AMERICAN UNIVERSITY OF BEIRUT
FACULTY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Minutes of
Meeting of Expanded Practice Teaching Committee
held on Friday, December 12, 2014
Present
Methods Course Instructors: Dr. Murad Jurdak; Dr. Tamer Amin; Dr. Rabih El Mouhayar; Dr. Rola Khishfe; Mrs. Lina Ibrahim.
School Representatives: Mr. Karim Abu Haydar (ACS, Middle & Secondary); Mrs. Rim- El-Hout (American Academy of Beirut); Mrs. Rula Ghibril (Rawdah High School); Mrs. Tsoler Keshishian (German School – Beirut); Mrs. Violet Melki (SMOC).
The meeting was called to order at 4:00 pm.
1. Approval of Minutes
· Dr. Rola Khishfe, the PTC chairperson, welcomed all attendees and presented the meeting agenda. She also thanked all school representatives for their sincere collaboration with the Education Department in providing AUB students with the opportunity to do their Field Experience and Practicum at their schools.
· The minutes of the meeting held on April 11, 2014 were distributed and attendees were asked to propose modifications, if any.
· The minutes were reviewed and approved.
2. Report on Interns’ Placement during Fall Semester 2014-2015
· The placement report for the fall semester 2014-2015 was reviewed and approved by all school representatives.
· A brief description of the placement of interns for the fall semester 2014-2015 was presented. This included: (1) the distribution of the 33 interns enrolled in the BA, TD, and Diploma Programs among 13 cooperating schools, (2) the number of interns in each cooperating school, (3) the number of interns across subject and grade levels and (4) a comparison of the number of interns placed for the fall semester over the last three years.
3. School Representative Reports on Field Experience/Induction Phase
Dr. Khishfe called on school representatives to present their reports on interns’ performances:
· Mr. Karim Abu Haydar (ACS, Middle & Secondary) stated that the intern majoring in Math at the Secondary School is doing well as reported by his mentor. Mr. Abu-Haydar apologized on behalf of Mr. Bryan Moskop, the PTC school representative at the Elementary School for not being able to attend the meeting due to previous school commitment. Mr Abou Hayder noted that he doesn’t have specific details for the performances of interns who are placed at the Elementary School, yet he claimed that the rotation system applied at this level could be problematic for some interns because it might oppose their time tables and schedules. Mr. Abu Haydar also proposed that the PTC meeting addresses practicum-related issues rather than focusing primarily on reporting about interns’ performance, which he believes could be done via e-mails sent directly to the PTC Coordinator or interns’ professors.
· Mrs. Violet Melki (SMOC) indicated high satisfaction with the performances of the 3 interns who are majoring in Special Education. She added that one of these interns is punctual, highly cooperative, and had completed her practicum hours before time. Mrs. Melki highlighted that the interns who are taking Educ. 222 and Educ. 280 simultaneously were a bit confused about the requirements of the two courses at the beginning of the semester. However, she emphasized that the mentors’ meeting which was held with the course instructors at the beginning of the semester at AUB was very productive and greatly helped in distinguishing the learning outcomes of these two courses.
· Mrs. Tsoler Keshishian (German School – Beirut), the science mentor of the only intern majoring in Science/Math at the Elementary School, reported that this intern is positive, helpful, and takes initiative. She added that the intern was very punctual at the beginning of the semester and demonstrated a high level of professionalism and motivation. However, she condemned this intern for not showing up over the last three weeks without informing the school or sending e-mails to her mentors. Moreover, Mrs. Keshishian clarified that the school administration would allow the intern access a soft copy of the K-12 science and math school curriculum only if it receives an e-mail request from her instructor.
· A short discussion followed: unexcused absences for any intern are not allowed; interns should communicate with their mentors concerning when to resume their practicum during the second semester; methods course professors would encourage their students to do several practicum hrs. during the long Christmas vacation which extends between the fall and spring semesters.
· Mrs. Rula Ghibril (Rawdah High School) reported on the performances of four interns: one intern majoring in Science/Math at the Elementary School, and three TD interns majoring in Science, Math, and TEFL at the Secondary School. She was content with the performances of all the interns and acknowledged the outstanding efforts of the Math and Science interns.
· Mrs. Rim El-Hout (American Academy of Beirut) was pleased with the performances of the two interns majoring in Special Education who are punctual and hard working. Additionally, Mrs. El-Hout carried on a short discussion with Mrs. Lina Ibrahim, the instructor for Educ. 280: Assessment in special Needs, regarding ways to fulfill course requirements and possible means of interventions. She highlighted that students’ understanding of course requirements and their performances are much better compared to that of last year students.
· Finally, Dr. Khishfe brought into discussion the fact that the Education Department is currently reviewing its BA and TD programs, and encouraged attendees to propose their suggestions for further improvement.
· Dr. Jurdak, recommended making this task more systematic by sending a questionnaire or survey to cooperating schools clarifying the features of improvement. Also, he proposed holding a special meeting to discuss means of improving Practice Teaching and Field Experience.
· Mr. Karim Abu Haydar recommended clarifying expectations to mentors and administrations to help them focus on areas of improvement.
· Mrs. Melki proposed sending the improvement criteria to school representatives.
· Other recommendations included holding PTC meetings on Wednesdays at 12 noon.
· Dr. Khishfe thanked all attendees for their cooperation and time.
The meeting adjourned at 5:00 pm.
Respectfully,
Enja Osman, PTC Coordinator
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