OSE Spring 2013 Newsletter

THE OFFICE OF

SCHOOL ENGAGEMENT NEWSLETTER Spring 2013

Inside this issue: Nature as Teacher: Connecting young learners with nature through science, gardening, and literacy education .................3 Professors-in-Residence Profile: Kathy Thompson and Gayle Andrews ..............4 Toward Research-Based Practice: Understanding Children’s Development of 21st-Century Skills ...........6 PDSD well-represented at National Association of Professional Development Schools Conference in New Orleans .........................7 Archway Partnership funds Education Professional focused on Birth-through-five issues....................................7

Volume 4

Issue 2

W. R. Coile Middle School and Cedar Shoals High School join the PDSD The College of Education (COE) and Clarke County School District (CCSD) Professional Development School District continues to grow!

In the spring semester of 2013, W. R. Coile Middle School and Cedar Shoals High School launched as Model 3 PDS schools, meaning that COE courses were taught on-site.

These COE students took their Social Studies methods course at Cedar Shoals HS, which became a new Model 3 Professional Development School this semester.

COILE MIDDLE SCHOOL At Coile Middle School, Ruth Harman, faculty in the Department of Language and Literacy Education, taught her Content-Based English as a Second Language Instruction class. Her 19 COE master’s and doctoral students were trained to write very extensive and non-evaluative field notes that looked at how students were being spiraled into disciplinary knowledge through questioning strategies, class assignments, group work, and multimedia. continued on page 2

Meet Dr. Jack Parish New Associate Dean for Outreach and Engagement On March 1, Dr. Jack Parish assumed his new position as the College of Education Associate Dean for Outreach and Engagement, following prior Associate Dean Ron Cervero’s appointment as UGA’s Associate Vice President for Instruction.

Parish began work in the Lifelong Education, Administration, and Dr. Jack Parish Policy (LEAP) Department in the College of Education in August COE Associate Dean for Outreach & Engagement 2008, following a 30-year career in K-12 education in Georgia.

While working in K-12 education, Dr. Parish served as a teacher, assistant principal, principal, assistant personnel director, assistant superintendent, and superintendent.

Offiice of School Engagement Mission Statement ................8

COE Dean Craig Kennedy appointed Parish and commented, “Dr. Parish brings a wealth of experience to the role of Associate Dean for Outreach and Engagement. His expertise in school and district leadership, school leadership training, and educational policy issues in the state of Georgia are without peer. I look forward to working with Dr. Parish and improving the COE’s impact on educational policy discussions both regionally and nationally.”

PDSD hosts first PDS Workshop for Georgia Educators .............................8

Since making the transition to higher education, Parish has demonstrated his commitment to teaching, service, and research. In 2012, he was appointed as Clinical Associate Professor with time allocated to teaching and service. From June 2011 through June 2012, he served as the Executive Director of the Georgia Association of Educational Leaders (GAEL). continued on page 6

Office of School Engagement Newsletter • Spring 2013

Page 2 PDSD - continued from page 1

Shelley Fallows, instructional coach at Coile, and David Forker, a Coile teacher and COE doctoral student, worked closely with Harman and were instrumental in integrating the COE students into the Coile community.

In collaboration with Coile teachers, the COE students had the opportunity to attend science, mathematics, English language arts, and social studies classes. They were invited at times to contribute to classroom discussion, but their purpose was to use their field observations to develop curricular design and teaching activities. At the end of April, they met with teachers to share their activities and present mini teaching units.

“Our PDS partnership at Coile this term was a thoroughly rewarding experience for my graduate students and for me. I think the teachers who collaborated with us also seemed to appreciate having our culturally and linguistically diverse group in the building and in their classrooms,” explained Harman.

Principal Dwight Manzy also expressed enthusiasm for the new partnership: “We are excited about having Coile Middle as a Professional Development School.

Having future educators coming in and actually seeing, observing, and validating some of the work that we are doing here at Coile Middle has helped us to continue focusing on our ultimate goal: Striving for Excellence in Education.”

