Frances Vitali, Ph.D. Lecturer III Dossier

4-Vitali, F SUMMARY of STUDENT EVALUATIONS

4-Vitali, F SUMMARY of STUDENT EVALUATIONS

EDUC 513

I have been part of the collegial and reflective dialogue concerning the EDUC 513 course and EDUC 590 capstone course in our department over the years. EDUC 513 is the precursor to EDUC 590 Research Seminar capstone course and I approach these two as a yearlong writing process and writing and research product. Always based on reflective practice and designed for teachers in the classroom, the master's in elementary and secondary education is the graduate program of choice for most teachers in our area. Teachers are searching for a master's experience where they can talk about their practice with other teachers. I have refined the 513 syllabus into phases of reflective engagement thinking about themselves as teachers and their intellectual histories. We then move into Phase 2 where they explore scholarly research synthesizing Literature Reviews based on their inquiry questions. We invite past practitioners to share about what the research and writing process was like for them. This collegial sharing is a powerful strategy when cohort members are still threatened by the process and product of what their inquiry is supposed to look like. This may be on of the first times in their academic career where they really own their work as author, storyteller, editor.

This Fall EDUC 513 course scaffolds into the Spring EDUC 590, where teachers are deciding on their classroom inquiry and conducting a Background of the Literature as teacher scholars. The Oral Proposal Presentation in November is meant to be a stopping point to share their teacher inquiry ideas with their committee members for feedback. I have borrowed the Charrette process (attached below) from architecture to guide their thinking about their inquiry questions giving them direction by garnering feedback from others. Teachers are at a new level of awareness and understanding following their oral proposal presentations. As a result, teacher practitioners are validated in their thinking and can further refine their inquiry questions, defining their methodology and analysis as they prepare to implement their classroom research in the Spring. During this process, teachers are vulnerable and ambiguity becomes the new constant. When you have an original idea, you are in a minority of one as they try to explain it to themselves and others. During EDUC 590, teachers are sharing the progress of their project, gathering data, analyzing their data and writing their narrative to author a final written teacher practitioner research documenting the stories of their classrooms. I encourage teachers to publish their classroom research and to present at conferences. This yearlong creative process becomes more than an assignment and more as an extension of their reflective teaching and learning. That is why I invite teacher practitioners to be panelists at the Graduate Student Colloquium, SHARED KNOWLEDGE CONFERENCE, and other conference venues. They are experts in their own classrooms and many times their voices have become silenced by the noise of curricular mandates, standardized testing, teacher evaluations. Teacher practitioner research is my social justice advocacy, where oppressed professional voices can, one by one, tell the stories of their classrooms in a symphony toward change. Former BWP Director Vicki Holmsten said: “The power of sharing stories from many classrooms will add to our knowledge of teaching and learning.”

a. EDUC 513 Syllabus (attached)

EDUC 513 Course Website

EDUC 513 Course Blog

c. Student Evaluations (attached)

Course Materials

Oral Proposal Presentations, November 2014

Oral Proposal Presentations, November 2013

Oral Proposal Presentations, November 2012

Oral Proposal Presentations, November 2011

Teacher Practitioners, Fall 2011

Alumnae Teacher Practitioner Panelists, Fall 2013

Intellectual Histories, Fall 2013

LLSS 315

This semester I have requested to teach LLSS 315 in a F2F delivery approach in Farmington and Gallup. I have taught this course in the past and was delighted to have the opportunity and the challenge to teach it again. I was approved by Holborok Mahn and Rick Meyer. I have offered to teach LLSS 315 in Taos in Spring 2016 if there is a need for education students there. As a nation, we are not yet well-versed in talking comfortably about diversity issues, such as White Privilege, LGBTQ, bullying,cultural authenticity/sensitivity, microagressions. The content of this course challenges me to think about ways that motivate others to enter into these conversations without fear, guilt, anxiety. Leila Flores-Duenas has shared her syllabus and I have had earlier conversations with Lois Meyer and Holbrook Mahn concerning the conceptual intent and content of the course. I love teaching this course because it is so challenging and students are all at different levels of awareness as we begin to explore always respecting the communication space to share, be validated, and respected. I highly encourage students to take the TESOL Exam after this course because they are prepared, remembering that the strategies and approaches for teaching diverse students are effective for all students.

