The Bear Ledger

Dr. Debbie Dailey, visiting assistant professor of teaching and learning in the College of Education, recently co-authored a chapter in a newly published book, A Century of Contributions to Gifted Education. The chapter, “A. Harry Passow: Curriculum, Advocacy, and Diplomacy for Talent Development,” focused on the life and contributions of Passow to gifted education. This book will be released at the upcoming National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) conference in Indianapolis, Indiana this month. The release of the book will be accompanied by a session and a book signing at the conference. In addition to the book release at the conference, Dr. Dailey will be present or co-present six sessions focused on STEM Education.

Mary Garnica, assistant professor, was recognized by the Arkansas Nurses’ Association as the “Advanced Practice RN of the Year” at their recent awards ceremony. Dr. Garnica has been very instrumental in legislative and policy arenas to remove barriers to the practice of APRNs so quality healthcare will be more available to Arkansans.

Steve Tucker, PhD, ATC, an assistant professor and the Interim Chair in the Department of Kinesiology and Physical Education, was an invited speaker at the New Hampshire Musculoskeletal Institute Annual Symposium on September 14, 2013 in Bedford, New Hampshire. Dr. Tucker made two presentations entitled “The Closed Chain Approach to Shoulder Rehabilitation” and “Clinical Techniques to Quantify Scapular Upward Rotation.” The aim of the symposium is to educate physical therapists, athletic trainers and physician assistants on current evidence-based techniques that can be used in the clinical setting.

Art Lichtenstein, Director of Torreyson Library, was recently elected to a second three year term on the Board of Directors of Amigos Library Services, one of the largest library networks in the United States. Amigos membership consists of over 750 libraries and cultural-heritage institutions located primarily in the southwestern United States. Services include consortium buying, cataloging, reference, resource sharing, preservation, digital imaging, consulting, and training. Lichtenstein currently serves as Vice Chair of the Amigos Board.

Mark Spitzer, associate professor of creative writing, recently had a book proposal accepted by the University of Nebraska Press. Beautifully Grotesque Fish of the American West will be published in 2017 and will feature investigative fishing adventures for the following species: American eel, white sturgeon, eelpout, muskellunge, humpback chubs, pikeminnow (formerly squawfish), bowfin, Asian carp, paddlefish, and monster catfish (noodling).

Most Faulkner county residents have heard of Soaring Wings Ranch and the phenomenal, inspiring lengths that they go to support foster children here in central Arkansas. The ranch is a residential facility that is Christ-centered and serves children who have been abused, orphaned, abandoned, neglected, or in need of a family. With so many children, Soaring Wings Ranch could use some extra ranch-hands, especially when it comes to educating these children, and that is where the College of Education heeded the call, forming an official partnership.

According to the educational specialist for Soaring Wings Ranch, Julia Groce, “This partnership is unique because it is mutually beneficial for all involved! Soaring Wings Ranch (SWR) and Greenbrier students benefit by receiving one-on-one personalized educational support, something that is hard to come by during the school day. For SWR students this is especially helpful, as there are up to seven other children that need homework assistance in their homes after school. UCA education candidates benefit from having the experience of looking at students in a very personal way. As a teacher it is easy to look at students as a group, but a teacher must learn to focus on the individual learner to maximize educational impact. UCA students are rising to this occasion by arriving to tutoring prepared with extensive materials including educational applications for mobile devices and engaging educational support materials. UCA students are not only helping directly with academic content knowledge, but also assisting students with organizational and study skills that lead to academic success. UCA students are able to provide tutoring services to our children that would cost SWR thousands of dollars if we were to hire private tutors.”

Greenbrier Public Schools graciously agreed to host all tutoring sessions and provide a mentor for each site where students are served. Due to the professionalism of UCA students and the success of this initiative, Greenbrier has also allowed additional students to join the SWR tutoring sessions. As this partnership continues to grow, so do the children of SWR.

SWR recently hosted its half marathon in Conway, which boasted over 2,000 participants and hundreds of volunteers. Each runner received a metallic medal in the shape of expanded wings with the engraved message, “Giving Children a Chance to Soar.” UCA teacher education candidates do this everyday they serve in such a needed capacity!

The Office of Career Services has two upcoming events for students to network with potential employers.

Health Career Fair
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
9:00am – 2:00pm
Student Center Ballroom

Fall Career Fair
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
9:00am – 2:00pm
Student Center Ballroom

All classifications of students are encouraged to attend. Students should have plenty of resumes to distribute to potential employers.

Students should dress appropriately for the event. Freshmen, sophomores, and juniors are encouraged to wear business casual clothes meaning slacks and shirts for male students, and blouses and skirts or slacks for female students. Seniors are encouraged to wear a full business suit.

Questions? Contact 501-450-3134

On Monday, Sept 23, the College of Education participated in UCA’s annual Dinner for First Year Minority Students. About 15 first-year minority pre-education majors attended the dinner hosted by the Provost Office.

Dr. Diana Pounder, Dean of the College, Dr. Carolyn Williams, Assistant to the Dean, and faculty members Dr. Angela Webster-Smith, Dr. Shoudong Feng, and Pre-Education Advisor, Mr. Shannon Williams were also in attendance.

President Tom Courtway and Provost Steven Runge welcomed students, faculty, and guests. Ms.Thelma Moton, Founder and Executive Director of a non-profit organization entitled Choosing to Excel, made an inspiring speech that encouraged students to pursue and achieve their academic goals. The COE faculty also had casual conversations with the students and answered their questions regarding their programs of study, teacher education admission requirements, financial aid, and various other issues.