At Cedar Shoals High School, Sonia Janis and Mardi Schmeichel, faculty in the Department of Educational Theory and Practice, became On-Site Instructors this spring. They taught three COE social studies methods and curriculum classes onsite two days a week to 11 students.

in a space that offers ways to unpack, embrace, and reflect on the many challenges of teaching social studies to build character, resilience, understanding, and solutions. They are learning to endure and overcome such challenges before taking on the full responsibility of teaching social studies to classrooms of students as professionals,” Janis said.

During their 15 hours per week at Cedar, COE students not only took courses, but also had many other learning experiences, thanks to the collaboration with teachers and administrators. COE students participated in ongoing, weekly observations with Cedar social studies teachers Erin Adamson, Aaron Carter, and Gavin Matesich and attended data team meetings. Matesich and Carter facilitated Micro-Teaching experiences for practicum students four times during the semester.

Dr. Tony Price, Cedar’s principal, explained the mutual benefits of the partnership, saying, “The PDS program has been a wonderful example of the UGA College of Education coming together with Cedar Shoals High School to provide a real-world learning experience for tomorrow’s teachers. The college students learn the challenges and rewards of being a high school teacher today, and the high school benefits from the support these students provide to our classroom teachers.”

Students also had learning sessions with other administrators and staff, including the principal, assistant principal, instructional coach, special education teacher, and nutritionist. COE students tutored Cedar students who needed additional help with social studies Tuesdays and Thursdays afterschool and dialogued with a panel of Cedar students on “What is an effective teacher?”

To accommodate a larger number of COE students in the fall, Janis and Schmeichel will further expand the PDS partnership by also teaching social studies education courses at Clarke Central High School (CCHS).

CEDAR SHOALS HIGH SCHOOL

“The pre-service teacher candidates are experiencing authentic learning moments

In addition to Coile and Cedar, Clarke Middle School’s PDS expanded this spring to include an art education methods class taught on-site by Tracie Costantino, a faculty member in the UGA Lamar Dodd School of Art.

LOOKING AHEAD In 2013-14, plans are set for Barrow Elementary School to become a Model 4 PDS school, meaning the school will have a half-time Professor-in-Residence (PIR).

Jennifer James, faculty in the Department of Educational Theory and Practice, who has been an On-Site Instructor at Barrow for two years will become the new PIR (see article about her research on page 6).

These COE students took their Content-Based ESOL instruction class at Coile Middle School, which became a new Model 3 Professional Development School this semester.

“Moving to a Model 4 will mean that I am able to spend more time on-site working with teachers in team-level and faculty meetings, partnering with leadership to define and implement professional development initiatives, and supervise student teachers. In addition, I will continue to teach on-site and conduct my research study,” James explained.

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Spring 2013 • Office of School Engagement Newsletter

Nature as Teacher: Connecting young learners with nature through science, gardening, and literacy education By contributing writers Bridget Ratajczak and Anne Shenk “Nature Explorer’s Club is fun! Nature Explorer’s Club is fun!” A group of Pre-K students, clad in colorful canvas bucket hats, chant. They stand around garden beds that are filled with vegetable seedlings. Their chant is led by UGA students from the Birth through Five Teacher Preparation Program. The Nature Explorer’s Club is a weekly occurrence this spring semester at the Clarke County School District’s Early Learning Center.

Each week, each class of 3- and 4-yearold students attends a 30-minute Nature Explorer’s Club session. During these sessions, the UGA students lead puppet shows, read books, and conduct hands-on activities that teach the children a variety of nature and science-related concepts.

The young learners have planted both seeds and seedlings, mulched and watered their gardens, learned about the “recipe” for good soil, and examined earth worms, which they added to their gardens. They have planned a garden party at the end of the semester when the vegetables are ready to harvest.

