Hot Topic

Educator preparation continues to be a hot topic. Last month, I joined deans of education from around the country in Washington, D.C., for an American Association of Universities meeting to discuss new preparation programs. Research universities have a special role to play in the redesign and improvement of teacher preparation, and this was an important topic at this meeting. We are examining these programs and how different universities put them together. How can we be the best we can be? Stay tuned.

Speaking of preparation, school districts are responsible for ensuring their teachers are up to speed for Arizona's College and Career Ready Standards. I, along with parents and other educators, appeared on Arizona Week last Friday to discuss the pros and cons of the standards and explain what Arizona is doing to prepare its teachers. Many tools have emerged -- from courses to workshops and after-school study sessions -- for teachers to get a hands-on learning experience of how they will incorporate the standards as they begin to roll out from school to school. Watch the segment here.

Ernie Remembers Dunbar

One of our favorite alums, Ernie McCray, was a teacher and principal for 37 years. He made connections with children with serious emotional issues and impacted countless young lives. And then there's the record. McCray, the second African American student to play basketball at the UA, set the school's single-game scoring record with 46 points in a 104-84 win over Cal State-Los Angeles on Feb. 6, 1960. The record stands today. He received a bachelor's in education in 1960 and a master's in elementary education in 1962 from our college. He has spent the past half-century in San Diego, but was in Tucson recently for a reunion at the Dunbar School. Dunbar, the first and only segregated school in Tucson, was established in 1912. The school was completed in January 1918 and named after Paul Lawrence Dunbar, a renowned African American poet. African American children in first through ninth grades attended Dunbar until 1951, when de-jure segregation was eliminated from the school systems of Arizona. Dunbar School then became the nonsegregated John Spring Junior High School, and continued as such until 1978 when the school was closed permanently. McCray, a prolific writer, penned a poem about the reunion, which you can read here.

Dunbar graduates from the class of 1946. Left: W.H. Hudson, ninth-grade teacher. Right: Morgan Maxwell, principal.

Superintendents, Principals, and Others Engaged in Educator Observation and Evaluation: Please join us at the UA College of Education for a free one-day conference on improving classroom instruction Friday, January 10, in the North Ballroom of the Arizona Student Union. Registration and continental breakfast begin at 8:30 a.m. Conference is from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The conference brings together expertise from around the nation and Arizona to provide a rich array of ideas for discussion and examination. More information and registration.

The Spirit of the Season

Now, I would like to tell you a bit about some of the community service our faculty, staff, and students perform throughout the year. This is just a small sampling, but the reach is huge.

Associate Professor of Practice Penny Rosenblum is a member of the Abilities Optimist Club and volunteers several times a year with events and activities with proceeds going to support programs for youth with visual impairments. She also volunteers with St. Andrews' Children's Clinic two to three times each semester in the Vision Education area of the clinic where she works with children with visual impairments and their families. These children live in Mexico and are granted special visas for the day to come to the clinic. Rosenblum does everything from helping the mother of an infant understand how she can help her child learn even though he is blind; to helping a child with low vision learn to use a magnifier to read print; to providing instruction in braille and abacus to academic students. Graduate students learning to be teachers of students with visual impairments and in other areas of special education often attend the clinic with her.

She also has been on the board of Technology Access Center of Tucson for more than a decade. This nonprofit helps those with disabilities obtain technology and training to maximize their independence.

Retired faculty members Ken and Yetta Goodman hold workshops for tutors at Literacy Volunteers of Tucson, part of Literacy Connects, and are involved with Voices for Education.

Professor Todd Fletcher has a class of about 20 students who do service-learning projects for a minimum of 20 hours per semester in his class, Cultural and Linguistic Diversity in Exceptional Learners. These digital storytelling projects tell the story of their projects and go into detail about their personal and professional growth. They worked at multiple sites throughout Tucson. Here are a few of the projects:

St. Mary Hospital

Wings on Words

Growfit at YMCA (a health program developed by this student)

Ben's Bells

Tucson Speech and Language Services

Associate Dean Renee Clift volunteers with both the Literacy Connects Advocacy Committee and the Tucson Metro Chamber of Commerce Education Subcommittee. Each group meets monthly to work through common issues related to education and literacy in Tucson.

One of our College of Education advisors is a volunteer with the Tucson Presidio Trust for Historic Preservation "Friday at the Fort," an educational program for fourth graders from all Tucson school districts. The mission of the Tucson Presidio is to guide and aid in the interpretation of history at the Presidio San Agustín through research, education, and living history experiences. Its emphasis is on the Spanish Colonial period from 1775 through the Territorial period ending in 1912. Our advisor also is a Reading Seed Coach for Literacy Connects.

Last week, faculty and staff in the college provided gifts for Devereux Arizona's Parent Aide program. Devereux Arizona is a nonprofit behavioral health organization that helps thousands of children and families every year. The Parent Aide program works in collaboration with Child Protective Services and facilitates and oversees the contact between parents and their children who have been removed from their custody. The Parent Aide program also assists parents in developing and strengthening their parenting skills. The holidays can be hard on children and parents who are separated from each other. Faculty and staff in the college brought in toys and other gift items for children ranging from newborn to teens. The items will be used to stuff stockings.