a. LLSS 315 Syllabus (attached)

LLSS 315 Course Website

LLSS 315 Course Blog

c. Student Evaluations (attached)

Diversity Projects, Spring 2012

Diversity Projects, Fall 2012

Diversity Projects, Fall 2013

ENLACE visit, Fall 2013

Sense of Place, Fall 2015

BARNGA Game, Fall 2015

Student Reflection, Spring 2008

EDUC 400 Seminar (semester 1)

Teacher candidates in Semester 1 are out and about in different schools becoming familiar with teachers, classrooms, principals and HR directors. These teacher candidates are transitioning from San Juan College A.A. Degree program in Education and being groomed in UNM's philosophical framework of professional understandings, practices and identities. They are encouraged to substitute teach, tutor, observe, attend school board meetings all the while reflecting on their experiences. We talk about characteristics of a master teacher, a student teacher, professional identity, classroom management. Teacher candidates record their reflections on Edweb, a professional education blog that Smith Frederick shared with us during our involvement in the TLNC grant. Toward the end of their 180 hours, students request to mentor with a teacher. Students will apply online in their district, and I personally deliver the hard copy application to the HR district directors. This is an opportunity to network with HR directors and staff and also an opportunity to check if the student might need an updated background check. It is now becoming the convention that teacher candidates beginning their Semester 2 student teaching experience will remain with the same mentor teacher as full time (Semester 3) teachers. I am considered their Cooperating Teacher and teacher candidates are involved in practicum experiences in several schools-Kirtland Elementary School and McKinley School. Working alongside students in practicum experiences, provides an opportunity to see them interacting with children, planning lessons, applying classroom management skills. In semester 2 of prestudent teaching, teacher candidates will create their professional portfolios, which will house their intellectual property during the next two semesters. This gives them the ownership of their professional learning so they are not turning assignments in to me. Their work, reflection and teaching is viewed by a wider professional audience. Their professional portfolio websites are included in their resumes.

a. EDUC 400 Syllabus (attached)

c. Professional Portfolios

EDUC 400 Seminar (semester 2)

Semester 2 Prestudent teaching semester is a precursor to Semester 3 full time teaching. With the demand for qualified teachers in our area, three student teachers so far have been invited by their principals and approved by the Elementary Education Coordinator to be hired as long term substitute teachers.

a. EDUC 400 Prestudent Teaching Syllabus (attached)

EDUC 400 Prestudent Teaching Course Website

EDUC 400 Prestudent Teaching Course Blog

c. Student Evaluations (attached)

Prestudent Teaching Reflection, Fall 2010

Prestudent Teaching Reflection,(Spring 2011)

Prestudent Teachers visit CCSD HR Director, Spring 2012

Prestudent Teachers visit Kirtland Elementary School, Spring 2012

Prestudent Teachers & CTs, Fall 2012 & Spring 2013

Prestudent Teachers, Fall 2013

FMS HR Director Chris Pash, Fall 2014

FMS HR Director Linda Schilz visit, Spring 2014

EDUC 400 Seminar (semester 3)

When Coila King retired, I assumed responsibility of seminars, in addition to clinical supervision. In this new role as facilitator, I wanted to explore other options for students than my predecessor. In creating professional learning communities, I invited CTs and their respective STs to different learning invitations-district technology presentation, public library tour, among others. These professional development invitations scheduled during seminar were opportunities to discuss their practice, plan classroom ideas together, and build their professional relationships. Although the concept was a noble one, the implementation was not as convincing. CTs seemed strapped for time and I realized that ST did not have enough time for processing what was happening in their respective classrooms.