Catherine Citta, a student in the UGA Birth through Five program, leads Nature Explorers Club, teaching the Early Learning Center students to use their senses to explore nature in their schoolyard.

Nature Explorer’s Club is a part of a service learning course at UGA, titled “Nature as Teacher.” This course is being co-taught

by Bridget Ratajczak, clinical instructor in the COE Birth through Five Teacher

Preparation Program, and Anne Shenk, education director at the State Botanical Garden of Georgia and adjunct faculty member with the COE Department of Mathematics and Science Education.

Ratajczak is also an On-Site Instructor at CCSD’s Early Learning Center, part of the Professional Development School District between the College of Education and CCSD. Shenk is currently a ServiceLearning Fellow at UGA and has previously taught a course in which UGA students ran after-school gardening programs with elementary school students. However, she wanted to explore the possibility of serving a younger audience.

Shenk and Ratajczak were introduced this past fall by a colleague and began discussing the possibility of teaching a service learning course that would bring an awareness of nature and gardening to younger children. The Birth through Five Program, and their partnership with the Early Learning Center, provided a perfect opportunity to do that. Shenk and Ratajczak designed a course that would instruct UGA students on incorporating nature and gardening as instructional tools to teach the Georgia Pre-K standards, while planting the seeds of environmental awareness and a lifetime love of and respect for nature. They coordinated the logistics with Dr. Shelley Goodman, Director of the Office of Early Learning at CCSD, and Greg Hull, CCSD Pre-K Director.

Goodman commented, “Prior to the Nature Explorer’s Club, children would tear branches off of the bushes and trees on the playground. Since they have been participating in the club, the children respect the plants and helpful insects.

The Nature Explorer’s Club builds on children’s natural curiosity about their environment which helps them with higher-order thinking skills. They also have learned to work as a team planting, weeding, and cultivating the garden. They are also developing scientific knowledge and vocabulary. I cannot wait for next year’s club to begin!”

Nature Explorer’s Club sessions use the playground at the Early Learning Center as an exciting outdoor classroom. Eight raised garden beds were built and installed on the Early Learning Center’s playground

by Dr. David Berle, horticulture professor at UGA, and JoHannah Biang, UGArden farm manager. Cora Keber and Andi Bisceglia, education staff at the Botanical Garden, along with Birth through Five students, Shenk, Ratajczak, and Biang, filled the beds with compost and soil.

The children are learning many basic concepts of science, along with a love of nature and respect for the environment.

Kristen Pauff, a preschool teacher at the Early Learning Center said, “Nature Explorer’s Club has helped our children become a part of their world and witness things in nature that they would not normally get to experience.”

Karen Gerow, COE doctoral student in Applied Cognition and Development in Educational Psychology, and Bridget Ratajczak, Clinical Instructor in the Birth through Five Program, collected over 170 Candy Land and Chutes & Ladders games this past fall. The venture was advertised through Facebook, and games were donated by generous people from the Athens community and all over the country. Games were distributed to families at the Office of Early Learning's Family Literacy and Curriculum Nights. Research shows that early exposure to board games significantly improves later math skill development.

Office of School Engagement Newsletter • Spring 2013

Page 4

Professors-in-Residence Profile: Kathy Thompson and Gayle Andrews This article is the third in a series of profiles on Professors-in-Residence at Professional Development Schools.

“We wanted to do this together!” Clinical Professor Kathy Thompson and Professor Gayle Andrews explained when asked about why they wanted to become the first “Co” Professors-in-Residence (PIR) at Hilsman Middle School in 2011. Both Andrews and Thompson were involved in the College of Education’s Professional Development School (PDS) work from the earliest stages of development. Because they had collaboratively reconceptualized the COE Middle Grades program together and co-taught courses since Thompson started at UGA in 2002, neither could imagine working in the PDS partnership without the other as a partner.

“We view our work as collaborative. We had looped and co-taught two cohorts of students together, and when the opportunity for Professor-in-Residence came up, we were starting with a new cohort, so it was perfect timing to try something new,” Thompson explained.

