Elementary Education Department
Eastwood Library Conference Room
4:00 p.m.
Minutes
February 10, 2010
Members present: Dr. DeJarnette, Dr. Meyers, Dr. Wyatt
Mr. Fowler is not here because he is serving on the High Schools That Work Technical
Assistance Team for Blacksburg High and their visit begins today.
Only those faculty members that are invited to speak at Open House by the Admissions
Department need attend the Open House.
Dr. Meyers is serving on the Community Engagement Advisory Board at the request of
the State Department of Education.
Dr. DeJarnette’s research will conclude with the PASS writing test on March 16-17.
The members of the department discussed the assessment results from fall 2009. The
tables of data are not included in the minutes, but are available for anyone to view.
Praxis II
Of the twelve teacher candidates who were enrolled in student teaching (clinical
experience) in the fall of 2009, 83% passed on the first attempt the Curriculum,
Assessment, and Instruction exam, 83% passed on the first attempt the Content Area
Exercises exam, and 83% passed on the first attempt the PLT. Information on the sub
scores for these exams is incomplete and percentages will be compiled later.
The average score on the Curriculum, Assessment, and Instruction exam is 174.5, the
average score on the Content Area Exercises is 157.5, and the average score on the PLT
is 171.4.
Lesson Plans
Data from ED 355 indicates strengths in Application to Real World, Motivating
Statement, and Strategy (Modality). Weaknesses were found in Literature Connection*,
Objectives (Standards), and Accommodations.
Particular instruction in identifying standard indicators from the South Carolina standards
is being emphasized in subsequent courses. Further instruction in connections with
literature and accommodations for particular populations is being implemented as well.
*The student who showed the strongest weakness in Literature Connection was a
secondary mathematics student taking this course as an elective.
Dr. Meyers suggested we change the term “accommodations” to “differentiations”. All
agreed.
Unit Plans
Data from ED 303 indicated strong performances in writing units. Much class time and
help was devoted to writing lesson plans, therefore the lesson plans were all very good.
The biggest area of weakness in the unit was the letter to the parents and guardians, and
the problems here were grammar and use of language. Suggestions for addressing this
were peer review and use of the writing lab.
In the future, instruction in writing lesson plans will begin on the first night of class in the
extended campus course so the candidates will have even more time to write rough drafts,
complete peer reviews, and receive feedback from the instructor.
Data from ED 349 indicated the teacher candidates had a good grasp on using the 6 Trait
method of teaching writing. Areas of strength were using children’s literature as a way to
model the traits for students, and using sample papers and rubrics in lesson plans as a
way of teaching students about the writing traits and how to apply them to writing.
An area of weakness was creating a bulletin board that was interactive to go along with
the Trait instruction. A suggestion for improving the bulletin boards was to assign a topic
for the bulletin boards, or have them select a topic.
A few teacher candidates struggled in pulling it all together and being cohesive as they
spread the writing lesson over several days. Next time more instructional time should be
spent on this.
Field Experience
Evaluations of the students in ED 302 indicate areas of weaknesses were classroom
management, use of post tests to inform instruction, and demonstrating an impact on
student learning. We continue to address these weaknesses in instruction in the methods
courses.
The Case Study
Of the fifteen teacher candidates in ED 412, ten scored competent in explaining and
documenting improvement made by the student tutored, and ten scored competent in
describing the history of the reading problem. Thus, these were the areas of weaknesses.
More instructional time will be devoted to these areas next time the course is taught.
ADEPT
Classroom management continues to be an area of struggle for most of our teacher
candidates. We are working on different management strategies to help student teachers
optimize the learning time. The suggestion has been made that by keeping students
engaged in the lessons and planning meaningful lessons will naturally cut down on
student boredom, restlessness, and inappropriate behavior. Student teachers also need to
manage the pace of the lessons and keep down times to a minimum.
Another area of weakness for student teachers is the pacing of lessons. Cooperating
teachers have commented numerous times that the student teachers often do not get the
needed material covered in the time allotted.
An area of strength for the student teachers is going beyond the textbooks in their lesson
planning. They are bringing in additional sources, children’s literature, and technology
into their lesson planning to make them meaningful to the students.
The Assessment Project
Teacher candidates performed very well on the assessment project. Students used the
pretest results in order to direct their instruction. Students had to create a quiz or test for
their unit and all student teachers did this well. One are of struggle may have been in
varying teaching strategies. In the methods courses and while they are student teaching,
we model and supply varied teaching strategies that keep students engaged and the
lessons meaningful.
Completing the ADEPT Matrix was postponed until the next meeting on March 10, 2010.
Dr. Meyers suggested we look at the descriptors at our next meeting.
Meeting adjourned at 5:05 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Ann Wyatt