Kansas State University

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K-State College of Education

Category: Fall 2015

College appears in Newsweek.com

Screen Shot 2015-11-06 at 10.49.47 AMKansas State University’s College of Education is getting national attention for doing what it does best: Preparing educators, both current and future.

The college is featured in Newsweek magazine’s list of 2015’s great teaching schools. The magazine cites the college’s national award-winning programs; centers that address many of the key topics in education, such as diversity and professional development; and its innovative initiatives to advance teaching and education, including original documentaries that can be used as classroom resources and programs to assist early-career teachers.

The Newsweek article continues a tradition of national recognition for the college — including 12 major awards since 2012 — and shows why the college produces more teachers annually than any other program in Kansas, according to Debbie Mercer, dean of the college.

“The College of Education at Kansas State University is having an impact on the field of education around the nation and the world,” Mercer said. “Whether it is through research, textbooks — one was recently translated into Chinese — or through the college’s online offerings of graduate programs, the fact is people from all walks of life are seeking us out to start their careers and advance them.”

CPSI receives national award

 

CPSI-award-2
CPSI board members proudly display the program’s newest award.

The University Professional & Continuing Education Association Central Region presented the Council for Public School Improvement with the 2015 UPCEA Central Region Mature Noncredit Program Award at its meeting last month in Madison, Wisconsin.

The program was selected based on six stringent criteria: cost effectiveness, longevity, innovation, diversity, quality, and contribution to adult/continuing education. John Bergkamp, Valley Heights superintendent and CPSI board member explains teachers and students are the beneficiaries of CPSI programming.

“Educators are able to learn from the best of the best in the field and are able to return to their classrooms with strategies and tools they can implement immediately,” Bergkamp said. “With limited budgets and the challenge of sending educators to far off locations for important staff development opportunities, CPSI has afforded Kansas districts the chance to gain relevant and research-based professional development on a continuous basis.”

The CPSI program was founded in 1986 as a partnership program between the K-State College of Education and school districts in Kansas. Program objectives include fostering improvement at all levels of public education and developing and implementing collaborative networks and professional development opportunities within school districts and the university.

 

Center offers free professional development for civics, government teachers

jamesmadisonprogram_bannerThe Center for Social Studies at K-State is offering a free professional development program for Kansas’ civics and government teachers wanting to provide an exemplary curricular program for their students.

The James Madison Legacy Project is part of a nationwide professional development program directed by the Center for Civic Education, a nonprofit educational organization that was recently awarded a federal grant under the U.S. Department of Education’s Supporting Effective Educator Development, or SEED, grant program. The legacy project is designed to provide professional development for middle and high school teachers in civics and government focusing on the Declaration of Independence, U.S. Constitution, Bill of Rights and the rights and responsibilities of citizens.

Thomas S. Vontz, professor and director of the Center for Social Studies at K-State and “We the People” state co-coordinator, believes highly effective civics and government teachers are the key to inspiring the next generation of Americans.

“In order to help students become effective and engaged members of ‘We the People’ and further the goal of a nation that is supposed to be of, by, and for the people, it is critical that teachers have access to the people, strategies and resources that will help them bring the subject to life each and every day for their students.”

For more information, contact Vontz at tvontz@ksu.edu or call (785) 532.5927.

Time to register for 2016 iCamp

Mark your calendars for Jan. 15.
Mark your calendars for Jan. 15.

Registration is now open for the third annual professional development seminar, iCamp.

iPad iCamp is a daylong immersive workshop designed for educators looking to deepen their understanding of how students create, connect, share and collaborate with iPads. It will be held from 8:00 a.m. to 3:30p.m. Friday, Jan. 15 at the Alumni Center. The cost is $50 and includes lunch.

Cyndi Danner-Kuhn leads the initiative, and guests Wes and Shelly Fryer will guide educators in the use of a variety of media projects.

“Everything we work on – writing interactively, creating narrated projects, conducting short radio interviews, editing videos, and creating eBooks – will be immediately applicable in your classroom,” Danner-Kuhn said. “You will leave the workshop inspired and equipped to take your classroom to a whole new level.”

For more information, visit http://coe.k-state.edu/events/icamp.html.

 

College thanks teachers with military service

Eunice Rivera, teacher and veteran, is one of four MHS teachers presented with an Education Salute award. Manhattan High  principal Greg Hoyt, First Lt.  Jessica Deason, Tonnie Martinez and First Lt. Anthony Magallanes, presented the awards.
Eunice Rivera (center), teacher and veteran, was one of four MHS teachers presented with an Education Salute award. From left: Manhattan High principal Greg Hoyt, First Lt. Jessica Deason, Tonnie Martinez and First Lt. Anthony Magallanes, presented the awards.

The College of Education’s Office of Innovation and Inspiration found an innovative way to thank area teachers for their military service by surprising them with an Education Salute award during class.

The teachers who received the awards on Sept. 30 were Manhattan High School’s Ed Chandler, David Jordan, Pat McKinney and Eunice Rivera. Tonnie Martinez, assistant professor and coordinator of the Office of Innovation and Inspiration, developed the ongoing program as a means to demonstrate the wealth of knowledge many teachers bring to the classroom.

Martinez invited two officers from the Big Red One to help present the awards. They were First Lt. Anthony Magallanes and First Lt. Jessica Deason.

“A lot of the students in the classes looked like they had no idea that their teachers even served,” Deason said.

According to Martinez, that was exactly the point.

“Teachers bring an amazing amount of talent and experience to the classroom, but they rarely talk about themselves because they are so humble,” Martinez said. “It was so great to see the expressions on the students’ faces because they truly had no idea the types of missions their teachers had been on. Many of those students will look at their teachers in a whole new light.”