Thompson and Andrews, both COE faculty in the Department of Educational Theory and Practice, have shared the PIR position for two years as part of the Professional Development School District Partnership (PDSD) with Clarke County School District (CCSD). They share a similar conceptual framework that is focused on preparing teacher candidates to get to know the students whom they will be teaching, including understanding the community students come from, issues of poverty, and using service-learning as a teaching tool.

Their students often express to them how much they benefit from learning within the Hilsman environment.

Student teacher Isaac Piha said, “Student teaching at Hilsman Middle School was the most meaningful experience I have had in my college career. The teachers at Hilsman don’t treat student teachers like college students, but rather as members of their team who are expected to participate in planning and running the school.”

Andrews and Thompson teach 15 class sessions of their Middle Grades methods course on-site at Hilsman each semester.

Thirty-eight Middle Grades Education majors took classes on-site in the fall and 57 this spring. Andrews and Thompson also supervised 20 practicum students in the fall and seven student teachers in the spring.

Hilsman principal Dr. Selena Blankenship and Assistant Principal, Dr. Trey Ezekiel,

Gayle Andrews (left) and Kathy Thompson (right) are Co-Professors-in-Residence at Hilsman Middle School.

along with the teachers and other staff, have been extremely supportive of the PDS partnership. “Drs. Andrew and Thompson are part of the Hilsman faculty; they are members of our school improvement leadership team, and they attend all our faculty meetings. The relationships they have developed with Hilsman teachers create the space for knowledge sharing and learning to take place. We all benefit from the PDS partnership: Hilsman teachers, UGA students, and most importantly, our middle school students,” Blankenship explained.

“Hilsman feels like home to me.”

– Gayle Andrews

“The Hilsman teachers and staff have been so welcoming and collaborative, and we could not have built this partnership without Dr. Blankenship’s support. We work so well together and see teaching and learning through similar lenses,” Thompson said.

One benefit for COE students is working one-on-one with sixth- through eighthgrade students. For example, in preparation for the school’s Social Studies Fair in November, the COE students facilitated Hilsman students’ idea brainstorming, research-question development, and the research process. The middle schoolers presented their projects to more than 100 parents, teachers, and UGA students on Social Studies Curriculum Night, perhaps a best-ever turnout for that event.

COE students also appreciate the opportunity to interact with Hilsman teachers. They observe in teachers’ classrooms, and teachers give guest lectures

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Spring 2013 • Office of School Engagement Newsletter

COE Middle Grades Education students take their middle school methods course on site at Hilsman Middle School, where they benefit from many interactions with students, teachers, and administrators.

related to their areas of expertise. This spring, COE students held a Differentiated Learning Centers Fair where they presented different techniques for differentiating standards to Hilsman teachers. When teachers implemented some of these ideas in their classrooms, Andrews said that her students were motivated by the fact that their work had immediate value.

She and Thompson especially enjoy engaging with middle school students.

“I love being around kids and having the opportunity to interact with them, and I wouldn’t have that if I weren’t there,” Andrews added.

In addition to coordinating many opportunities for their students to learn from the Hilsman community, Andrews and Thompson collaborate with Hilsman teachers. This year they facilitated professional learning for a group of teachers in the form of classroom visits. The idea behind the project is that teachers identify questions they have about their teaching and visit each other’s classrooms with a focus question in mind, such as, “How can I establish and maintain a positive learning environment?” After the visits, the teachers debrief together. Thompson explained that the visits have encouraged professional conversations among the teachers, and they enjoy the opportunity to learn more from each other.

“Being at

Thompson and Andrews look forward to continuing to work as Co-Professors-inResidence at Hilsman long-term. “Hilsman feels like home to me as an educator and as a teacher-educator! Every day is different and has new opportunities. We are always trying to learn how to be better teachers of our students and of the Hilsman students,” Andrews explained.

Hilsman is invigorating and makes coming to work exciting.”

