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=CUIN 3202/3112 Announcements=

12/5/10:
What a lovely experience portfolio presentations were! After all of the struggles and late nights and ups and downs during the semester, I'm always just thrilled to see what QUEST 2 students are able to show off. So nicely done!! One more requirement of you this Tuesday—the Research Symposium. Please plan to check in at 12:45 on the second floor. All other directions will be given there when you check in. Also, when you check out that day at 4:00, I will have available your grading rubrics and feedback from your presentations. See you Tuesday!

11/29/10:
I have asked you to do essentially the same thing in two assignments, so let me make this easier and clearer! Please DO complete your 3 video reflections as described on the Edited Teaching Video assignment rubric, but you do NOT have to also complete the reflection for your Observed Teaching #2--the needed reflection will be satisfied through your video reflections. If you have already completed both of these, I'm assuming you copied and pasted, so hopefully you haven't invested too much additional time.

I'm SO looking forward to seeing your presentations this week! You will do great!! Dr. Pierson

11/12/10:
Some of you have begun looking forward and panicking just a bit about the Portfolio Presentations. DON'T do this! Next week's class is devoted to getting you ready for all that you have to do with your portfolios. If you have been saving your work and taking pictures, this process will not be difficult. I would much prefer you to focus on your last week with your children--take pictures, ask questions, and soak up all that you can.

I'll see you next week, 11/19, at 9 a.m. in the KIVA. Have a great weekend! Dr. Pierson

11/1/10: Friday's PLC plans posted!
Have a great week everyone!

10/29/10
What a great group of energetic, confident, beautiful QUEST 2 volunteers we have this morning making sure our Student Teaching Conference goes smoothly. Thanks for your help!!

10/25/10
It’s Week 10, and that means it’s time to start studying your own practice! This week your PLC group may need to be creative with your meeting time, depending on who might be volunteering at the student teaching conference on Friday and when they are scheduled to volunteer. I’m posting the PLC lesson plan early so that if you want to plan to meet an evening this week, you are welcome to. Your PLC Check is due emailed by midnight this Friday unless you have previously arranged to meet this weekend, and in that case you can submit it that night. Leaders, please check with everyone to make sure you know when they are available, and post your meeting time to your PLC page. You have 4 weeks left with your class. Please begin collecting data for your Inquiry #3—you will talk much more about that in this week’s PLC lesson. Have a lovely week! Dr. Pierson

10/8/10
Hi everyone, I wish you a productive and restful Reflection Week. This is probably the last time in your career that you will have a week just to yourself to catch up on work, so use it well. :)

As you work to prepare your mid-term assignments, I wanted to urge you to examine the assignment rubrics for each very carefully. I try very hard to provide you with all of my expectations ahead of time—there are no surprises. In most cases, I’ve told you exactly what to do for each assignment. Don’t depend on what your friends say—go to the source and read it yourself!

Also, please take another look at the assignment policy. All assignments at midterm are due at midnight October 15th. Now. . . you know and I know that it is unlikely that I will be awake at midnight to begin grading your work! So, it is certainly conceivable that your work could be slipped in late--even those blog posts that are dated can be fairly easily made to look like they were on time by "back dating" your post. So, the rule I go by is that when I go to grade it after it is due, it needs to be there. If you are a gambler, you could take your chances. . . although better to just stick with the due dates and not make yourself crazy! Work can be accepted for 48 hours after the due date for a point deduction as penalty. The problem is that by the time I get to grading your particular work, it might be well after that 48 hour window. SO. . . PLEASE check all of your links and make sure all are working so you’ll know you are covered. To check a link, pause your mouse over a link and make sure you see pop up at the bottom of the screen a link with a “http://viking. . .” type of address. If you see something like, “file:\\. . .” then your link will not open up because it is linked to a file on your home computer.

And, we should be receiving your PLC Checks by the following Friday. There are many that we have had VERY late, and for the first half of the semester I have been lenient. BUT, for the rest of the semester, please make sure your attendance gets recorded by mailing that very quick email right after you meet.

Finally, ask if you have a question! I’m happy to help. Don’t wait until after you get grades back to tell me you didn’t understand! Good luck, Dr. Pierson

10/4/10
My mistake. . . I forgot that I had not planned for a leader for this week's PLC meeting. No worries! We'll still start together in the KIVA at 9 and then I will give you direction from there. See you then

9/30/10
Hi everyone,
 * A reminder that you will meet with Dr. Tyson in the KIVA tomorrow (Friday, Oct. 1) from 9-12.
 * AND, a change for our “CITE/PLC” meeting next week on October 8th. There are some messages that I have decided would be best delivered to you in person and in a whole group, regarding the video recording of your second observed lesson. So, we will begin on October 8th at 9:00 a.m. in the KIVA for about 45 minutes. Once we are done, your PLC can meet wherever you like to complete the activity. You can stay in the KIVA, or meet in the CITE lab, or leave campus. As always, the abbreviated (2-hour) PLC plan should be posted by about Tuesday on the Calendar for PLC leaders.
 * Finally, you have one more week in your first placement! Some of you are probably relieved about that and others will have teary eyes at the thought of leaving those kids, but wherever you stand, please take as many pictures and ask as many questions as you can next week, and gather the data you will need for your inquiry projects while you can.

