Fall 2015 Messiah College

Department of Education

Happenings In Education

A WORD FROM THE CHAIR. . .

W e are fortunate to live in a region of seasons, and as the summer gracefully fades into fall (even

though I’d rather keep summer), we welcome back students for another academic year.

I am pleased to introduce two new faculty members to the department, Dr. Sarah Fischer, who teaches

literacy and instructional design courses, and Dr. Tina Keller, a Messiah alum who teaches in the

TESOL program. We want to extend a warm welcome to these new additions on our floor, and we look

forward to working with them to guide our students for many years to come. Each of them is featured

in an article in the following pages, and they both extend an invitation for students to visit their offices

for deeper discussion.

This November 12, Dr. Carol Buckley will be the featured speaker at the department’s Fall Forum

where she will present on the current stage of her research on “Changing Math Attitudes: One Family

at a Time.”

Be sure to attend the Boyer Center Symposium on October 8, where Boyer School scholars will address

the topic of “Constructing Hope: Inspired Learning in an Age of Accountability.”

I would like to congratulate our scholarship award winners. There were many excellent applications

and essays, but these four really stood out. It is indeed a privilege to work in a department with excel-

lent faculty and excellent students.

Katelyn Kratz – Terry L. Stoudnour Endowed Education Award

Katherine Edelman – Ernest L. Boyer Sr. Teacher Scholarship

Caroline Mills – Suzanne Joy Johnson Endowed Scholarship Award

Aubrey Werley – The Ethel Brandt Bigham Endowed Education Award

Please take the time to congratulate this group of seniors on their accomplishment.

MCEA is gearing up for some exciting projects and meetings this fall. If you have not yet attended one

of the meetings, please plan to do so.

I am pleased to welcome all of you back to Messiah and encourage you to take full advantage of the

expertise of our faculty members and to collaborate with

your classmates so that you can have the full experience

of a Messiah education.

Looking forward to a great semester,

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

New Kids on the Block ............... 2

Six Dual Majors Present at the

2015 PCTM Conference ............. 4

What’s Happening at the Oakes

Museum ..................................... 6

Exploring Portugal ..................... 7

First Years All Over Again.......... 8

Department of Education, Chair

W hat are your degrees in?

B.S. Elementary Education and Kindergarten Edu-

cation; M.Ed. Curriculum and Instruction-

Children’s Literature; Ph.D. Curriculum and In-

struction-Language, Culture, and Society.

What courses are you currently teaching at Messiah?

Literacy: Climate, Curriculum & Instruction; Chil-

dren’s Literature; and Instructional Design.

Any advice you wish to impart to first year students?

Find a mentor who can help you figure out what

you really care about in the field of education and

help you nurture those passions throughout your

program. I consider myself to be very introverted,

and when I started my career in education, I

thought I needed to learn to be more extraverted.

That was definitely the wrong way to think! All

teachers bring unique and special gifts to their stu-

dents, and the important thing is to figure out what

yours might be.

Do you have any hobbies?

I enjoy reading, kayaking, gardening, and explor-

ing new places with my family.

What is your favorite children’s book and why?

Of course I have a lot of favorites, but I have an

emotional attachment to anything written by Kate

DiCamillo. Her writing always feels sacred and

ancient to me, and she helps me to see beauty in

everyday things.

What types of plants do you like to nurture in your gar-

den?

We have a lot of vegetables in our garden and en-

joy canning. My favorite vegetables to harvest are

potatoes, because you get to dig around in the dirt

to find them. It’s always exciting when you uncover

one!

Where was/is your favorite place to travel?

I am very interested in local history, so my favorite

place to travel is actually in Pennsylvania—

Johnstown. I grew up in southwestern Pennsylva-

nia and have always been fascinated by historical

accounts. If you’d like to learn more about it, stop

by my office any time!

How have your teaching experiences thus far influ-

enced or changed your life?

The ability to teach others is a very special gift,

because it holds me accountable for my own learn-

ing and personal growth. In my planning, teach-

ing, and reflection, I am always able to see gaps in

my own knowledge and understanding and am

encouraged to dig deeper into whatever I’m teach-

ing or to talk with others about big ideas. My fa-

vorite quote is by Henry David Thoreau, “The ques-

tion is not what you look at, but what you see.”

When I’m teaching and learning from my students,

I start to see the world around me in new ways and

it is always an adventure.

New Kids on the Block We gladly welcome two new professors to the Department of Education: Dr. Sarah

Fischer and Dr. Tina Keller. We hope this helps you get to know them a little better.

“When I’m teaching and learning from my

students, I start to see the world around me

in new ways and it is always an adventure.”

2

Dr. Sarah Fischer

W hat are your degrees in?

B.S. in Elementary Education, minors TESOL and

Environmental Science; M.Ed. in Curriculum and

Instruction, emphasis in Children’s Literature; Ph.D.

in Curriculum and Instruction.

What courses are you currently teaching at Messiah?