– Kathy Thompson

Thompson reflected, “We have a lot of fun!

Being at Hilsman is invigorating and makes coming to work exciting. I always want to improve on what I’ve done before. I’m seeing growth in our students, and it makes me a better teacher. Long term, I hope that we can create a pipeline of students from our program becoming teachers at Hilsman and in Clarke County.”

With the support of Principal Blankenship, Thompson and Andrews have connected many other UGA units and programs to Hilsman beyond the College of Education.

UGA Project FOCUS students now teach hands-on science lessons, UGA Film and Theater students work with the Hilsman improv club after school, and UGA Warnell School of Forestry plans to install an aquaponics lab at the school, among many other projects. They described this part of the PIR job as serving as the “brokers” between the school and the university.

Thompson also has a particular passion for incorporating service-learning into her teaching (she won the UGA ServiceLearning Teaching Excellence Award this spring). This semester she co-taught a UGA course at both Hilsman and Barrow Elementary called Hunger In Our Schools, along with COE faculty member Jennifer James. Together with teams of teachers and staff, her students examined hunger issues and surveyed teachers, students, and parents to understand the scope and nature of the needs related to food at the two schools. She views the course as a way in which the PDS partnership can connect school, university, and community partners to address important community needs.

Clearly, both the COE and Hilsman are greatly benefiting from the AndrewsThompson synergy! If they are any example, the PDSD may want to explore the Co-PIR model at other schools.

Page 6 JACK PARISH - continued from page 1

The mission of the Office of Outreach and Engagement is to provide an extension of COE resources in the form of professional knowledge and expertise to the people of Georgia and beyond to enhance their quality of life. Parish explained what excites him about this new opportunity as an administrator in higher education: “The work in Outreach and Engagement provides many opportunities to ‘connect the dots’ among the tremendous resources and talents in the College of Education with the needs of school districts and other educational entities throughout the state, the country, and beyond. I am excited about the multitude of opportunities to develop partnerships with audiences outside the College of Education that share common interests for improving educator preparation and quality. Also, I look forward to opportunities for Outreach and Engagement to be involved in policy development as it relates to educator preparation,” he said.

Parish oversees all Outreach and Engagement programs, including the Office of School Engagement, Conferences and Workshops, Teacher Quality program, Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, Educational Technology Center, Georgia Association of Educational Leaders, Early Career Principal Residency Program, and the Safe and Welcoming Schools Program. Outreach and Engagement also hosts the annual State of Education in Georgia conference.

Since becoming Associate Dean, he has been very supportive of the work of the Office of School Engagement, including becoming a member of the Professional Development School District Executive Committee.

“The work of the Office of School Engagement is exactly what we should be doing in the College of Education – bridging the worlds of theory and practice to improve the educational experiences for students and the professional development of educators. It is my belief that research should inform practice and practice should inform research,” Parish explained.

“The Professional Development School District collaboration between the Clarke County School District and the UGA College of Education should become the model for other school districts and colleges of education in Georgia, nationally, and internationally for how to improve the quality of educator preparation while improving learning experiences for students,” he added.

Parish and his wife, Ashley, live in Athens with their dog, Sam. He is a lifelong runner who still finds time to run each day.

Office of School Engagement Newsletter • Spring 2013

Toward Research-Based Practice: Understanding Children’s Development of 21st-Century Skills Jennifer H. James, COE Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Theory and Practice, works with Glennda Shealey's 3rd grade students at Barrow Elementary School during "heart" time where students explore personal inquiry projects to build 21st-century skills.

How do we prepare our children for full civic participation in a 21st-century world? What cognitive, interpersonal, and intrapersonal skills will they require?

These are some of the questions Jennifer H. James, COE associate professor in the Department of Educational Theory and Practice, is hoping to answer in the context of a two-year study involving a classroom of about 21 students at David C. Barrow Elementary School, one of the schools involved in the Professional Development School District partnership between the COE and CCSD. James, the On-Site Instructor and principal researcher, is collaborating with Barrow Elementary teacher researchers Glennda Shealey and Rita Foretich. Shealey teaches third grade, and Foretich teaches art education.

