Program in Education

Memo

Date: June 1, 2007

To: Mark Tappan, Ed Yeterian

From: Karen Kusiak

Subject: Annual Report

______

1)  new or revised courses

ED121 –History of U. S. Education

I taught this course for a second time although previously it was offered as a 197 course. I made minor revisions to the readings but the course content was similar to the earlier version. I did incorporate more student writing and incentives for students to show me drafts of their work. I’ve been thinking of ways to work with students – particularly students in 100 level classes – on developing skills for effective college level writing. I’m learning after the fact that it would be helpful for students if I required them to submit drafts either for my initial critique or for a peer critique prior to submitting the paper for a grade. I heard a specialist in student learning speak in December and his claim was that once a paper is graded, students look for the grade and ignore the comments faculty make about sentence structure, word choice, thesis development, point of view and even grammar. Students would “learn” more about writing a paper if they were required to read all of the faculty member’s (or peers’) comments and acknowledge the comments or address the problems in the paper prior to receiving a grade. I’ll try to remember to do that in future classes. I’ve discovered that I also should institute this practice for students who complete independent studies.

ED431 & 433 – Seminar in Curriculum and Instruction & Student Teaching Practicum

This year I worked on a Goldfarb Faculty Research Award for Civic Engagement with Ayanna Kim Thomas in Psychology. Ayanna’s interest is cognitive psychology and the learning process applied to teaching. Our joint project focused on the ways in which pre-service and in-service teachers apply findings from cognitive psychology in their classroom work. To that end, students in ED431 & 433 completed readings about cognitive psychology, designed and implemented lessons in keeping with findings from cognitive psychology, and listened to Professor Thomas and her assistant talk about their research during their visit to our seminar meeting one evening. My students discussed their lesson designs in class, submitted the plan in writing with a critique, and completed a survey about the usefulness of basic research in psychology as applied to teaching. Professor Thomas’ interest in the project centered on learning about the realities of classroom teaching as well as furthering her basic research in laboratory settings. She and I talked several times during the planning stages for this project in the summer of 2006 and she also learned from my students who were teaching in local classrooms.

2) committees

I’ve continued to serve as a member of the Language Modification Committee. This committee has been organized by Mark Serdjenian for a number of years and at this time we are uncertain if it will continue to exist in the same format given the changes in responsibilities in the Dean of Students’ Office. While I’ve been willing and even interested to serve on this committee over the years, I’ve noticed by exploring the services for students who have disabilities at other highly selective and selective colleges that Colby has far fewer resources and services for students who have disabilities than other colleges with whom we might compete for students. This year was eye-opening for me in that two first year students whom I came to know reasonably well through teaching and advising came up for consideration by the Language Modification Committee. I would not have anticipated the significance of the students’ learning challenges (as illustrated through the historical evaluative educational and psychological data provided) given their presentation in class or in my office.

I’ve been a member of the Athletic Advisory Committee and the Admissions and Financial Aid committees.

I was faculty liaison for the Men’s soccer team and met with them once at the field. They stopped practice while I addressed them about aspects of the academic program! I think I have the easiest liaison position since the coach is already involved in the academic program of the college.

3) other college service.

Our family participates as a host for an International student. The student to whom we were assigned graduated this year. We attended several of Jingjing Zhou’s concerts as well as her senior recital. I gave Jingjing a few driving lessons this spring, and I met with her parents at commencement receptions. (I met and greeted several parents and family members of international students during the weekend.)

I participated in the Diamond dedication receptions and dinners. I packed my office for the move to Diamond in January. I’ve attended about the third of the planning meetings among Diamond faculty during second semester – meetings to talk about use of the building, interior design for the atrium and so forth.

I agreed to be an advisor for first year students who are first generation four-year college students. While 3 of the 4 students fared quite well and appeared similar to their classmates in terms of independence and academic success, one of the students needed considerable support during the year. This student faced problems not so much with her academic ability and preparation but rather with an understanding of the expectations for college level work. Luckily the system was able to support her – otherwise she would not be returning to Colby. The student made use of the Writers’ Center, EN112, a Language Modification, and peer tutoring for a content course in order to get through the year. She might not have found these resources and “safety valves” on her own. I knew about these programs or alternate routes only from my long time experience with the academic program of the college. (I would have been a less effective advisor for this student even a few years ago.) My message here is that advising matters to student achievement and success. Another message is that student support services at Colby need to be more visible to students, whether the difficulties students face arise from disability, disadvantage, discouragement, or inexperience.