Take care, Dr. Pierson

9/24/10: Are you looking to get more involved in UH?
Sometimes during QUEST 2, students feel a little disconnected from their campus because they are out at the schools for so much time. I know you are busy--believe me, I know--but you have to take care of yourself through all of this hectic semester. So, don't forget about all of the wonderful things that our campus offers. Whenever I see a list like this, I'm always amazed that so much goes on that I've never even heard of. Can you believe that there are 33 events listed for just next week?

Please see the Professors with Pride (PWP) link on the right side for a weekly-updated list of all that is upcoming. Really. . . go look right now to see if there is anything that piques your interest. :)

Attend a new event! Collect a few trading cards! Stay involved!

9/20/10
Some questions that have arisen this week that I'll share with all: Have a great week! Dr. Pierson
 * Some of you are interested in videotaping your first lesson--remember, the requirement is that your second lesson be videotaped. So, I had said that those who were interested in recording your first lesson, or both lessons, were of course welcome to do this. However, I won't be introducing the recording procedures until our class on October 8th. So, if you want to record early, you're going to need to be responsible for taking care of some of the details yourself. I'll give you a VERY brief introduction here:
 * You're going to want to closely read the [|assignment rubric], especially focusing on the tips listed in the middle of the page.
 * PLC Leaders for this week--the PLC meeting outline is posted linked to the Calendar, so please take a look, create your PLC page, and get your plan for Friday to your group.

9/14/10
Hi everyone, What a great semester we are having so far! I’ve heard already from some of you about the great things you are seeing. I’ve also heard from a few about things that they question or find different than what we present in our coursework or things that just don’t seem right. This is normal—teaching, in the end, is a very individual process. Remember that you are learning from EVERY experience!

Here are a few questions that have come up over the last week that you should know about:
 * There was a little confusion about the two ways that you need to report following a PLC meeting. FIRST, as a group you need to complete the Evaluation portion of the lesson. There will usually be a question asking your group to reflect, and this is posted to your PLC page where it asks for it. THEN, so that I know that you attended your PLC meeting (since I can’t drive around town and make sure you are really working with your PLC!), you need to email your PLC check to tell us quickly in just a sentence how everything worked. Please be sure to send PLC checks to Caroline by the next Friday so that she can get you recorded in the grade book. ** I cannot count you as in attendance if you don’t send this PLC Check! **
 * Remember that we have two graders for this course. If you have questions about assignments in 3202, please email Caroline. If you have questions about 3112, please email Judy. Their emails can be found on the Contacts page.
 * The 4 technology tools that you are creating for 3112 have to be used with students in some way, but they don’t necessarily need to be used together in the same lesson or unit. They CAN be used in your lessons taught for other methods instructors. (The only thing you can't "double-dip is the two observed lessons for lessons required to be taught for your other instructors--the technology tools are fine!). And, as I mentioned last week, they might not even be used by you. You might create something for your cooperating teacher. This is tricky . . . I’d love for you to use all of the latest technology and use it whenever you can. But, the realities of schools and of your time limits in QUEST 2 mean that we have to be flexible. The exact best tool might be slated to be used on one of the days that you aren't in your placement classroom. That's fine!
 * Finally, we had a little problem that cropped up for two PLCs this week in creating their PLC page. It seems that they both named their page the same name—and it’s a little unclear how the wiki system allowed them to do that—but the end result is that some work was lost. So, my advice is that when you create your next PLC page, please name it with a unique name—like perhaps with your team name in the title. That way, when another group goes to make their page, there is no chance that anyone will get confused.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I hope you are continuing to collect data on your “study” child, and beginning to prepare for your first observation. Enjoy this time with your children! Remember that you will meet in the KIVA this Friday with Dr. Lee for Science—no PLC meeting this week.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Have a great week! <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Dr. Pierson

9/7/10
The [|QUEST 2 Portfolio "how-to" video is ready][|-hope this helps!] Also, PLC leaders, with the holiday putting a day behind this week, the PLC information will be posted tomorrow to the Week 3 Calendar page. All directions for what you should do will be included! Stay dry today and write down everything you can about keeping kids occupied when on a "rainy-day-schedule!" Dr. Pierson

9/3/10
What a great Tech Tour we had today! Thanks for your hard work, and REALLY--the confusion will begin to fade away.

