Person Theater's house was filled last week with people gathered to celebrate a new group of teachers who have completed their credential programs at Sonoma State.  This group of students will move on to work as public school teachers in elementary, middle and high schools in California.  Most have completed the program over the course of two or three semesters, including many hours of work in clinical practice, working with a mentor teacher and a university faculty supervisor to gain the important practical experience needed to begin their career as a teacher.

Dean of Education Carlos Ayala and President Ruben Arminana delivered opening remarks for the evening's celebration. Faculty from the School of Education's Credential Programs spoke, offering kind and supportive words to the students as they begin their teaching careers.  A student speaker from each program offered remarks at the ceremony: Sarah Kremple, Yasha Mokaram and Jaime Alexander each spoke about their own experience in the program, and their passion for teaching.

In her address to the Multiple Subject Credential Candidates, Dr. Susan Campbell noted that this is an exceptional group of motivated teachers saying, "You have also taken your own students beyond their immediate worlds and shown them how to be active citizens in a humane democracy. With your guidance and leadership, your elementary students have cleaned up local creeks, sent letters to active military personnel, sent food and cards to needy families, started school recycling programs, and made scarves for residents in eldercare-all this within the umbrella of academic learning as they also learn how to read, write, research, and interact within school. You have changed the world and we are proud of you."

Dr. Viki Montera offered her congratulations to the group who completed the Education Specialist Credential Intern program, "who have earned their credential while also serving as full - time teachers in area schools."  Dr. Montera acknowledged the tremendous effort that required, since these Special Education Interns "are responsible for their students' success at work while simultaneously being responsible for their success here at SSU. A balancing act and a remarkable feat."

Dr. Karen Grady acknowledged how challenging it is to earn a credential in California, and offered words of advice to the beginning middle and high school teachers: "
Remember to be kind to adolescents. Even when it is hard to do, put the kids first" and stressed she the importance of maintaining a professional community, advising "...remember that you do not have to manage it all by yourself--the Lone Ranger is actually not a good metaphor for being a great teacher. Find like-minded colleagues, go to conferences, become members of your professional organizations. You will need to do this to be your best, to stay sane and healthy, and to keep growing."

The inspiring ceremony concluded with a slide show of photos of the teachers at their student teaching field sites, and a reception for the graduates and their guests.

Sonoma State faculty, staff and administration got together on December 14 to honor Professor James Fouche's retirement from Sonoma State's School of Education after twenty years of service.  Dr. Fouche came to SSU as the Dean of Education in 1992 following a post as Dean of Education at Winthrop University in South Carolina.  During his tenure as Dean of Education, Fouche contributed in many ways to the campus and community, including the establishment of the Educator in Residence Program, work as a partner on the design for Technology High School, and a co-author of the North Coast Beginning Teachers Program, along with many other projects and initiatives. In 1997 he transitioned to a faculty position in the Curriculum Studies and Secondary Education Department and spearheaded many successful state and federal grants, including work for the advancement of bilingual teacher preparation (Projects BECA and PITA), and many notable initiatives to the advancement of educational technology for teachers: Digital Bridge, Light Bridge and SMART. More more recently he was a partner on the EnAct grant project for accessible technology and Universal Design for Learning. Together these grant projects brought millions of dollars for educational research and innovation to Sonoma State and our public school region.

At the retirement celebration, colleagues shared stories of working with Dr. Fouche over the years, noting many examples of his steady leadership, collegiality, vision for innovation, and dedication to helping teachers and students that characterized his career.  Retired faculty joined the celebration, including Jayne DeLawter, Rick Marks, and Marty Ruddell.  Dr. Fouche's roots in Louisiana and his well-known dedication to Gators football were a theme at the party too, including a cake decked out with an alligator staring down a seawolf, surrounded by blue and orange icing.  The School of Education faculty presented Jim with a gift of a framed Matisse print in honor of the occasion. 

Jim and his wife Kathy look forward to this new opportunity to spend more time with their family, especially their two young grandchildren.   

Imagine a classroom where middle school students learn geospatial awareness by taking a virtual tour of the moon, or a lesson where special education kids improve their vocabulary with Garage Band.  These are just a couple examples of projects that will be featured at the Teacher Technology Showcase this Thursday at Sonoma State University.  At the Showcase, twenty four pre-service and recently credentialed teachers will demonstrate lessons that they have created to help build student engagement and support student learning. 

