Housekeeping Items and new posting

Hello everyone!

The semester is flying by, the Cougar Men's basketball team continues to win and is ranked 10th in the nation and best of all beat the UW last night 65/61! All the snow is gone and we are getting rain and fog. Life in the Palouse in February.

I will send a note to each of your teachers but I need to finalize my travel plans so that I can buy a ticket and get the itinerary started. Here is the bare bones plan so you know observation days: March 19-20 with Christina and Katrina in Heidelberg; March 20 after school travel to Wiesbaden and observe Susan March 21 and March 22 in the morning; March 22 afternoon travel to Vilseck; March 23 observe Katie; March 25 fly to Naples and meet with Robert; observe Robert March 26; fly to London March 27 and observe Sarah before returning to WSU. I need confirmation at this site from each of you that these dates will work.

All student teachers are expected to show evidence of having positive impact on student learning. I need you to do the following: Evidence of Positive Impact on Student Learning.

Collect the following from each student teacher in hard copy or scanned onto a CD. Positive impact documents do not have to be from a formal PPA observation. Student teachers may select a lesson of their own choice. For the lesson selected, the student teacher must include:

Classroom and student characteristics (use PPA format) adapted for the lesson.
Instructional Plan
Work samples from three different students showing learning has occurred. Select a low, middle and high performer.
Written reflection of the assessment results.

I mentioned that there would be 4-5 major topics for Blog discussion during the semester but I also want this site to become a resource for each of you. You should be keeping a reflective journal. If you haven't started, start now for this week. I would like you to choose two things at the end of every week that you would like to share with the others and post before Monday of the next week. The idea is to summarize from your journal a couple key issues. A few paragraphs will suffice and will give others a chance to respond. These postings can be about a funny third grader or a difficult discussion in 8th grade social studies class. The hope is that this forum will give you a virtual seminar and foster good communication so obviously I expect you also will talk to each other. To be clear...you are expected to post and respond to at least one other person each week. I will read the responses that are already posted and respond so you get the idea!

Here is what I need from each of you:

1. confirmation on the dates I have suggested to visit you

2. two issues you would like to share from your experience thus far (since this is the first one)

3. respond to at least one other person's posting

4. where are we with the webcams? Can I at least set a time to talk to you, if not you and your teacher?

Lots of information in this posting. Thanks for stepping up to the plate! Questions, let me know.

Warm wishes,

Chris



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