English Language Learners; Educational Psycholo-

gy; and I am a supervisor of student teachers.

Any advice you wish to impart to first year students?

Try new things, step out of your comfort zone, and

ask a lot of questions.

What is your favorite quote?

Romans 8:38-39, For I am convinced that neither

death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the

present nor the future, nor any powers, neither

height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation,

will be able to separate us from the love of God in

Christ Jesus our Lord.

Do you have any hobbies?

Traveling, photography, gardening

Where was/is your favorite place to travel?

Its hard to pick just one. I love Ecuador because I

met my husband there. Japan taught me to

appreciate beauty in small everyday ways. England

was where I learned to love travel and take risks.

Israel opened my eyes to the rich diversity of the

world and the human desire to find God. Italy, while

I loved the history and culture, I adored the cuisine!

There are many other places that I would love to talk

about over coffee . . . stop by!

What subjects/landscapes do you like to photograph?

I went through a black and white phase where that

was all that I focused on. Then I began my studies in

the Southwest and that changed me. I love the land-

scape of northern New Mexico. I am fascinated by

the skyline, especially the stark white clouds set

against the deep blue sky. It is breathtaking!

What types of plants do you like to nurture in your gar-

den?

I love my flower beds. If I had to choose, I enjoy hy-

drangeas the best. Next year, I am planning on

planting a large vegetable garden. That will be a

new adventure given the plethora of hungry deer,

groundhogs, and rabbits on my property.

What book can you read over and over again because it is

just that good?

Anything by Paulo Freire speaks to me anew each

time that I read it. Two of his books that I keep with-

in arm’s reach are Teachers as Cultural Workers and

Pedagogy of the Oppressed.

How have your teaching experiences thus far influenced

or changed your life?

I find that teaching changes me daily. Parker Palmer

said that we teach who we are. So I believe that this

statement also works in reverse, that as we teach we

also “become” and change. For me, it is this recipro-

cal relationship of teaching and learning that I find

so exciting.

“ . . . Israel opened my eyes to the rich diversity of the world and the human desire to find God . . . . There are many other places that I would love to talk about

over coffee . . . stop by!”

3

Dr. Tina Keller

4

Six Dual Majors Present at the 2015 PCTM Conference

M elinda Burchard began by

explaining that Project CAMP

(Consultations in the Advance-

ment of Math Proficiencies) is a

collaboration between Messiah

College students consulting with

area middle school teachers who

teach math content. Then both

Jenna Bretz and Monica Reiss

demonstrated the standards

-based intervention kits that

they had created for their client

teachers. Jenna’s intervention

kit provided five ways for sixth

graders to compare and order

integers. Monica’s intervention

kit provided interactive ways

for seventh graders to solve two

-step equations.

Six Messiah College seniors in the dual major co-presented with Melinda Burchard, Ph.D., at the Au-

gust 2015 Conference for the Pennsylvania Council for Teachers of Mathematics, PCTM. This year’s

conference was held in Lancaster, PA. Their presentation demonstrated hands-on interventions tar-

geting student learning by middle school students who struggle in math. Both presentations gar-

nered strong positive feedback and inspired a few conversations about future job recruitment.

T he remaining four students co-presented a unit

on prime factorization with Dr. Burchard to explain how

they learned to co-teach. Kyra Garling began the presen-

tation by taking on the role of lead teacher to demon-

strate the One Teach One Assist model of co-teaching.

Conference attendees acted as students as Kyra actively

engaged them with a color-coded prime factors number

line to explain the lesson.

Monica used audience volunteers to

dramatize converting word problems into

algebraic equations.

Participants rotated to various stations where they could explore a

variety of other interventions. Here Jenna explains an intervention

kit that addresses plotting points on the coordinate plane.

Dual Majors at PCTM

Dual Majors at PCTM

At another station, Mark

Hoffman used arrays to

teach participants how to

evaluate numbers as

prime, composite, or even

prime square.

Lily Horner taught a station at which participants

competed with fluency of math factor facts.

At the fourth station, Kyra Garling guid-

ed participants in playing a game with

prime factorization cards, such as “move

ahead to the next even number” or

“move back to the next prime number.”

5

Participants then rotated to four stations. At one station, Kelsey Markle demonstrated how to play a game called “Guess My Number” by us-ing a number characteristics checklist that included fac-tors, and greater than/less than.

Here, one of the conference participants tries Kelsey’s game.

O ne of the goals of the Oakes Museum is to collaborate more with academic

programs. Therefore, this November fourth graders from Downey Elemen-

tary school will come to campus and be given museum tours by 78 junior

pre-service teachers from all majors, who will man various exploration stations This

event will be held in conjunction with a spotlight day for prospective Messiah College

students. In the picture above, Education Coordinator Helena Cicero is preparing the

pre-service teachers by giving them a demonstration of a typical tour. Later this

month she will give a presentation on how to prepare field trips that are inclusive for

children with disabilities.

