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Ed Leadership

Cougs with strong showing in Malaysia

The 13th annual EARCOS Teachers’ Conference was held in Malaysia on March 26-28. Officially, the theme was “Language for Life.”

Unofficially, it was “Cougs Take Over Malaysia.”

Led by our International School Leadership Program (ISLP) leads Forrest Parkay and Walt Gmelch, as well as other educational leadership folks like Glenys Hill and Teena McDonald, the college hosted a successful Cougar Gold and Washington Wines Reception.

Here are a few photos of the reception:

For more info on the ISLP, visit: http://education.wsu.edu/certification/international/.

Gay Selby: A Historic Career set to end soon

Gay Selby is the program coordinator at WSU Vancouver for the College of Education’s Educational Leadership program. She was recently featured in WSUV’s Spring 2015 CriSONY DSCmson and Gray Magazine.

The article is done Q&A style, and poses questions about Gay’s background at WSU, her teaching career, “firsts” she’s seen in her career, what brought her to Southwest Washington, as well as other highlights in her life.

Did you know in 1992 Gay received the state’s Superintendent of the Year award? Or that in 1995 she received a WSU Alumni Achievement Award. Those details, plus many more, are highlighted in the article.

Read the article here: http://education.wsu.edu/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Gay-Selby-article.pdf.

Thanks, Gay, for all your work on behalf of the university, the college, and the state.

 

College of Education Professor set to retire after publishing 10th edition of teaching textbook

By Trevor Havard – College of Education Intern

Perhaps the first thing that strikes you is the simplicity of the title: Becoming a Teacher. The straight-forward approach College of Education professor Forest Parkay uses in his textbook is a big reason why the textbook is now getting its tenth edition and is widely used in colleges and universities16871456110_334f68fc0d_z across the United States and world, including in languages like Mandarin and Indonesian.

The book’s milestone could be seen as Parkay’s swan song, with the educational leadership professor retiring at the end of the spring semester.

“I believe that teaching is the world’s most important profession, so it has been immensely satisfying to have spent a career helping to prepare teachers and school leaders,” said Parkay, who taught at the University of Florida for eight years and at Texas State University for five years before coming to WSU. “Since Becoming a Teacher is currently used by nearly 100 colleges and universities in the U.S., I know that I have reached students far beyond the three universities with which I have been affiliated.”

Becoming a Teacher dives head-first into the challenges future teachers face in today’s rapidly-changing, high-stakes educational environment. The tenth edition helps students make difficult decisions on their teaching future by fostering an awareness of the harsh realities of teaching in America in today’s society.

“The book provides students with the tools to answer the questions: Do I want to teach, and what does it take to succeed as a teacher today,” Parkay said.  17033019606_660483b5c3_z

The new edition also puts an added focus on teacher quality and provides students with a greater understanding of key areas such as teacher leadership, political activism, teacher diversity and cultural competence, and social justice and democracy. The book is also available as an eText for the first time and features dozens of interactive videos to help students.

(For more photos see: https://www.flickr.com/photos/118927064@N04/sets/72157651382477289/)

Playing host; creating memories

By C. Brandon Chapman

With the help of two WSU principal certification students, school districts in Battle Ground and Vancouver hosted principals from St. Thomas (U.S. Virgin Islands) and showed them how technology was being integrated into instruction in their respective districts.

The principals are recipients of a U.S. Department of Education grant. The grant is managed by the Northwest Council for Computer Education (NCCE). The NCCE’s annual conference was taking place in Portland, and, since they were so close to Washington state, a visit made sense.

“As part of the grant, the St. Thomas principals were here to observe, get ideas, and collaborate with local educators, as well as reap the benefits of the NCCE Conference,” said Glenn Malone, coordinator for the principal and program administrator certifications. “We wanted them to tour local schools to see how we were doing it here.”

The tour included a trip to the WSU Vancouver campus.

In order to make sure the visit went off without a hitch, Malone enlisted the help of two of the College of Education’s principal certification and Master of Education candidates helped organize the visits: April Vonderharr from Battle Ground, and Solina Journey from Vancouver.

“Kudos to April & Solina for setting up this fantastic day of sharing and learning,” Malone said. “It was very succesful for all.”

Here are two Battle Ground School District write-ups:

http://us3.campaign-archive2.com/?u=470079fac988677965e6b997d&id=cfed1e860c&e=80384cc5b2

http://www.battlegroundps.org/blog/schooladministratorstakebgpstechstrategybacktocaribbean

Successful trip to Legislature

Update by Gay Selby
Feb. 16, 2015

We had a great day at the Legislature today — nearly 40 students from Puyallup and Vancouver!  capitol

We had an informative tour of the Legislative Building.

We had a super catered lunch in the Senate Rules Room in the Lt. Governor’s area with guests Marcie Maxwell, Gene Sharratt, and Jerry Bender (AWSP Lobbyist). We also had a special guest in Lt. Governor Brad Owens.

We attended an interesting Senate Early Learning, K-12, Higher Education Committee policy hearing with a number of bills directly related to the work our students do in their districts.  Senator Rivers recognized our students which was a perfect way to top off the day — a warm, spring-like day with the daffodils coming into bloom.

Retrospective: EdM collaboration

There are seven outstanding Master of Education (EdM) students doing their course work in Puyallup. For four of them, it wouldn’t truly be summer without a road trip.

Students from Puyallup's EdM program recently joined up with those from Vancouver.
Students from Puyallup’s EdM program recently joined up with those from Vancouver.

Those four recently traveled south, rented a cabin at Battle Ground Lake State Park, visited WSU’s Vancouver campus, and meet the instructors and other students face to face.

It was a good experience for all involved.

The Ed.M. degree program is designed for students with a bachelor’s degree who have an interest in deepening their knowledge in a specific content area (inside or outside the College of Education), as well as educational research in curriculum and instruction.

More information on all of the college’s graduate programs can be found on the Office of Graduate Education webpage.


 

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