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Diary from Japan — Day 4

From time to time, participants in the college’s study abroad to Nishinomiya, Japan, led by Tom Salsbury, will be giving updates on their experiences. This one was written by preservice teacher Gracie Lee, and has received no editing from the college.

Wow! What another exciting day in Japan! I still can’t believe that we’ve been in Japan for nearly a week!

Some of us began the morning with a run and climbing stairs at 5:30 a.m. After the run, it was time to get ready for the school day.

Today’s adventure at the schools would be slightly different as a school assembly would take place in the morning. It was mind-boggling to see 700 students be so quiet and aligned perfectly in single file lines.

Each student was attentive and on task as the principle gave a speech about cyber-bullying. Although we could not fully understand the message, we did hear the principle say “is it true, is it necessary, and is it kind?” to the students. His message was powerful to the students.

After the assembly, it was time for us to teach our lesson! We have been modifying and improving our “Cha Cha Slide” lesson since our first time teaching it. Today, we modified our Cognitive Content Dictionary to make it more purposeful for the second year students. We also decided to allow the first year and second year students time to draw their own picture for each word as art is prevalent in their culture.

After our lesson, we headed back to the Hostel only to find out it was closed for construction. So, we all went our different ways waiting about 4.5 hours to pass by so we could get back into the Hostel and rest before the baseball game. Although I am extremely picky about the foods I choose to eat, I was adventurous as I tried some new pastries and meat. I must say that it was rather delicious and I was missing out! Enjoying new foods, the sun and the culture helped make the time go by quickly. It was amazing to see how quickly and punctual the Japanese culture is with tasks as the construction was complete when we arrived back at the Hostel.

At the Hostel, we relaxed for a bit and then we got ready for our first Japanese baseball game! It was an experience we were looking forward to. It was great seeing the fans, players, and experiencing the atmosphere. The crowd definitely made the experience worth remembering. Some of us even got to talk to some of the people who live there! They sure were a blast, cracking jokes with us. It was really cool to see the balloon ceremony during the seventh inning. One of the people there helped me and Kim blow up our balloons to the country’s standards before they were released. As we were leaving the game, we all felt like rock stars as fans were high-fiving us on the way out. Let’s just say it was an experience that we will never forget!

As we head back to the Hostel, we are all worn out from the day’s activities. It was another great day in Japan and we can’t wait to visit the elementary school tomorrow and enjoy a dinner party with the teachers!

Diary from Japan — Day 3

From time to time, participants in the college’s study abroad to Nishinomiya, Japan, led by Tom Salsbury, will be giving updates on their experiences. This one was written by preservice teacher Kimberlee Moon, and has received no editing from the college.

Today was another wonderful day spent with the students at Nauro Junior High School in Nishinomiya, Japan. To start the morning a few of us went for a brisk morning run discovering new places near our hostel. Then most of us grabbed a quick breakfast at the 7/11 convenience store. Although I would never buy any food from a gas station or convenience store in the US, that is the way to go here and it is delicious! We took our normal morning stroll to the train station to head to the school. Compared to the Japanese, we walk really slowly.

At the school, the students gave us presentations on Japanese culture, anime, food, festivals, and games. Then we taught them some new English words. Our lesson first introduced the focus words using the technique ‘total physical response.’ Then we had the students complete a cognitive content dictionary. Once they finished their dictionary, they moved their desks like clockwork to the sides of the room clearing our dance floor. All of the students lined up and we all danced to the “Cha-Cha Slide.” They loved learning about a traditional American dance that is played at almost every school dance in the United States and enjoyed learning new words at the same time! This opportunity to teach the students touch not only my heart but the hearts of my colleagues. It has rekindled my passion for teaching especially teaching English Language Learners.

After teaching our lessons, we all headed to the mall to eat some lunch before heading to the “hot room” (this is the name we give it because it is hot and stuffy) for our seminar. After the seminar, we went to the Board of Education building and met the superintendent. He was fun and gave us great advice. “Express and connection your emotions and allow everyone to. It is important to keep trying to communicate.” He said this in regard to teaching and communicating in foreign languages. This was one of the highlights of our day!

And this is how you know you have the best professor as your leader for your study abroad program… Tom played along today in learning Japanese phrases that will help him get a haircut. The front desk person at our hostel recommended a place to which we went. Upon arriving the sign said, “Women’s hair salon.” We went in and after a confusing exchange, Tom signed up for a shampoo and haircut. Let me tell you I think he was a little nervous! It turned out great and was an amazing cultural experience that made one of our daily highlights!

Now our day is coming to a close. We have just hung out in our hostel’s living quarters and picked up dinner at the market. A nice relaxing way to end our day full of laughter, adventures, and hopes of much more to come.