School of Education Assistant Professor Jessica Parker designed the event, which provides beginning teachers the chance to share creative ideas for ways they plan to use new media tools in classroom experiences. Dr. Parker, who teaches educational technology at SSU, notes that the focus of the event is not just on the technological tools the teachers are employing, but also on the content objectives as well; how are they creating a better learning environment for students through technology integration.   At the showcase, presenters will have the opportunity to converse with experienced teachers and administrators from local schools, graduate students and faculty about the lessons they designed. 

Presentations will include examples of lessons built for mobile devices, the use of web based collaboration tools, video screencasts for flipped classrooms, wikis and more. The presenters come from a range of teaching environments and student age groups, from early education, elementary, secondary, educational leadership and special education, and they will provide examples of for kindergarten through senior year of high school and beyond.

This is the second year that the SSU School of Education is hosting the Showcase, which this year has support from Google, KQED and Edutopia. The event will take place on Thursday, November 29, 5:00-7:00 PM in the Student Union Multipurpose Room and is free and open to the community.  (Please note that parking on campus is $2.50).

Can't make it to the event?  Follow us on Twitter for highlights:  @educationSSU #ssuedtech.

The goal of the Single Subject Credential Program is to prepare candidates to be successful secondary teachers for California Public Schools. Achieving that goal requires a study in teaching theories and pedagogy, balanced with valuable practical experience working in classroom settings with a professional mentor. This year the Single Subject program is impementing a new model for student teaching, called co-teaching.

Dr. Karen Grady and Dr. Susan Victor have been working closely with teams of teachers and single subject candidates in five local schools for this pilot: Altamira Middle School in Sonoma, Elsie Allen High School in Santa Rosa, Petaluma Junior High School and Lawrence Jones Middle School in Rohnert Park. Teams from the schools came to Sonoma State campus and participated in special workshop so they will be ready to put the model into practice in Spring semester 2013. Grady hopes to expand the model to more schools in coming years.

Co-teaching is defined as two teachers (mentor teacher and teacher candidate) working together to teach groups of students - sharing the planning, organization, delivery and assessment of instruction, as well as the physical space. Co-teaching involves a continuing partnership where the lessons are all prepared collaboratively and taught as a team. Both teachers are actively involved and engaged in all aspects of instruction. This differs from the prevalent model of student teaching in secondary classrooms where student teachers are expected to solo teach for the entire semester of student teaching. In the co-teaching model student teachers both team teach with their mentors and solo teach.

The co-teaching model has been used and evaluated nationwide, and shows benefits not only for beginning teachers, but benefits for student learning. One high school student remarked, "While one is teaching, the other comes around and asks if we need help. It makes it easier to get around to everybody." The research shows that this model enhances classroom management, supports different learning styles and increases student engagement and participation. Another student noted, "I think we learn more because there are two different teachers in the room - which means they teach different ways - which means they know different facts - which means you're going to learn a lot more."

Mentor teachers have a lot to gain from the model too. Teachers who have implemented co-teaching in their classrooms noted that not only do student teachers perform better through the collaboration, but that they themselves feel a new energy for teaching, have experienced professional renewal, and have been better able to try new things because they are working in a team.

As part of Sonoma State University's ongoing effort to improve student learning for all, the School of Education is launching its first Tech Infusion Challenge. The Tech Infusion Challenge is a project sponsored by the CSU Digital Learning Ambassadors Program and the Google Education Division.

School of Education students and a faculty partner are invited to design a lesson in mathematics, science or language arts that infuses technology in teaching based on a lesson the student observed at Sonoma State. The best lesson selected and re-designed will be awarded $600.

• Consider a lesson that you observed at SSU and how it might be improved.
• Invite a faculty member to be a partner in redesigning the lesson.
• Prepare an alternative lesson that infuses technology to help convey subject content and skills. Work collaboratively.
• Four workshops will be offered throughout the semester to assist with your technology planning and implementation.
• Submit your lesson (e.g., *video link, webpage, presentation) with any additional instructional materials that would be used by students (*video no longer than 10 minutes).
• Each submission will be reviewed by a panel of faculty.
• First Prize $600
• Second Prize $400.