6

WHAT’S HAPPENING AT THE OAKES MUSEUM?

Messiah College

Department of

Education

One College

Avenue

Mechanicsburg,

PA 17055

Phone: 717-796-

1800 x2611

E-mail:

edudept@

messiah.edu

MESSIAH COLLEGE

DEPARTMENT OF

EDUCATION

The mission state-

ment of the Messiah

College department

of education is to de-

velop exemplary edu-

cators who apply

their knowledge,

skills, Christian faith,

and ethical principles

to decision making,

reflective thinking,

and problem solving

in diverse learning

environments.

T he Oakes Museum of Natural History is

a beloved treasure on Messiah’s campus and

frequently employs education majors as

docents or volunteers. In the photo to the left,

Amanda Bromley, ’17, dual major, gives a tour

to three-year-old Sonya. Amanda customizes

the tour to focus on facts and stories that

interest preschoolers.

7

Exploring Portugal

T his past July, Messiah College TESOL faculty member, Dr. Jan Dormer, and department administrative assis-tant, Allyson Patton, traveled to Porto, Portugal, along with others from the mid-state as a team with Teach Be-yond http://teachbeyond.org/ to participate in a seven-day English camp there. Thirty-one campers attended the over-night camp, where they could choose from a selection of workshops that in-cluded cooking, dance, video, music, and basketball. The workshops were designed to foster English conversation between the American volunteers and the campers. Jan and Allyson led the cooking class, which was held in an outdoor kitchen and focused on enhancing vocabulary, as well as having a fun time making such dishes as peanut butter-caramel apple dip (very popular) and chocolate chip, banana pancakes (also quite popular). The days (and nights!) were full of activities that were organized by the camp leader, who was an alum of the camp. Evenings featured assemblies of worship, Bible teaching, and small groups. The energy of the camp was amazing and the campers were very enthusiastic English learners. Both Jan and Allyson truly enjoyed their time and are grateful to have served in this way. “We had a great experience, and the campers stole our hearts,” says Allyson.

8

D uring the last days of my senior year, I never im-

agined that I would be offered a job two days before I

graduated from college. I really never imagined that I

would land my dream job teaching kindergarten. And I

most certainly never imagined that one of my best friends

would be offered a position teaching in

the same school in a classroom down

the hall from me.

I now spend my days teaching 23 kin-

dergarteners. They drive me crazy, yet

make me laugh. They make me want to

pull my hair out, yet melt my heart

with their sweet spirits. I’m living the

life I never could have imagined and

love every second of it. Welcome to my

world as a first year teacher!

Let me give you a sneak peek into what

my life has looked like since graduat-

ing from Messiah. I was extremely fortunate to start the

summer knowing that I had a job in the fall as a kinder-

garten teacher at Kindergarten Academy in the Mechan-

icsburg Area School District. To say my summer months

were consumed with visions of kindergarten is an under-

statement. I spent countless hours looking for kindergar-

ten ideas on Pinterest and hitting up every yard sale I

could find, looking for toys and games. In the midst of all

things kindergarten, I had another slight problem on my

hands, I had nowhere to live. So take the stress of getting

ready to be a teacher for the first time and pair that with

the stress of finding an apartment, YIKES!

By August my life was pretty much a whirlwind. I made

the big move to my apartment in Mechanicsburg, and it

was time to get down to business and set up my class-

room. It was an overwhelming experience when I walked

into my classroom for the first time. It was like a never-

ending scavenger hunt to find where the teacher before

me had put things, and then unpacking all of the materi-

als that I had brought to make this classroom our home

for the next 180 school days. I soon learned that I had

clearly misunderstood how long it takes a teacher to set

up a classroom. I also had almost two weeks of new

teacher induction, which is pretty much where your dis-

trict overloads you on information that may or may not

be helpful for actual teaching.

I’ve discovered that there are quite a few aspects of teach-

ing that you can never be prepared for, you just learn as

you go. One of those thing is back-to-school night. I have

no problem teaching my 23 little sweeties, but talking to

more than 30 parents was absolutely terrifying! Talk

about something for which Messiah could have never pre-

pared me!

While the weeks leading up to the

first day of school were crazy and

stressful, the actual first month of

teaching really has been like living

a dream. Don’t get me wrong, our

days are far from perfect. In fact,

I’ve had days that have ended in

tears and days that the kids make

me feel like I should check myself

into some kind of mental institu-

tion, but the good days more than

make up for it. I have told my stu-

dents that in our classroom we will constantly be learn-

ing together. We laugh together (a lot), joke together,

learn together, encourage each other, dance together,

sing together, and have started to form the sweetest rela-

tionships together. These kids, quirks and all, have al-

ready made impressions on my heart. So if this is just

what my first month as a teacher has been like, I can

hardly wait to see what the rest of the year has in store!.

I’ll be sure to keep

you posted on the

excitement and

craziness of my

life as a first year

teacher!

First Years All Over Again . . .

Regards,

Kayla Desko,’15