4.) Participation in Diversity – Related Activities

I attended a variety of lectures, presentations and films during the year: International Extravaganza, International Food Festival (I was a judge), the series on African-Americans in Maine, the Birge Lecture, informal lunches organized by the Dean of Students’ Office and interested faculty concerning racism and racism awareness, Tim Wise’s luncheon presentation, Spoken Word poetry reading, and a science division luncheon concerning approaches for teaching college students who have learning or attention difficulties.

I weave the theme of diversity into classes I teach. For example, ED121 addresses the criteria for the college U.S. Diversity requirement. Other courses I teach always includes material related to teaching diverse learners as well as a critique of the ways in which standard “business as usual” practices in education promote the development of students and families who are already privileged in our society. Our reading, writing, thinking, and discussion in class appear to promote graduates who are eager to employ teaching for social justice in their work.

5.) publications and research

“During the second semester this year I prepared the draft of my proposal for dissertation research. I met with my faculty advisor and made revisions. As of June 1, I await her word concerning whether the proposal has been distributed to my committee. I expect to defend the proposal in the fall.” Annual report 2006

I’m leaving the statement above word for word from last year. I’m at about the same point as I was a year ago; here is why. I submitted the first draft of my proposal in March 2006 and met with my advisor for first reactions in April or May. I submitted a second draft in May (2006) and didn’t hear back from her with specific comments until the last week in August. In September and through the first semester I faced teaching most of my load of classes and supported my daughter through the process of the college search – driving to visits to colleges and to interviews throughout the fall and into January in my “spare” time. It wasn’t until February that I was able to address some of the specific recommendations from my advisor. I sent her a third draft of the proposal in March 2007 and she circulated the draft to other members of my committee for their first reading of the proposal. I received comments from two of the committee members by early April, yet – for some reason- a third member of the committee sent substantial comments to my advisor in early April but they were not forwarded to me until May 24, 2007. So, here I am on May 30 trying to determine what to do with the sometime conflicting views from my advisors concerning what makes a proper proposal. I’ll persevere.

Kusiak, K. (2007). We are ready for this: Challenge, thoughtfulness, perspective, and respect. Journal of Maine Education, 23(1), 36-40.

6.)  papers presented (not a paper – but a presentation) Ayanna Kim Thomas and I presented two evenings of a Seminar in Cognition with Teachers and Teacher Education Students. These sessions were supported by the Goldfarb Faculty Research Award for Civic Engagement and were open to community teachers. Fliers were distributed at all of the local schools and arrangements were made to offer continuing education credits. All cooperating teachers who worked with Colby education students this year were personally invited to attend the seminars. One member of the local community – an Educational Psychologist - attended the first evening of the seminar and was quite interested in the talk. She, too, described the complexities of classroom teaching as compared to the setting of laboratory research. The second seminar session, on March 15, was well attended by psychology students and a few education students.

7) student work

I sponsored an individual version of ED374 for two students who needed the course for teacher certification.

6)  other pertinent information

I continue to serve as a Director on the Board of Education for MSAD 49 (Fairfield.)

I’ve been named co-editor of the Journal of Maine Education (JME). My partner with this responsibility is Shawn Lambert ’92 – a former student and current principal at Livermore Falls High School and district administrator in MSAD 36. The editorial board meets three times a year to discuss the theme for the JME, to name potential authors, and to review the articles submitted. Although over the years the JME board has met at various locations in the state to accommodate members who travel from various distances and directions, for the last year the board has met exclusively at Colby College due to our central location and the suitability of meeting space. The board was pleased to meet in the Diamond Building in May and I easily see the connection between the work of JME and the philosophy of civic engagement supported by the Goldfarb Center within the Diamond Building. The JME is a publication of the Maine Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development (Maine ASCD) and is distributed to the nearly 1000 members of the independent organization. The following is from the MSAD website: “The Journal of Maine Education has been recognized for excellence in affiliate publications by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) in 1985, 1987, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001. ASCD discontinued this award in 2003.”

During 2006-2007 I had my first article published in JME and I read drafts of and offered encouragement for an article by Lisa Hallen – former director of student activities at Colby and current guidance counselor at Lawrence High School and doctoral student in Higher Education at U. Maine. Lisa also had her article accepted by JME.

I’m serving a term on the Board of Trustees of the Universalist Unitarian Church of Waterville and was nominated for the position of vice president of the Board in May 2007.

I note the retirement of Mike Denis, social studies teacher at Messalskee Middle School and mentor to numerous Colby education students. Mike attended Colby’s commencement on Sunday in honor of the student who worked in his classroom this year – Mike Klaus.