In subsequent seminars, we began to visit each other’s classroom during evening seminars where, each ST would host the seminar at their school in their classroom taking us on a tour of their teaching space. This worked if all students were geographically close by and not if teachers were spread out across distances, such as Pueblo Pintado, Ojo Amarillo or Shiprock schools.

When Carol Fabrey was the instructor of record, we team taught seminar and shared clinical supervision responsibilities, which benefited teacher candidates. With our low enrollment numbers, one faculty is needed for clinical supervision and seminars. Having different perspectives to contribute during collegial conversations is valuable. I am more practical and centered in giving seminar back to teacher candidates these days. They lead discussions on topics of interest to them and I augment our time by inviting school community personnel, such as an assistant principal to conduct mock interviews; children’s librarian to review of youth services library databases as resources for their lesson planning; school resource officers to talk about school safety and survival drills; online charter school online principals to open up the potential of their teaching opportunities. Returning the seminar back to teacher candidates is validating their professional identities as they evolve from thinking as a student to thinking as a teacher.

a. EDUC 400 Syllabus (attached)

EDUC 400 Student Teaching Course Website

Preservice Teacher Professional Portfolios

c. Student Evaluations (attached)

ST & CT Teambuilding Night, Spring 2011

Student Teaching Final Reflection, Spring 2011

ST & CT Teambuilding Night, Fall 2012

ST & CT Teambuilding Night, Fall 2013

Farmington Public Library visit, Spring 2014

ST & CT Teambuilding Night, Fall 2014

NM Virtual Academy Principal Deborah Jackson, Fall 2014

How Math Works Author, Gerald Williams, Fall 2014

Vice Principal Donny Ortiz, Mock Interview, Fall 2014

Farmington Public Library visit, Fall 2014

EDUC 590

EDUC 590 Research Seminar is a capstone course and a continuation of EDUC 513. Teacher practitioners are now ready to implement the design of their proposed classroom research. Their research project is not a study, for no one is objectified. Their students are co-researchers alongside them in an equitable sort of way, for teachers could not accomplish their research project without their help and students require the insight and inquisitiveness of their teachers to want to transform themselves as professionals.

The research seminar is comparable to a writing workshop, where their cohort serves as their writing group, offering feedback for editing and revising. Teachers will share their classroom research with their committee members; the same members they met in November. Committee members have the opportunity to hear the rest of their story during the Final Oral Examination (Option II of the Master's Program). On designated Saturdays, we will host writing retreats away from the responsibilities of families or children giving practitioners focused time to write, research or both. At the beginning of the semester, I invite their family members to our seminar and I usually provide the dinner or we have a potluck. I share with their family the demands that are ahead and ways they can support the practitioner. I want them to meet me so they know who is responsible for the sacrifice of their family time. However, I guarantee the family that if they make the sacrifice now of supporting the practitioner during the next three months, they will be free and proud of their accomplishment at graduation time.

This capstone year is a rewarding experience to follow teacher practitioners from the Fall to Spring and watch their scholarly and personal transformation. Each year I remind cohorts that they will be receiving an email inviting them to share with the new cohort what this research process was like. Throughout the year, I benefit from knowing the stories of their classrooms, their topics, their students, and these memorable gifts of stories are what I share with subsequent teacher practitioner cohorts. I visit their classrooms during the year so I have a reference of their classrooms and their students. I delight in their projects equally. I am their coach, their guide, their cheerleader, their editor, their devil's advocate throughout this process and I am their tour guide throughout this creative process.

Oral Examination links are celebrated below.

a. EDUC 590 Syllabus (attached)

EDUC 590 Course Website

EDUC 590 Course Blog

c. Student Evaluations (attached)

Oral Examination, April 6, 2012

Teacher Practitioners, Spring 2012

Oral Examination, April 2014

Oral Examination, April , 2015

Thank you, Teacher Practitioner Panelists, Fall 2015

SHARED KNOWLEDGE CONFERENCE , April 23, 2015 (SKC conference flyer attached)

WORKSHOPS/Special Topics Courses