Jessica Kobe and Matt Tyler are serving as research assistants.

“The need to name 21st-century skills, thoughtfully engage teaching toward their development, and measure the impact of our work is real,” said James.

“Our efforts to address this need will likely benefit not only the students in our focus classroom, but also other students and teachers throughout the school and district, offering research-based recommendations for policy and practice.”

The study is funded by a $40,000 grant from the Spencer Foundation. There are two aims of the research project:  to develop a theoretical framework and corresponding measures for capturing and understanding elementary students’ 21st-century skills;  to identify specific pedagogical methods that foster elementary students’ 21st- century skill development.

The research team’s framework for 21st-century skill building focuses on three dimensions of students’ civic learning: cognitive (creative thinking, meta-cognition, reasoning, and critical thinking), interpersonal (perspective taking, symbiotic relationship building, and collaboration), and intrapersonal (self-esteem, self -knowledge, and efficacy).

“We call our framework ‘Head, Heart and Hands’ – a name we adopted so that we can talk with children about our work,” said James. “The head is cognitive. What do I know? How do I know it? What do/can I not know?

What does it mean to know? The heart is intrapersonal. Who am I? What do I care about? What are my strengths? What role do/can I play in my community? How can I express myself? The hands are interpersonal. Who are the people in my community? How do I know them? What does it mean to be in community with others?”

In the process of conceptual refinement, the researchers have worked this year to develop a variety of qualitative and quantitative measures for capturing students’ understanding across time and space, and to identify effective strategies for fostering children’s civic growth within the context of the school day.

In 2013-14, James will become a Professor-in-Residence at Barrow Elementary, as the school transitions from a Model 3 to a Model 4 PDS school (see article on page 1 for more details).

Spring 2013 • Office of School Engagement Newsletter

PDSD well represented at National Association of Professional Development Schools Conference in New Orleans Joining nearly 1,000 other educators, 12 CCSD teachers and administrators, 12 College of Education faculty, and four College of Education students presented at the National Association of Professional Development Schools Conference (NAPDS) in New Orleans, La., this February. All 28 educators are involved in the Professional Development School District (PDSD) partnership.

COE and CCSD faculty co-presented on topics such as, “How Might Principals and University Liaisons Work Together to Improve the Experiences of Students?”, “Eyes Wide Open: Classroom Visits to Address the Excitement and Challenges of Teaching,” and “Redesigning a Secondary Mathematics Education Program with Professional Development School Partners.”

“UGA and Clarke County have a close partnership that positively affects the students and professionals involved. At the NAPDS conference, it was exciting to see how we are a part of a groundbreaking relationship that gives students and faculty members so many opportunities,” said Meganne Butler, a COE student teacher in the Middle Grades Program who presented at the conference, along with a team from Hilsman Middle School..

Clarke Middle School math teacher Renee Fleming commented, “As teachers in secondary education, we are consumed with what we experience in our buildings. It was very enlightening to see all the different models of PDS happening in the nation and even in our district.”

COE departments represented include the Department of Educational Theory and Practice, the Department of Mathematics and Science Education, and the Department of Lifelong Education, Administration, and Policy.

CCSD schools represented include J. J. Harris Elementary Charter School, Fowler Drive Elementary School, Barrow Elementary School, Clarke Middle School, Hilsman Middle School, and Clarke Central High School.

NAPDS is a national organization that is dedicated to creating and sustaining genuine collaborative partnerships between P-12 schools and institutions of higher education.

One of the presentations at the National Association of Professional Development Schools Conference in New Orleans was entitled “Redesigning a Secondary Mathematics Education Program with Professional Development School Partners.” The PDSD team included, (front row: left to right), Dorothy White (COE faculty), Renee Fleming (Clarke Middle School teacher), Margaret Trandel (Clarke Central High School teacher) and (back row: left to right), Anna Conner (COE faculty) and Tad MacMillan (Clarke Middle School principal).

