November 5, 1999

As usual, we had a very full agenda. Issues were raised that are crucial to our efforts, and must be dealt with in the very near future. Here are a few of my impressions from the meeting:

Becky told us that we now have money for this year! Linda indicated that her group is working on the 5^th year internship. This is not an easy task, but it must be worked out for us to say that we have designed a complete program. She noted that it seems to be up to the EEMS Dept. to clear the way for a 4^th year degree, and all indications are that this change is being pursued. Her group is ready and willing to recruit, but ...

First, and most important, what will happen with the elementary/middle program after G2K funding goes away? Will it continue? Should we be recruiting now to start another cohort next Fall? These are questions that we must all consider carefully. I believe one agreement we reached was that we need to sit around the table with the Department of Early, Elementary, and Middle School faculty to discuss all the implications of these choices.

Cindy was on-target when she said that her department has thoroughly enjoyed this study, but does not necessarily want to be tied down to something they did not create. As we then discussed what it would mean to continue this program after FY00, it seems that it might boil down to maintaining the seminar courses - most of which are indeed the responsibility of the CNAS folks. That means those of us in CNAS need to visit with our departments to talk about on-going loads (where Service Learning might or might not work), and then have a meeting with the CNAS Heads.

In my humble opinion, we have all worked too long and too hard for this program to fall apart now. It may be a program for a limited audience, but it is a very good program. I would like for us to be able to see graduates of this program, and then judge how they do as teachers compared to our other graduates. We know that Missouri State already turns out great elementary/middle teachers. But, we have bet that there is always room for improvement, especially in terms of mathematics and science in this case. Our program can make that improvement happen. Let's try to see it through!

Whatever else, the working relation we have established between CNAS and COE, with Roger's and everyone else's help, is something we need to continue to foster and treasure.

Cindy, Jim, and Melida recently completed a very successful Thursday evening meeting with the cohorts, and are now making plans for the next one. We then got into a discussion about the use of 60 hour students. Mixed emotions were expressed, and I suspect that discussion will resurface. If I understood the discussion correctly, we all know that we want and need to use 60 hour students; it's just a matter of what they should be allowed to do at that stage. Substitute teaching was discussed, and there was some disagreement on the extent to which 60-hour students should be allowed to manage a class - I guess we should point out that DESE says it is legal, but we do need to move carefully. One of our originally stated goals was to find summer work for our students that would allow them to make money in their profession-to-be as opposed to flipping burgers - this still seems to be an excellent goal if we can manage the opportunity properly.

Our Missouri State liaison person, Sue, reported that she has got schools/teachers lined up for the two cohorts. We seem to be having the usual problems with communication in some cases, but we'll persevere.

Michelle and Jim reported that they are continuing to have fun playing at the Center. Strafford I-TV is going well as is Michelle's virtual high school physics course. A new school survey is going out so we can gauge the needs of schools for high school math and science courses this next year - we will also work with Continuing Education and regular departments on any needed dual-credit courses. Jim, is staying very busy with his K-12 outreach activities.

On the new ST3 grant, Becky reported that we already have our 10 faculty members lined up for this year, and training will begin very soon. Also, we are beginning to work on classroom technology. We need to get with Gigi and Roberta in KGSX 219 to discuss what needs to go there.

Hugh was kind enough to show us what he has and has learned about the use of transducer probes interfaced to a computer. THANKS HUGH!


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