~Kimberlee Moon

Bringing the fun to ed tech

To be sure, there are people who understand more about certain technologies than Dr. Joy Egbert. But arguably nobody knows more than Dr. Egbert on how to implement that technology into curriculum… how to help teachers engage students in the right way with it.

The Harvest Foundation knows this. It was created in 2000 as a private, family foundation to provide funding for education, specifically for K-12 teacher training in technology, and to support art programs. The Foundation awards grants totaling approximately $500,000 annually.

One grant has helped Dr. Egbert host the LunchTime Tech series. One recent event, in the Cleveland Hall first floor foyer, included Minecraft and video green screen activities for students to take part in.

Minecraft

In addition to the free pizza and drinks (always appreciated by poor, starving college students), 10 Minecraft subscriptions were given away.

A special thanks to the Harvest Foundation for its support. We look forward to Dr. Egbert continuing this work.

College inks new MOU w/ Okinawa

Washington State University and the College of Education have signed two Memorandums of Understanding with Okinawa Prefecture city and educational leaders, to pave the way for more Okinawan students to attend WSU.

In consecutive signings, vice president for international programs Asif Chaudhry was the lead authority from WSU. The first signing was a program renewal that will bring secondary education students to the WSU campus in July for an immersive three-week experience. The Okinawa American Language and Culture Camp was housed under the Intensive American Language Center, but will transition away from the IALC and toward the College of Education.

“Our hope is to have even more programs with Japan, and, in this case, get even more Okinawan students,” said Paula Groves Price, the college’s associate dean for diversity and international programs.

As part of this renewal, associate professor of literacy Jane Kelley will spend a week in Japan in August also teaching English.

The other MOU was between the College of Education and the Kitanakagusuku Board of Education, for the Online Developing Okinawa Through English (DOTE) program. Using web conferencing and other technology, students in that Japanese school district will take part in a series of weekend classes to help advance their language acquisition and use.

Dean Mike Trevisan represented the College of Education in the signing.

 

Photos from the signing are located at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/118927064@N04/albums/72157680839531582

2017 Faculty/Staff Excellence Awards

PULLMAN, Wash. – The College of Education has given its annual faculty and staff excellence awards.

Faculty Excellence in Diversity: Paula Groves Price, cultural studies and social thought in education.

GrovesPrice_photo

Faculty Excellence in Teaching: Katy Pietz, athletic training.

Katy Pietz

Faculty Excellence in Research: Kelly Ward, ELSSECP department chair.

Kelly Ward

Faculty Excellence in Service: Jonah Firestone, science education.

Staff Excellence: Bev Rhoades, administrative services director.

 

https://education.wsu.edu/college/facultystaffawards/

Introducing: Vice Provost Kelly Ward

Professor Kelly Ward has been appointed as WSU’s new Vice Provost for Faculty Development and Recognition.

Similar to others who currently work in the provost office, Kelly’s appointment will be 80 percent as vice provost and 20 percent as a College of Education faculty member.

“Given her scholarship and experience, Kelly is enormously qualified for this position and will do well,” said college dean Mike Trevisan. “This appointment spotlights and promotes the skills and talents we have in the college.”

The position will be effective July 1, 2017.

Kelly Ward

Another fun Khon Kaen visit completed. STEEEERIKE!

By C. Brandon Chapman

There were certainly a lot of highlights to this year’s visit from our Thai friends.

Khon Kaen University is aptly named, as it is located in Khon Kaen. Our dean Mike Trevisan posted about his trip to Khon Kaen a few months ago.

This partnership we have is one that focuses on educational administration and curriculum. We’re thrilled that these administrators want to visit the United States every year. As Mike wrote, it’s no easy task to get to Khon Kaen. The inverse is also true, and when our guests leave, they are always exhausted… but with a smile.

Our guests got to take tours of the Pullman schools, starting with the elementary schools, then moving to Lincoln Middle School, before finishing up at the high school.

They all seemed to really enjoy the school tours from the beginning.

Except Dr. Teerachai Nethanomsak. He didn’t seem to be enjoying it at all.

You see, Dr. Teerachai was slated to throw out the first pitch of the Cougs baseball game that night and he had never thrown a baseball in his entire life. He was beyond nervous. We kept telling him we’d have some sort of training session. He kept looking at the agenda and wondering how we were going to fit it in. Truth be told, so did we. But we didn’t want to say it out loud and scare the guy even more.

And then, as the tour was winding down at Lincoln Middle School, the group stepped into the gym, and kids were throwing tennis balls around and sport management professor Chris Lebens had a great idea: why not have a student here quickly teach him how to throw!

Cue the cameras!

How about principal Cameron Grow’s emphatic strikeout call to end it!!!!!!!!!!