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Archway Partnership funds Education Professional focused on Birth-through-Five issues

Beginning June 1, Katherine (Katy) Green will begin working as an Archway Education Professional who will focus on birth-to-five programs and activities in Dalton-Whitfield County

As a means to workforce development, community leaders in Dalton-Whitfield County have committed to the goal of getting every student reading at grade level by the third grade. A number of College of Education initiatives, coordinated by the UGA Archway Partnership and the Office of School Engagement, are underway to help the community reach that goal. One of these initiatives emphasizes the role of early brain development and literacy, which has led to the creation of a new faculty position to assist in identifying and addressing community needs related to parent capacity and school readiness.

Earlier this spring, the community partnered with the COE and the Archway Partnership to fund an “Archway Education Professional” who will focus on birth-to-five programs and activities in Dalton-Whitfield County.

This position is a public service faculty member with a joint appointment in the Archway Partnership and the Department of Communications and Special Education.

Katherine (Katy) Green has been hired for this position and will be housed in the Greater Dalton Chamber of Commerce.

Green is a Ph.D. candidate in the Educational Psychology and Special Education department at Georgia State University (GSU). Her focus is on early childhood special education with a cognate in typical and atypical child development. She earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of West Georgia and a preschool handicap add-on certificate from GSU. In addition to her doctoral program, Green has served as a clinical instructor at GSU since 2009 in the Department of Early Childhood Education and the Department of Educational Psychology and Special Education. Prior to her work at GSU, she was a preschool special needs teacher and speech-language pathologist in the Paulding County School System. She also worked in the Carroll County and Catoosa County school systems as a speechlanguage communications assistant and elementary Spanish teacher. She begins her work with the DaltonWhitfield Archway Partnership June 1.

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Office of School Engagement Newsletter • Spring 2013

UGA College of Education Office of School Engagement Dr. Janna Dresden, Director 629F Aderhold Hall Phone: 706-542-8491 E-mail: jdresden@uga.edu OSE Newsletter Writer and Editor: Erica Gilbertson

Office of School Engagement The Office of School Engagement (OSE) at the University of Georgia serves as a bridge between the worlds of theory and practice in P-16 public education to improve the educational experiences of students and the professional lives of educators.

www.coe.uga.edu/ose

PDSD hosts first PDS Workshop for Georgia educators Thirty educators from across Georgia participated in the first annual two-day workshop entitled “Forming Sustainable School, District & University Partnerships” on January 28-29. The workshop was presented and planned by leaders of the COE and Clarke County School District Professional Development School District (PDSD) partnership and coordinated by the COE Office of Outreach and Engagement.

Participants represented 10 different colleges and universities across the state, including Georgia Southern University, Georgia State University, and Georgia Regents University (formerly Augusta State). Four school districts were represented, including a team of four administrators from Cobb County School District who have PDS relationships with the Kennesaw State University Bagwell College of Education.

Participants visited eight CCSD schools over the course of the workshop (five schools per group) where they met with Professors-in-Residence, COE On-site Instructors, teachers, principals, and COE student teachers. They learned about the varied ways schools have implemented PDS work and the positive impact the partnership has had on COE students and faculty, as well as on CCSD students and teachers.

Other elements of the workshop included a presentation titled “Mechanics and Benefits of Sustained Collaboration” led by Janna Dresden, Director of the Office of School Engagement, and Noris Price, CCSD Deputy Superintendent. Participants also heard from a panel of PDSD principals during a dinner program and had opportunities to network with one another.

Save the Date PDS workshop participants from across Georgia shared dinner with CCSD principals and UGA faculty involved in the Professional Development School District on January 28.

The 2nd annual UGA and CCSD Professional Development Schools Workshop, February 12-13, 2014