Partner teams must REGISTER by SEPTEMBER 25, 2012

Only the first 12 qualifying teams will be selected to participate. All team members will receive digital prizes for participating.

Registration and challenge guidelines can be found online at:
http://sonoma.edu/dlc/challenge.html

Submissions are due by Monday, November 26, 2012. Winners will be announced Friday, December 7, 2012. For more information contact Dr. Sandy Ayala, 707-664-2972 or ayalas@sonoma.edu

The CSSE Department in the School of Education welcomes new Assistant Professor for Mathematics Education Megan Taylor this semester.  She comes to Sonoma State having just completed  a post-doctoral research fellowship at Harvard Graduate School of Education for the TESLA Project (Transforming the Engagement of Students Learning Algebra).  Immediately prior to the postdoc, her doctoral work at Stanford focused on the way mathematics teachers use and adapt textbooks in the classroom.

We asked Megan tell us a little about herself and her journey to becoming a mathematics educator:

*Math was never easy for me. If you had told me, as I was struggling through freshman Algebra (and hating every minute), that I would become a mathematics teacher, I would have laughed hysterically (and probably cried a little, too). But I AM a math teacher today in spite of and because of the teachers I had along the way. Teachers who ignored my needs, who frustrated me, who saw me as a lost cause. Teachers who inspired me to challenge myself, try my best, and never give up. Teachers who helped me realize I wanted to BE a teacher.

Today I work with mathematics teachers and study mathematics teaching so more people can help more students be successful in mathematics. In my dissertation research I studied how four teachers worked to use their textbooks more effectively, and observed fascinating changes in how they adapted and created curriculum materials over time. In my postdoc the past two years I developed curricula and a professional development experience for over 400 teachers, as part of a project designed to understand motivation in middle-school mathematics. One of the most recent findings emerging from the data is that the "best" lessons were not necessarily those from teachers implementing our materials the way we expected them to.

I couldn't be more excited to join the SSU team and get to know the Seawolf culture!"

School of Education faculty member Kirsten Searby, and Noyce Scholars Adam Green and Ginnie Chu represented Sonoma State University at the May 2012 NSF Noyce Conference in Washington D.C. The meeting was an opportunity for hundreds of NSF Noyce Program awardees from across the nation  to learn and share strategies from each other, as well as from K-12 STEM leaders, and national experts in recruiting, preparing, and retaining new K-12 STEM teachers.  The invitation-only conference featured plenary speakers and panel sessions; concurrent workshop sessions, including sessions for Noyce Scholars and new teachers; and poster sessions.

Noyce Scholars Green and Chu have both completed the Single Subject Teaching Credential Program in the School of Education, and just finished their first year of teaching.  Green teaches mathematics at Rancho Cotati High School here in Rohnert Park, and last year Chu worked as a science teacher at Piner High School and Grace High School, which both meet on the same campus in Santa Rosa. SSU Noyce Scholars receive collegial support both during their credential program and for the first couple of years as they begin to work in California high needs school districts.

Searby, who is the Sonoma State Noyce Program Coordinator says this is the first time Sonoma State Noyce Scholars have presented at this annual conference.  She says the opportunity proved to be a great experience for them, and remarked that  "Watching them interact and share ideas with other new teachers and experts in the field  was inspiring.  Seeing them participate in the conference showed me what they understood and valued about education.  They are both really excited to try some of these new ideas in the schools where they work."

In addition to attending workshops, both Sonoma State Noyce Scholars made presentations at the conference.  Adam Green participated in a poster session, presenting information about three teaching strategies he finds helpful in the mathematics classroom.  Ginnie Chu was as a panelist for a session titled, "Voices from the Field", featuring six beginning teachers from different regions of the country.  The session was attended by hundreds of people including pre-service teachers, new and old teachers, deans, and professors. Searby noted that the audience all clapped when Chu said, "I have learned that to my students I'm not only teaching science but I also have to teach language as part of the curriculum."  Chu, reflecting about the conference and the opportunity to talk to teachers from all over the country said, "I realize that I am not as isolated as I think. As I attempt to make small ripples in my classroom, teachers all over the country are doing the same. And together, we are collaborating to generate a large wave of positive change while propagating social justice." You can read more of Ginnie Chu's reflections here.