Alicia Cotabish

Dr. Alicia Cotabish, an assistant professor of teaching and learning in the College of Education, recently co-authored a service publication for the National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) titled, Using the Next Generation Science Standards with Gifted and Advanced Learners. The high-profile book will be released at the upcoming national NAGC conference in Indianapolis, Indiana in November. The National Association for Gifted Children will be offering a companion one-day professional development workshop as well as two panel presentations, and a national webinar to highlight the book. The book provides teachers and administrators examples and strategies to implement the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) with gifted and advanced learners at all stages of development in K–12 schools. This is the second of such books Dr. Cotabish has produced for the organization. In 2012, Cotabish was a contributing author of a NAGC service publication titled, Using the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics with Gifted and Advanced Learners. To date, Dr. Cotabish has authored and co-authored 37 publications, and 26 academic research papers and technical reports focused on K-20 STEM and gifted education. She is the current President of the Arkansas Association of Gifted Education Administrators (AAGEA).

The first Edcamp Arkansas was held on the University of Central Arkansas campus on October 5, 2013. Sixty participants attended the all day event and included teachers and administrators from across the state as well as college and university personnel and pre-service and in-service teachers.

The event began at 8:30 a.m. with registration and session creation. The first annual rock-paper-scissors championship of Arkansas was held to kick off the event. Participants then attended 16 different sessions across the day and visited the available “TED talk” room. Lunch was provided by the UCA Department of Teaching and Learning. The day ending at 3pm with door prizes provided by the Edcamp Arkansas sponsors including Remind 101; Educlipper; Adam Bellow, author of Untangling the Web; Class Dojo; Dave Burgess, author of Teach like a PIRATE; Flocabulary; Socrative; Livebinders; BrainPop; BoomWriter; Edutopia; Glogster; Vocabulary-Spelling City; Go! Animate!; Voki; Nearpod; Edmodo; the UCA Department of Teaching and Learning; and the UCA College of Education.

Session offerings at the Fall 2013 Edcamp Arkansas included Twitter for Teachers, Technology Organization and Digital Curation, iPads in the Classroom, Technology Integration, Livescribe, Kidblog, National Board Certification, Next Generation Science Standards, PARCC Test Considerations, TESS Teacher Evaluation, Parental Involvement, Renewal and Teacher Joy, Classroom Management, and Teaching to Diverse Learners.

The Edcamp model provides one recent and increasingly popular approach to providing relevant and responsive professional development. An Edcamp is often referred to as an “unconference” in that no pre-set agenda exists. Instead the content and sessions of the Edcamp day relies solely on the participants with common foci being technology, pedagogy, and current issues and trends.

Participants of an Edcamp engage in an ad-hoc community structure as they are called upon to lead or take part in conversations they define. If a participant feels their needs are not being met, they are welcome to join another session on their own initiative. The underpinning philosophy of Edcamp is that the agenda that emerges the day of the camp is the only agenda that could have happened and is therefore the right agenda for those who attended (Boule, 2011).

The first Edcamp was held in May 2010 in Philadelphia, and over 200 Edcamps have been held since that inception. The vision of the Edcamp Foundation is to “promote organic, participant-driven professional development for K-12 educators worldwide” (Edcamp Foundation, 2012).

Edcamps possess certain shared attributes. They are free to all participants. There is no vendor or commercial presence, although Edcamps can seek sponsorship. Edcamps can be hosted by anyone interested in the Edcamp vision and mission. The sessions are determined the day of the event and do not have to take the form of formal presentations. Edcamps are reliant on the “law of two feet” where participants are able to change sessions as they wish. Social media (i.e., blogs, wikis, Twitter, Facebook) can be used to continue the work started the day of the camp (Edcamp Foundation, 2012). Additionally, technology is a presence at the camp in the form of interactive connectivity and presentations (i.e., backchannels, twitter, polling sites, video rooms).

The Arkansas Council of Teachers of English Language Arts has been named one of 8 recipients of the 2013 Affiliate Excellence Award, given by the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE). The affiliate, whose president is Donna Wake, assistant professor, has won the award for the first time.

The Affiliate Excellence Award was established in 1996 to honor NCTE affiliates that meet high standards of performance for programming and promote improvement in English language arts teaching.

This is a sampling of recent news coverage of UCA faculty, staff, students, and alumni.

Morrilton native enjoys advising UCA Greeks
http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2013/oct/20/morrilton-native-enjoys-advising-uca-greeks/?f=rivervalley

Educators discuss academic vitality as part of UCA’s AVID Week
http://m.thecabin.net/news/local/2013-10-02/uca-science-math-majors-earn-teaching-licensure-faulkner-county-classrooms

Third graders at VES learning a rock hard lesson
http://www.viloniaschools.org/around-vtown/post/1978

Ask the Experts: Are Stock Market Glitches Something to Worry About?
http://www.cardhub.com/edu/ask-the-experts-stock-market-integrity/#casey

UCA biology department having fun with facial hair
http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2013/oct/20/uca-biology-department-having-fun-facial-hair-cont/?f=rivervalley

10 Things I never knew about being an academic chair: lessons learned from year one in administration
http://ebm.magnapubsemail.com/c/tag/hBSSXoxB8XEciB81ZiGAAEP07gR/doc.html?t_params=EMAIL%3Dsteph%2540uca.edu%26PASSWORD%3DB8XEciAAEP07BSSXoxWn6bvMLhvkvP&utm_source=cheetah&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=AL%20Content%20Email%209%2F30

UCA science, math majors earn teaching licensure in Faulkner County classrooms
http://m.thecabin.net/news/local/2013-10-02/uca-science-math-majors-earn-teaching-licensure-faulkner-county-classrooms