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Faculty Development Programs
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Project Update - July 2006
Overview of Activities
The project activities during the past year had three major thrusts. First, efforts continued on embedding the Library of Congress Web site into the teacher education curriculum though faculty professional development and by integrating the Library into pre-service teacher education coursework. Second, the planning phase was initiated at two new partner institutions. Third, all projects contributed to dissemination efforts, the primary focus of year three. In addition, inter and intrainstitutional collaboration continued to build a collaborative infrastructure and process to enhance continuity, expand capacity, and improve sustainability. These efforts were aided by two project meetings in fall 2005 and spring 2006. At these meetings, the project and institutional activities were discussed and plans were made for the future, especially the transition to the Library’s Teaching with Primary Sources program.
Another aspect of project activities included collaborating with the Library and other AAM projects in various ways. Representing the Federation, Mark Newman (National College of Education) served as co-chair of the advisory transition committee for the Teaching with Primary Sources program. In his capacity as co-editor of the Journal of the Illinois Council for the Social Studies and with the strong endorsement by that organization’s board of directors, he commissioned Cindy Rich, director of the Eastern Illinois University AAM program to write an article on AAM in Illinois for the fall 2006 issue of the Journal. He also collaborated with Elizabeth Ridgway of the Library and Rhonda Clevenson of AAM in Northern Virginia on a proposal for a pre- conference clinic on using the Library of Congress at the National Council for the Social Studies annual meeting in December 2006 that was accepted.
Other Federation faculty partners engaged in similar collaborative activities. A subcommittee consisting of Ben Freville ( Dominican University), Sherrie Pardieck ( Bradley University), Jim Vandergriff ( Knox College) and Donna Jurich ( Knox College) created the first project CD-Rom. Vandergriff, Jurich, Pardieck, and Dave McMullen (Bradley) presented a workshop at the Midwest Association of Teacher Educators meeting that showcased the CD. Equally important, Assistant Director Costas Spirou ( National-Louis University) redesigned and upgraded the project Web site.
Changes in the partner faculty and institutions were facilitated by orientation at the fall 2006 meeting and, as noted above with Knox College, collaboration on project activities. The two new institutions were Knox and Illinois Wesleyan University. Another change was the retirement of Sharan Pittser ( McKendree College) and the appointment of Tim Richards as her replacement.
Participants in the Adventure of the American Mind Project in 2005-2006 were:
Bradley University
Dave McMullen
Sherrie Pardieck
Dominican University
Colleen Reardon
Ben Freville
Greenville College
John Wright
Kathy Taylor
McKendree College
George Fero
Tim Richards
National-Louis University
Mark Newman, Project Co-Director
Donna Ogle
Costas Spirou, Assistant Director
Partner Institutional Projects
Bradley University
The continued integration of the Library of Congress Web site into course activities included the presentation of the “LOC Treasure Hunt” (video conferencing) for the Social Studies method classes and for the student teacher classes.
Dissemination activities included participation in the creation of the CD-Rom and:
- Presentation at MWATE, Urbana, IL (March 31, 2006). "Using Primary Sources in the Classroom." Pardieck, McMullen, Vandergriff, and Jurich.
- Presentation at Illinois Central College’s Teacher Education Association Club East Peoria, IL(April 19, 2006).
- "Primary Sources and the Library of Congress." Two presentation sessions for the Peoria Public Schools District #150 Teacher Institute, Valeska Hinton Early Childhood Education Center, Peoria, IL (April 28, 2006).
- "Adventure of the American Mind: Primary Sources and the Library of Congress," video conference with the LOC. Workshop with the Alliance Library System, Summer Camp for School Librarians (June 20, 2006).
A roundtable presentation is also scheduled for the National Educational Computing Conference (NECC) San Diego, CA, "Integrating the LOC Primary Sources into the Classroom."
Dominican University
The major accomplishment was completion of “Supporting the Learning of Students with Disabilities: A Guide to the Use of Digitized Primary Sources.” This guide provides the project partners with important resources to enhance their efforts to embed use of the Library in all areas of teacher education.
In addition, presentations were made in five classes: Reading the Content Areas (three presentations) Academic Methods for Students with Disabilities at the Elementary Level, and Social Studies and English Methods at Middle and High School Levels. The use of the Library resources was also integrated into courses taught by project faculty, including Integrating Technology into the Curriculum, Academic Methods for Middle and Secondary Level Students with Disabilities, and History, Philosophy, and Legal Foundations of Special Education. An estimated 170 students were exposed to methods of using the Library resources in learning.
A third activity was developing a research study of instructional routines for use with primary sources and for activating prior knowledge. The strategies were field tested with teachers in three Chicago Public Schools. Ben Freville also participated in developing the AAM CD.
Greenville College
A major development was the retirement of John Wright from Greenville College and the AAM. Activities for 2005 and 2006 included did two workshops this year for AAM. The first was for the campus community (full-time and part-time faculty). One faculty member included her students from a literature course. The second workshop was for public school librarians and K-8 teachers. Attendance at each workshop was 15.
Illinois Wesleyan University
This was a planning and implementation year that included integration of the Library Web site into teacher education classes, including Secondary Curriculum and Instruction – Social Sciences and the Humanities) and in ED 360 A (break-out once-a-week session for social science majors only. A major activity was development of a course on the events of September 11, 2001 that involved construction of a class Web site (http://titan.iwu.edu/~9-11site) as part of the class activities.
Knox College
A plan was developed to integrate use of the Library resources in ways that were consistent with the Educational Studies Department’s goals and conceptual framework to ensure sustainability. Students in three courses has assignments using the Library: History of Education, Elementary Methodology, and Secondary Methodology. The plan calls for expanding the use of the Library in the courses next year. In addition, a proposal was made to provide an information session of the Library to all Knox faculty in the upcoming academic year.
Donna Jurich and Jim Vandergiff also participated in developing the CD and presented with Bradley faculty at the MWATE meeting.
National-Louis University
The integration to social studies and reading courses continued. The major activity was colloquium for faculty. Three College of Arts and Science faculty (political science and economics) and five National College of Education faculty (social studies, reading and language, mathematics education, special education, and educational psychology) used Library of Congress primary sources in their courses during fall and/or winter quarters. They shared their experiences and results at a May 2006 colloquium. The group agreed to continue working together and will present a session at the fall 2006 University Connection. The colloquium and continued integration of the Library resources into courses reached more than 200 students.
In addition, Donna Ogle and Costas Spirou have resigned as project faculty. Spirou remains project assistant director and Ogle will continue collaborating with the project and possibly connecting it to two major projects she is directing. Two new faculty have been recruited, Xiuwen Wu (Special Education) and Arlene Hambrick (Mathematics Education). This change was planned by the original three project faculty as a means of expanding the embedding of the Library resources into the teacher education curriculum.
Summary
Overall, the AAM project experienced a number of successes during the previous year. The project participants presented workshops that were embedded in existing undergraduate courses, delivered another course that featured the Library Web site as a core text, introduced faculty to the Library through faculty development programs, published a guide for students disabilities and a project CD-Rom, and presented findings related to the use of the LOC at professional meetings.
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