RPDS Happenings ~ December 14, 2005
· Showell Elementary: Update on Interns…
o Laura Whitehead found a perfect legacy project. Her mentor, Angie Sullivan, agreed that the very ugly chalkboard wall in the first grade area needed sprucing up. Laura found a mellow yellow paint and obtained permission to improve the children's work area. To involve the students Laura added a border of colorful children's handprints. Laura will be remembered for bringing sunshine to Showell.
o Katie Rowe, intern, and Ashley Fardone, methods student, collaborated with mentor JoAnne Donovan to create a Power Point in their first grade. Katie was teaching a story/poem set in the woods. It was suggested that the first graders could write a rhyming story set on the school's nature trail. "Counting on Willet's Walk" had the children writing, digital pictures set on a Power Point, and their voices on the recording. Parents were surprised to see their youngsters on the TV monitor during American Education Week. The same production is being shared at an upcoming Worcester County Board of Education meeting in mid December.
· Beaver Run and Willards Elementary Paired Site:
o BRES continues to serve enthusiastically our MANY early childhood students in foundations, methods, and internship classes. Willards has been a wonderful addition to the Early Childhood Paired Site and our students have loved having a second site to visit along with Beaver Run. ALL students and mentor teachers have enjoyed positive working relationships. We are all learning from one another!!
· East Salisbury Elementary:
o East Salisbury Elementary was proud to support SU during the MDSE/NCATE visit. Lil Giddens, principal, attended the Gallery Walk on Sunday, October 23rd. She also attended the RPDS council interview session the following day with Nora Lynch, the new site coordinator for ESES.
o ESES is also grateful for the collaborative efforts of Lori Menzel, mentor teacher, and her intern, Robyn Kratenstein. Prior to interning at ESES, Robyn worked with a program called “Turning Point,” which allows whole class participation using technology. Robyn’s interest in the program prompted Mrs. Menzel to contact Wicomico County’s technology department to borrow the program and instead ESES was chosen to pilot the program for the County!
o Thanks to our SU liaison, Linda Conner, we received a PDS bulletin board, compliments of SU in November and promptly had it installed. It is located in our front hallway across from the office. Linda and Nora worked on arranging the bulletin board, including pictures of our interns actively teaching, with our banner arranged proudly above it.
· Delmar Elementary ~ North Salisbury Elementary Paired Site:
o DES and NSES were recently visited by our accrediting bodies of NCATE and MSDE where they proceeded to “dazzle” both the national and state visiting teams. The hard work put in by the administration, students, SU candidates, faculty & supervisors, parents, mentors and the combined coordinating council really paid off! The accreditation team spent half a day at Delmar Elementary conducting interviews with personnel from both schools and literally watched PDS in action as they visited classrooms where interns and mentors were “showing their stuff.” SU couldn’t have asked for a better report than what was received after the site visits. What a fabulous reward for all the time and effort these two schools put forth, with the leadership of Dr. John Bing, for the visit and on a regular basis.
· Stephen Decatur Middle and Stephen Decatur High Paired Site:
o On a similar note…the paired site of SDMS and SDHS equally “wowed” the national and state accreditation visiting teams. Administrators, parents, school board members, mentors, SU candidates, faculty & supervisors in addition to the superintendent, John Andes, turned out in support of SU’s education program and the work of PDS during the onsite visit which took place at SDMS. The collaborative atmosphere that exists between the University and Worcester County was obvious to all and a clear message that PDS was a priority for preparing quality educators while enhancing student learning was evident as well. A special thanks to Dr. Joel Jenne and the coordinating council for their many hours of hard work…Way to Go!!
· Mardela Middle/High:
o With the Help of Ron Wainwright (Site Coordinator) and Linda Nestor (Associate Site Coordinator) Mardela will attempt to start the SURF (Salisbury University Reading Friends) program during the Spring Semester. SU students taking Ron Siers’ EDUC 210. 304 and 300 classes in the spring semester will utilize SURF to fulfill their field experience hours. Mr. Wainwright and Mrs. Nestor will help coordinate any additional hours the students will need. The program allows Salisbury University students to become a reading buddy with a low-achieving reader at Mardela. Reading Friends read and discuss a book chosen by the middle school student. The mechanics of the program will be discussed and finalized at the January Instructional Leadership Team meeting at Mardela.