Regarding your portfolio, because I know that most of the confusion surrounds that, here are two things.
 * First, please make sure you have read the announcement for 8/25/10 on this page--just scroll down. It will lay out how you should begin. I could tell from the level of confusion who had not read this today . ..
 * Second, I have just recorded a video on how to set up your portfolio--hooray! It will be located on the <span class="wiki_link_ext">Portfolio Maintenance assignment rubric--probably early next week [|.] I know some of you chose to go to the Generalist review session--wisely--so I want to make sure you don't miss out. For others, it may have made perfect sense while I was sitting there with you, but if it gets fuzzy again when you get home, this will help.

So, blog and portfolio URLs emailed to Caroline by tonight. Portfolio Maintenance by next Friday. OK? Great--have a wonderful weekend! Dr. Pierson

9/2/10
PLC Leaders: the outline for Friday's PLC meeting in the CITE lab is posted to the Week 2 Calendar page. The only thing you need to do this week is to make a new page for recording your group's work and link it to your PLC page. Then, you'll keep everyone on track at Friday's session. That's it! See you Friday!

**8/30/10**
I know that the PLC leaders for this week's meeting are anxiously awaiting the PLC information that I promised "early in the week, either Monday or Tuesday . . . ." As I mentioned to some groups, this first PLC meeting is highly planned by me, so the workload on the leaders is not too bad. I will have what you need posted by Tuesday afternoon or early Wednesday, so you'll have plenty of time to prepare for your PLC.

Hope you're having a great first week! Are you finding a child to study? Dr. Pierson

8/25/10
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">What a delight to meet you this week and to begin working with you this semester! Please find below the notes I promised you I would send. You’ll find that I write LONG messages, just trying to get you all the information you need. Please give yourself a great start this semester by reading carefully through all of this, making sure you understand, and asking if you don’t.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**Inquiry Assignments:** I mentioned the Inquiry #1 assignment involving studying a child. The real introduction to the Inquiry assignments will happen next week after the CITE lab tour, and you’ll have time to read them during your PLC meeting in a couple of weeks, but you can begin this week to do some of the reading, since course requirements in other courses haven’t heated up yet. You’ll want to view the QUEST Teacher Research Modules first. You’ll view the introduction files at the top, and then the one labeled QUEST 2 under each heading. They will give you--in text and through “research podcast coaches”—a complete introduction to teacher research. I’ll have you look at the assignment rubrics for Inquiries #1 and #2 with your PLC next week. And, again, you’ll see that some of these modules are long, but I will give you time with your PLC to read these in a couple of weeks.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**Portfolio:** Now, about that portfolio. . . let’s get you feeling comfortable about it!


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">There are two places on the [|Assignments] page where the portfolio is listed. The CONTENT of the portfolio is listed under 3202 “Reflective Portfolio and Presentation.” I recommend you read this so you know what is coming, but you don’t need to really DO anything with this until later in the semester.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Next, look at “Portfolio Maintenance” in 3112—this is the technical part that you will do now—setting up the new pages and links. You’ll see:
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">a link for the [|QUEST Portfolio Example].
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">the [|Portfolio Status Self-Assessment checklist]—this is the page that will help you to determine what you know and what you don’t know. This way, I’ll be able to help you more efficiently.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The key thing to notice at this point is the QUEST 2: CUIN 3202/3112 link under Working Portfolio. This page is how you will turn in those assignments for my courses. You can save these pages to your drive and modify as you wish.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Here are tutorials on the [|CITE lab webpage]. You’ll want to specifically see the ones on “e-portfolios,” and “Web Tools and Editors” and also on “Working on Home.”
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The preferred FREE web-editing tool is Kompozer—it’s from the group that created NVu, but is a little easier to use. Just Google "Kompozer," and you can download it for free.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">As I mentioned, I will stay after class next Friday to hold an open lab for working on your portfolio. So, I recommend you do some pre-work ahead of time so that you know what you know and what you don’t know. That way, I can help you most efficiently.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">OK, that’s it for now. Don’t forget to send your portfolio URL and blog URL to Caroline so we can get our gradebook set up—no links. . . no grades this semester! And, I strongly encourage you to get your portfolio started this week—once you hit the schools next week, your world will get much more complicated!

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Have a good rest of your week, <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Dr. Pierson

**8/20/10**
I'm thrilled to have you in class and look forward to working with you this semester! This first class during Orientation Week will be held online. Please poke around this wiki to familiarize yourself with these items: -Syllabus -Calendar -Assignments -PLCs -Resources -Tools

Then, specifically, go to the Calendar page for Week 1, and follow the directions there. Good luck, and let me know if you need anything! Dr. Pierson