SC Issues In Communication

Laura Poncharik puts her children to bed and then begins her research for her history project. Before she hands in her project to her professor, she stops by the Dean of Education’s suite to make a donation to the United Way. After counting the candy kisses in the jar, she formulates her guess, makes her donation and rushes off to class. Never did she guess that her guess would be the right one! Laura’s kindness contributed to teaching, learning and mentoring projects across New Jersey through the United Way.

This week Rider University’s School of Education ended its two week United Way Campaign, Kisses for Education. Sweet chocolate and a gift certificate to Chambers Walk Cafe enticed Rider University participants to join the fight for education. Besides faculty and staff contributing to the university-wide United Way event, the School of Education launched its own fundraising effort through the dean’s office.

“Having an education today unlocks the doors of poverty and gives kids an opportunity to realize their dreams. Here at Rider University, we are proud to be a part of the United Way efforts by partnering with the Trenton Leadership and Mentoring Project. Our Kisses for Education event not only raised money for the United Way, but opened our students’ eyes to necessity of supporting youth education programs” said Dr. Sharon Sherman, dean of the School of Education.

The event raised additional funds to support the mentoring efforts of Trenton Leadership and Mentoring Project with lead agency Big Brothers Big Sisters and three partners, Princeton Center for Leadership Training, Princeton-Blairstown Center and Leadership Trenton. Rider University’s School of Education will be collaborating with the agencies through its Urban Science Technology Engineering Math (STEM) Teacher Academy this summer. The program will offer training for students in urban schools who want to teach in the high need disciplines of math and science.

“As an adult undergraduate secondary education and history major, I hope I can empower other students to realize their dreams and give back to their community by supporting agencies like the United Way” said Laura Poncharik.

To learn more about Rider University education programs and other events, visit us at www.rider.edu.

Our learning starts when we enter a school and institution and it continues way passed the dismissal bell or graduation ceremony. The learning in the classroom interacts with life, grows more practical, reaches more people and develops further creativity outside the confines of the institution’s walls. Enter the notion of e-Portfolios: a rich collection, selection, reflection, direction, and presentation tool for students, faculty and administrators today looking to further the cause of life long learning. This spring, Rider University is “Launching Tomorrow Today” by introducing an e-Portfolio and assessment folio for teacher candidates in the School of Ed. The tool being adopted is called TaskStream. You can learn more about the tool by reviewing this presentation or series of screencasts.

This post is for our faculty supervisors and cooperating teachers as they enter the classroom and need access to their observation instruments for evaluating teacher candidates in the field. Please see the links below for the specific program you are evaluating:

Elementary Education
Special Education
Secondary Science
Secondary English
Secondary Social Studies

Faculty Development Days at Rider University featured a series on New Digital Tools. These tools were introduced by presenters who have used the tools in the classroom and experienced successful outcomes.

Rider University’s School of Education is accredited by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE). Going through the rigorous NCATE accreditation process helps us ensure that our programs are top notch and our candidates receive the most up-to-date education as possible. I was hired as the NCATE/Assessment Coordinator last fall to aid in this accreditation process.

This semester we are collecting our evaluations on-line using a new assessment system. This assessment system is called TaskStream. Ironically enough, the system was developed by a retired New York City teacher, Malcolm Thompson, who wanted to leave something behind that would help future teachers. He created TaskStream’s robust tools for this purpose and it has transformed into one of the finest assessment tools in the country.

In past years, our faculty, supervisors and cooperating teachers completed evaluations on their student teachers and candidates in pencil and paper form and mailed them into the placement office or handed them back to students in their courses. This semester, with our new electronic system, we are asking our population to complete these evaluations on-line.

Please see this screencast for more information on how to use TaskStream. Here is the presentation that outlines how TaskStream can be used for assessment.

On January 19, 2010, I had the opportunity to introduce and demo my courses on Moodle to faculty and staff at Rider University. Please view my presentation by taking this link. Also, you can review my screencast tutorial on using Moodle by going to this site.

This is a beautiful story written by my best friend, Tammy Ranello, about a special Christmas memory. She is working on her own blog for her writing but I decided to share her story here as well. Enjoy and Merry Christmas!

As a young girl growing up in Miami Florida, my greatest wish was to experience a white Christmas. Each year, I would yearn for the holiday, which was portrayed in every card and all the television specials. I had enough of lighted palm trees and even the occasional swim in the pool. I wanted to wear a coat and sing carols by the fire.

