maucker Union
Elementary Senate
Present: *Cherin Lee (Coordinator, Secondary Teacher Education), Linda Fitzgerald
(Early Childhood Education), Rip Marsten (Physical Education & Health Education),
Denise Tallakson (Elementary Education), Donna Douglas (Middle Level EducationAlt), Kevin Droe (Music Education-Alt), Sarah Semon (Special Education for both
Senates)
Absent: *Melissa Heston (Coordinator, Elementary Teacher Education), Tony Gabriele
(Professional Sequence-no Alt sent), Amy Lockhart (Clinical Experiences-no Alt sent),
Michelle Swanson (Music Education), Deb Tidwell (Literacy Education-no Alt sent),
Wendy Miller (Art Education-no Alt sent), Susan Brennan (Special Education), Deirdre
Heistad (Liberal Arts Core-no Alt sent), *Becky Hawbaker (Chair, Teacher Education
Faculty)
Secondary Senate
Present: *Cherin Lee (Coordinator, Secondary Teacher Education), Ben Forsyth
(Professional Sequence), Kyle Gray (Science Education-Alt), Katherine Lavelle (Speech
& Theatre), Barb Bakker (Physical Education/Health Education), Kevin Droe (Music
Education), Chad Christopher (Social Sciences), Rick Vanderwall (English Education),
Karen Sabey (Mathematics Education)
Absent: Terri Lasswell (Clinical Experiences-no Alt sent), Dianna Briggs (Business
Education-no Alt sent), Tammy Gregersen (Modern Languages & TESOL-no Alt sent),
Doug Hotek (Technology Education-no Alt sent), Andrew McCormick (Art Education-no
Alt sent), Chris Curran (Special Education), * Becky Hawbaker (Teacher Education
Faculty Chair), Larry Escalada (Science Education)
* Member of both Senates
Guest: Charity Campbell, 2012 Iowa Teacher of the Year
Charity Campbell’s Presentation on the Blueprint:
When change happens, 90-95% of people will withdraw to their comfort zone when they
try something that doesn’t work. Only the 5-10% will continually raise the bar. Change
is difficult and teachers need to get out of their comfort zone. Success depends on
attitude. You either accept change or retreat.
Positives in the blueprint:
1. Allows teachers freedom in the classrooms while giving them the standards their
students must meet
2. Gives teacher and administrators several checkpoints throughout a student’s
career to see if the schools’ instruction and curriculum are meeting the needs of
their students
3. Encourages collaboration among colleagues
4. Includes a plan to help free principals up so they can spend quality time working
with their teachers to improve educational practices.
5. Allows schools with innovative ideas to apply for extra money
Eight reasons why teachers leave teaching within the first five years:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
standardized tests
working conditions
unreasonable academic expectations
bureaucracy
respect and compensation
parents
administrators
school boards
First year teachers struggle the most with expectations and working conditions.
Opportunities:
1. Ability to understand the content they will be teaching
2. Extra support as new teachers enter the teaching profession
3. Be on the cutting edge as changes are happening to education
GAPS between the Blueprint and pre service teachers:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Understanding of what all goes into teaching
Good grasp on teaching strategies and writing lesson plans
Class management strategies
Understanding of assessment – how to create and use the information
Video: Charity showed a video with the topic of taking yourself from good to great.
Question and Answer Session:
1. Question: How is the Mentoring Program in her school set up?
Answer: All mentors have to be trained, have more than three years’ experience and
be recommended by the principal. All mentors must write a Reflection at the end of
the first year.
2. Question: What do you see the morale being with regards to the Blueprint?
Answer: A lot of teachers are not concerned yet. Many of them have not even read
the Blueprint. The assessment piece is the biggest piece. When this comes out it will
affect the Iowa Core and there will be a lot of apprehension involved. Some districts
don’t know what the common core is so how can they teach it? Teaching and teacher
pay is in the legislature now.
3. Question: What, if any, reactions have teachers had regarding the yearly review.
Answer: There will be heavy assessments each year and the Blueprint didn’t offer
assistance. When are principals going to have time to do evaluations of teachers?
4. Question: Was the five-year probation issue discussed with other teachers?
Answer: Not really. Jason Glass is debating in Town Hall Meetings to see what
Iowa thinks the Blueprint should look like. One of the questions is when does the five
year marker start? Another question was if she had any interactions with legislators
yet. At this point in her term she has not.
5. Question: Do you think teachers should approach the legislators?
Answer: Yes, some should if they feel comfortable with what is being asked of them.
Some are more focused on the classroom.
6. Question: If you had things to tackle in pre-service to help students understand the
expectations that will be coming at them what would they be?
Answer: You can’t shelter student teachers. They need to try the same
responsibilities that the teacher has. The mentor teachers should use their methods
with regular students. The students need to see different classrooms to see the
different teaching strategies and different approaches by different teachers. Every
teacher has a different approach.
7. Question: What are your hopes for in the Blueprint?
Answer: That principals will gain more time in the classrooms. Through the SAMS
system, each principal logs the time spent on each task. This should show how the
school can readjust his time.
8. Question: How do you feel about the Common Core in relation to Physical
Education?
Answer: The Common Core is being adopted by 45 states in the union. Educational
agencies are supportive. The health of our students isn’t good. Our children are not
going to live as long as we are. We need to start raising the bar on Physical
Education. Very few schools have daily PE.
Meeting adjourned at about 4:45.