Elementary Education and Reading students, faculty, and PDS Partners are an active group, participating in a wide variety of departmental, campus, district, community and national-level activities.
Striving for excellence and consistently working towards it often results in great achievement - we are pleased to share our pride in their accomplishments with you!
Please also review our Community Partners pages, for opportunities to participate in the local activities that they offer.
BS Faculty and Students to Present at NAPDS Conference, New Orleans, February 14-17
BS Faculty:
Leslie Day: “Professional Development In The 21st Century”
Nancy Chicola: “Zambia WOW”
Hibajene Shandomo: “Zambia WOW”
Pixita del Prado Hill: “It Truly Takes A Village To Align With The Common Core: Teacher Candidates, Global Children's Literature, Families, And The Local Grocery Store - What An Impact!”
Kim Truesdell: “It Truly Takes A Village To Align With The Common Core: Teacher Candidates, Global Children's Literature, Families, And The Local Grocery Store - What An Impact!”
Sherri Weber: “A Recipe For Urban Literacy Success: Using Your School Librarian And A College Professor”
PDS Partner:
Laura Thomson: “A Recipe For Urban Literacy Success: Using Your School Librarian And A College Professor”
Undergaduate Teacher Candidates:
Nick Galfo: “Open Mic For Interns: A Wish List For PDS,” “Professional Development In The 21st Century,” and “Technology...The New Beginning”
Ryan O’Rourke: “Open Mic For Interns: A Wish List For PDS”, “Professional Development In The 21st Century”, and “An Analytical Look Into Teacher Candidate Growth In A PDS”
Breanna McKenley: “Multiculturalism: Applying The Theory To The Global Classroom”
Holli Diez: “Cross-Cultural Relationships: From Buffalo, New York To Lusaka, Zambia”
Kelly Jasinski: “Universal Teaching Strategies: From Buffalo To Lusaka”
Graduate Students:
Margaret Henry: “The Zambian Classroom Culture: The Effects of A Lack Of Resources”
Brittany Fehskens: “Open Mic For Interns: A Wish List For PDS,”,“Professional Development In The 21st Century,” and “The Life Of A Grad Student: PDS Involvement And The Development Of My Culturally Responsive Pedagogy”
BS Graduate Student and Faculty Make the Front Page of the NAPDS Website!
Please visit http://napds.org/default.html to read an article by graduate student Michelle Francisco and her faculty mentors Dr. Coralee Smith and Rosemary Arioli Leibowitz. The article speaks to the benefits of the PDS Mini-Grant program, and also talks about using Skpe in the classroom to reach professionals in various field and incorporate them into the classroom structure and enhance learning.
SUNY Cortland Visits BS PDS
SUNY Cortland administrators, faculty, and staff were recent guests at a PDS meeting, here to learn how to implement our PDS model. PDS Co-Director Leslie Day received the following message (excerpted) from Dr. Andrea Lachance, Dean, School of Education, SUNY Cortland:
"Hello Leslie!
I hope this email finds you well during this hectic time of year. I wanted to update you on where we our with our fledgling PDS. We are going to run a pilot with one school in the spring. This was the school where we did the two-week immersion experience this fall. It was an enormous success and faculty at both the school and the college want to deepen our partnership (see link to the article below). What better way than through the PDS model?
We are going to borrow heavily from the PDS agreement you shared with us. I can't tell you how grateful we are to have you as a model in this. It makes moving into this so much easier....
...We are hopeful that by next year, we will be able to roll this out into several more schools. We will keep you posted. I am also trying to get a few faculty to the PDS conference – so hopefully some folks can catch up with you there. I can foresee us potentially doing a joint presentation there someday about how one college mentored the other in creating a PDS! Our folks are still talking about our visit to Buffalo – so much so that others are wondering why they didn't go…
So – thank you for your generosity of spirit and actions. Your work continues to inspire us and propel us forward. Have a great holiday.
Andrea"
Buffalo City Mural on Display in E. H. Butler Library
A multimedia mural collage on canvas, created by fifth- and sixth-grade students at Enterprise Charter School, is on display in the lobby wall case of E. H. Butler Library. The mural was inspired by a visit from Caldecott award-winning illustrator and author Bryan Collier and made possible by a Professional Development Schools minigrant awarded to the school by the Elementary Education and Reading Department. For more information on the mural, an appropriate exhibit for the Year of the City theme, contact Maria Ceprano, professor of elementary education and reading, ext. 5613.
PDS Co-Director Leslie Day shares excerpt of letter from Teacher of the Year and PDS Retreat Keynote speaker Katie Ferguson
"November 5, 2012
Dear Leslie,
I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for asking me to be a guest speaker during the Professional Development Schools Retreat in September. It was an incredible honor to share my message as Teacher of the Year with prospective teachers, cooperating teachers, administrators, and the faculty of Buffalo State. I felt exuberant to speak in such a welcoming venue! I was incredibly honored by the warm reception you gave me, the amazingly organized schedule, and the fantastic accomodations. By far, my visit to Buffalo State was the most well-planned and rewarding for me of all of my school visits this year.
As Teacher of the Year, I've been very grateful to impart, through my experiences, what I find to be the most important aspect of education: Belief. If I was able to influence even just one pre-service teacher to look past labels and see the brimming potential in his or her students, then I am ecstatic to have made a difference!...
...My experience at Buffalo State will rest among my fondest memories of being Teacher of the Year. Thank you for everything! To say it was a wonderful experience is an understatement - it was truly marvelous. Thank you so much!