My wish came true during December of 1977. After an emotional year which included the divorce of my parents and the realization that there was no Santa, my mom announced that we would be spending the holiday break with my grandparents in Rhode Island. “Yes! I thought to myself, I was finally going to see snow.”

As the plane prepared for landing, I looked out the window expecting to see a magical blanket of white, but all I saw were bare trees and a gray sky. My disappointment grew as my sister remembered that we had forgotten to pack our stockings. I went from believing that this was going to be the best Christmas ever to feeling that this would be the worst.

The days leading up to Christmas passed swiftly and the weather was cold, but no snow. I just couldn’t understand why it wouldn’t snow. It was cold, it was Christmas Eve and yet there wasn’t even a flake. Instead of enjoying the opportunity of spending time with my family I wallowed in self-pity wondering why life was so unfair. As my sister and I prepared for bed that Christmas Eve I began to cry. I couldn’t believe we wouldn’t have our Christmas stockings and frankly I just wanted to go home.

I woke up to the sound of the grandfather clock indicating that it was 6:00am. I sat up and glanced around the room and to my complete amazement there they were. At the bottom of the bed, sparkling in the dark room, was my stocking filled to the top with lots of goodies. “There really is a Santa”, I whispered to myself and ran over across the room to my sister who was fast asleep. I woke her up screaming “Santa came! Look, our stockings are here”. She turned her head and looked me straight in the eyes and with the wisdom of someone two years older calmly said “haven’t you ever heard of Federal Express”.

Though it was for just a short moment, I was given the chance to believe in Santa and the miracle of this wonderful holiday. Thankfully, it did snow that winter break, not on Christmas, but a few days later. We got to build that snowman, throw snow balls at each other and even take a ride on a sled, but more importantly, I began to understand the real meaning of Christmas and that it isn’t where you are, but with whom you spend this precious holiday.

Many years have pass since I was nine years old. My grandparents are no longer with us and I have a family of my own. Yet, there is not a year that goes by that I don’t reflect on that New England vacation and begin to feel the warmth and magic of the spirit of Christmas.

How can we inspire diverse learners in today’s 21st Century classrooms? What makes a student want to learn? How can we serve the learners we meet? Podcasting is an interactive tool that can reach students, allow them to individualize their learning and contribute an exciting new method to successful project development and execution. Please click the link here to view the presentation given at the 2009 CEL Conference in Philadelphia.

Please see the trailer of the mini documentary working title: ING NYC Marathon 2009, a Knight-Image Reelsick Production.  As a participant of Team Mr. Joe sponsored by the Achilles Track Club, I can say it was an awesome and inspirational experience but that would be an understatement.  It took precision, drive and every ounce of emotion and strength to complete this 26.2 miles.  Stay tuned for the photographic journey and magical ethnography in its entirety.

The next PR Student Chat  (#PRStudChat) is set for Tuesday, November 17th from 12-1pm.   #PRStudChat is an open Twitter forum for students, faculty and public relations practitioners to share ideas and information on the public relations industry today.  Rider University participated during last month’s session which had over 1900 tweets during the one hour time period.  This session’s topic focuses on careers in public relations and is duly titled “Career Day”.  Guest host PRSSA of Michigan President Angela Hernandez @angelahernandez will moderate the event which is open to all students.  Hernandez was also featured in the five-part blog series Is PR Right For Me.  According to Deirdre Breakenridge, author of the blog PR 2.0 Strategies, the following questions will be addressed:

• Prior to hiring, do companies search candidates on Google and Facebook?  Where else do they look?
• Should college graduates take unpaid internships?
• How do you leave an internship or job without burning any bridges?
• When starting a community blog, what guidelines would you recommend having in place?
• What predictions do you have for 2010?
• If you had a PR wish list for future social media trends, what would be on your list?

If you want to participate in #PRStudChat, please contact me at scarbonaro@rider.edu and I would be happy to assist you.  If you are a Rider student, please log onto Twitter and search #PRStudChat and add some value and input to the tweets.  Please tag all of your tweets #RID!  Hope to see you on the forum!

Mass Media Lecture for a distance learning course.  Full slidecast is available on http://slidecast.com/scarbonaro