At game time, Dr. Teerachai, was joined by freshman Johnny Sage (sure to be the greatest Coug ballplayer since John Olerud). Notice how our friend has a nice four-seam grip on the ball? He’s learning already!

Then, it was time for the actual throw.

Not bad, not bad. The only thing missing was the ebullient third strike call from Mr. Grow.

And then our Thai friends froze by the fourth inning and we all left.

You see, they’re used to much hotter weather in April. We gave them a cold, windy day. As soon as we left, it started raining. Hard. So, we probably made the right decision.

It was certainly a valuable learning experience for our guests. It always is. And we are able to learn a thing or two, as well. The relationship grows stronger with each passing year. But in terms of this year, it’s a Cougs baseball game first pitch – and the angst leading up to it – that I’ll always remember.

Egbert to lead workshop on engaging tech-use tasks

ESL and educational technology professor Joy Egbert will host this semester’s second faculty-led workshop. Her topic will be Creating Engaging Tasks Through Technology Use.

Egbert knows a thing or two about effective technology use in the classroom, as she was instrumental in bringing the TECH-Ed Conference to Washington State University in 2014 and 2015.

In this presentation, she will provide a brief overview of engagement principles and then discuss how technology use can help teachers create engaging tasks across different disciplines.

The event will take place on Thursday, February 16, 2017, from 12:10-1:00 p.m. in CUE 518 on the Pullman campus. The workshop will also be live-streamed for those unable to attend in person.

Faculty-led Workshops are co-sponsored by the Office of the Provost, the WSU Teaching Academy and the Office of Academic Outreach and Innovation. The topics range. Refreshments are provided.

The full slate of this semester’s workshops is as follows:

Date Time Workshop ​Presenter
Jan 10th ​Noon Motivating Students ​Tom Tripp
Feb 16th Noon Creating Engaging Tasks Through Technology Use ​Joy Egbert
Mar 7th Noon Augmented Reality Don McMahon
Apr 13 Noon Team Based Learning – An Interactive Introduction ​Jennifer Robinson

 

Animals do more than teach us responsibility

Can a new pet help a child learn responsibility? Sure! They can learn how to take a dog for a walk, for example, or make sure the cat’s food bowl gets filled every day, or make sure the goldfish tank gets cleaned out.

But, if you’re of the vein that it’ll just be dad who ends up walking the dog in the end, perhaps here’s another reason to take interest: a new book shows not only what a pet can teach us, but what the pet can teach people about other people. And, if that’s not enough, it shows how the interactions of humans and animals throughout history can shape our own actions, be it moral, ethical or otherwise.

Rud_photo02The book is called The Educational Significance of Human and Non-Human Animal Interactions: Blurring the Species Line. and it edited by our own A.G. Rud, distinguished professor in the College of Education, along with Suzanne Rice, professor of educational leadership and policy studies at the University of Kansas.

The book contains chapters from scholars from across the country and an array of disciplines to examine the intersection of humans and animals. The topic is on the rise in education and the WSU College of Education has been involved in research on our campus

The book contains three sections exploring human animal interactions from various perspectives. One of them includes examining several K-12 educational practices in which animals play a role. That includes showing how animals serve as teachers to humans, and how animals have characteristics formerly thought to be only the domain of humans.

View more info

A new university-high school partnership… and joke

Here’s a joke that always brings the house down:

Who do Zooplankton get their Christmas gifts from?
Santa clausi

(**sound of crickets**)

OK, that doozy aside…

Zooplankton, phytoplankton, and other nutrients, including harmful algae and invasive copepods exist in the Columbia River estuary.

The Columbia River’s 146-mile estuary is one of the largest in the nation. Only the Missouri–Mississippi system carries more water. Rapid population growth has changed land use in the Columbia estuary’s watershed in ways that may affect coastal ecosystems.

That’s where WSU Vancouver professor Tamara Nelson comes in. Believe us when we say it’s not just to save everyone from our corny jokes.

She’s joining two other WSU faculty research to lead student-conducted Columbia estuary research. Why? Because it’s critical to understand how nutrients and organisms from upstream contribute to habitat degradation, and the spread of invasive species.

The official project name is called Columbia River Estuary Science Education and Outreach: a Landscape-scale University–High School Partnership Integrating Scientific and Educational Research.

Yes, it’s a mouthful. So… CRESCENDO, for short.

The high school students gather water, plankton, and hydrographic data in the estuary, to learn about and assess relative effects of cumulative watershed drainage, and local factors such as sewage outflows (there’s gotta be a joke in there somewhere).

Nelson will join Gretchen Rollwagen-Bollens and Steve Bollens, both also from the Vancouver campus. The job of the trio is to gauge what students have learned about science and stewardship; students’ ecological knowledge and outlook.

The research plan called for students at five high schools along the estuary to spend two years collecting water samples, plankton tows, and hydrographic data.