Your partner in education,
Kathleen Ferguson"
To view photos of Katie Ferguson's presentation to BS faculty and students, please visit: http://ir-photography.smugmug.com/2012-Events/92712-NYS-Teacher-of-the-Year/
Professor McLeish Assists Visiting Chinese Teacher Delegation
Professor Wendy McLeish was contacted over the Thanksgiving break by Dr. Sue Wang, of the China National Institute for Educational Research. She was asked if she would arrange visits to schools for a delegation of ten kindergarten teachers on December 3.
A group of ten kindergarten teachers from China are visiting the United States. In China "kindergarten" is used for teachers of children ages 3-6 years. They arrived in the US on November 23. First stop was sunny California. They spent some time at University of CA Long Beach with the Head Start on Science folks. Next stop was Las Vegas. They arrived in Buffalo on Saturday, December 1.
The group spent time at two local elementary schools on December 3. The first visit was at Windermere Boulevard Elementary School in Amherst. Ms. Mary Lavin, Primary House Principal, welcomed the group. The teachers visited kindergarten and first grade classes, observed ELL sessions, and spent time in the UPK classes. One of the highlights was a young boy from China, who arrived in Amherst last year with no English. Now he is quite fluent. He read aloud a six page story he wrote recently in Writer's Workshop in English.
Next the group traveled to Bennett Park Montessori School. Mrs. Diane Sauer greeted the group and gave a quick overview of the school. There were many questions about the Montessori classrooms and the Montessori training the teachers complete. The teachers got a workout climbing up and going down the four flights of stairs. Teachers visited the classrooms for 3-5 year olds, 5-7 year olds, and toured through a few upper grade classrooms. Many of the 3-5 year old classes have pets. The room with the rabbit loose in the classroom was a hit.
The teachers were surprised to see students working on the floor as well as at tables. "This could never happen in China," one teacher said. Class sizes in China are much larger and students sit at desks with their hands folded. Apparently the parents of younger children are looking for change in the education system. They want their children to learn through play.
Other highlights: The teachers were surprised with homemade biscuits offered by the home economics teacher. In the shop area the seventh and eighth graders are restoring donated bicycles as part of the school's year long theme on "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle."
Blue Ribbon Day for Professional Development Schools Consortium
Thursday, November 15, was another blue-ribbon day for the Buffalo State Professional Development Schools Consortium (PDS). The Buffalo State PDS team was chosen to present its model of clinically rich partnerships at a kickoff convention of over 200 faculty members, school partners, and administrators from across the state, convened in Albany by SUNY chancellor Nancy Zimpher to engage participants in envisioning the future of teacher and school leader education in New York State.
At one of six afternoon breakout sessions, School of Education dean Wendy Paterson introduced PDS Co-Directors Leslie Day and Pixita del Prado Hill and PDS liaison faculty members David Henry and Theresa Harris-Tigg. Their session description read, “The Buffalo State PDS typifies the recommendation of the Blue Ribbon Panel that teacher education must shift from largely campus-based management of field experiences toward a clinically rich school-located and school-created model of teacher preparation.” The team presented an overview of the many facets of clinical practice and collaborative school-university partnerships exemplified in the PDS Consortium for the SUNY audience.
Dr. Pixita del Prado Hill Named Co-Director of PDS
Effective Fall, 2012, Dr. Pixita del Prado Hill will assume the role of co-director of the Buffalo State PDS. Working with long-time director Professor Leslie Day, Dr. del Prado Hill will be coordinating with our PDS partners and partner schools, developing events and activities, and representing the PDS at the national and international levels. Dr. del Prado Hill recently returned from leading Buffalo State's first PDS Abroad group of students through the PDS experience in Santiago, Chile. To read more about Dr. del Prado Hill's accomplishments, please visit her Buffalo State faculty webpage: http://www.buffalostate.edu/elementaryeducation/delprapm.xml?username=delprapm
NYS Teacher of the Year to Speak at Buffalo State
Katie Ferguson, New York State's 42nd Teacher of the Year, will speak at Buffalo State on Thursday, September 27th. The event will be held at the Performing Arts Center in Rockwell Hall, beginning at 5:00 p.m. Please check back for more information. Ms. Ferguson will also address the PDS Retreat on September 28th, 2012.
WEGMAN'S HONORED AS RECIPIENT OF THE
2012 BUFFALO STATE EQUITY AND CAMPUS DIVERSITY PROGRAM AWARD
In appreciation for its support of the Global Book Hour, on June 29th, 2012, Wegmans Stores was presented the 2012 Buffalo State Equity and Campus Diversity Program Award. Hosted at Wegmans Amherst Street Store on Buffalo's West Side, the Global Book Hour promotes family literacy and global awareness through a weekly book hour that integrates geography, music, visual art, and healthy eating. Buffalo State teacher candidates provide an interactive read aloud, reading strategies and activities for local families, and each child leaves with a copy of the multi-cultural book at the end of each session.
This collaboration could not happen without the generous support of Wegmans staff; for their time in transforming the Market Cafe into an enchanting reading room and their healthy snacks which nourish the children each week (and often the teacher candidates). We are so thankful and appreciative of their efforts.
Please visit the Global Book Hour page at http://www.buffalostate.edu/elementaryeducation/x1301.xml for more information.
Be sure to check out our PDS Facebook page for up to the minute news and information: https://www.facebook.com/#!/buffalostatepds
IMPORTANT NEWS FOR NEW TEACHERS:
You may be able to apply to the NYS retirement system as soon as you have subbed for 20 days. It is important for you to know, and follow through on this, so that you will end up in Tier 5. FOR MORE INFORMATION, please visit: http://www.nystrs.org/main/forms/net-2.pdf