The Robert Noyce Scholarship Program for Math and Science Teachers seeks to encourage talented Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) majors and professionals who might otherwise not have considered the teaching profession, particularly those from underrepresented groups. Each Noyce Scholar receives a maximum of three years of scholarship support of up to $10,000 per year. In addition, Sonoma State provides support to the scholars throughout the period covered by the scholarships and up to two years after to assist the scholars to reach their goal of a credential and a teaching position. Noyce Scholars are selected by consideration of academic achievement, under-representation and financial need. To learn more about the Noyce Scholarship Program on the School of Education website at www.sonoma.edu/education/scholarships/noyce

A Sense of Perspective

by Ginnie Chu, SSU Noyce Scholar, and Science Teacher

At the recent NSF Robert Noyce Teachers Scholarship Conference, as I recounted some of my teaching experiences to a professor in attendance, he asked how long I have been teaching. When I responded that this was my first year, he exclaimed, “But you sound like such an expert!” I was caught a bit speechless, because I thought, “Of course I am an expert of my own experiences.” I realized that as I write this, I should ask you, dear reader, to bear in mind, my musings on my first year teaching come from a sample size of one…me.

About me:

1. I just completed my first year teaching at a comprehensive and an alternative high school in Santa Rosa, CA. Both are high-needs public schools sharing one campus.
2. 2) This is the first STEM education conference I have ever attended.

One of the many challenges I faced in my first year teaching was a lack of perspective for the diversity of new experiences in which I found myself living. I was constantly reflecting, asking colleagues for their perspectives, and then re-evaluating my own instinctual reactions to these new experiences because I lacked past experiences for comparison. One of best outcomes of attending the Noyce conference was the valuable perspectives and additional lens I gained for which to view my understanding and place in the larger world of education. While the conference provided me with rich layers of multifaceted learning, I will focus on three specific experiences.



The first one-hour workshop I attended was titled, “Social Media for STEM Educators: How to Build an Online Community Around STEM Ideas and Market Yourself as a Leader in the Field.” While I gained some tips and tricks, such best blogging sites and how to set up a Twitter account, sitting in this workshop forced me to consciously recognize that I am actively building my identity as an educator. I must exercise great intention in the process of creating my professional identity. This workshop emphasized the use of social networking tools in education. The idea of social networking tools spurred me to think deeper about the idea of education itself. Very few educators currently in classrooms today experienced the same learning environment of that of their students. The current learning environment is a very different landscape from which I was raised. The learning paradigm is shifting, and whether I choose to shift and adapt my teaching with it has significant implications for my students’ achievement. This is well illustrated in an exchange I had with a student I taught this year. The classroom was buzzing with a school scandal. When I asked the students what they were talking about, one student said to me, “Oh come on Ms. Chu. You know what we are talking about.” When I feigned ignorance, she responded, “Don’t you read the news? You need to go to Facebook.” While it hadn’t occurred to me that Facebook was a legitimate news outlet, it also had not occurred to me that I was not meeting my students where they were, both metaphorically and in the virtual places they congregate. Recognizing this leads me to ponder, how do I teach to most effectively engage today’s students in the act of learning?



Another workshop I attended was titled, “Using Concept Maps as an Assessment Tool to Close the Achievement Gap.” In this one-hour workshop, two professors presented a cursory introduction to concept mapping followed by practice creating our own concept maps. This workshop was unlike any other experience I had at the conference. Some audience members raised skepticism and expressed negative sentiment about the validity and effectiveness of concept mapping as an assessment tool. There was provocative and at times hostile debate throughout. From my participation in this workshop, as well as the conversations I had with other scholars in attendance afterwards, I have two conclusions to share. First, I was surprised by the controversy surrounding something as seemingly innocuous as concept making. This surprise underscores a greater philosophical debate about education. We as educators share a common goal; we want students to learn. That may be where the consensus ends. What we consider effective teaching, whether in theory or practice, expected learning outcomes, and how we assess those outcomes lie on a wide continuum. Just as students act in the way they see themselves, we act in the way we see our roles as educators. The controversy in which I found myself allowed me to realize this second point. The dialogue around me underscored the importance that I must form and articulate my own pedagogy in order to participate in both the larger conversation as well as in consensus building in the STEM education community. While this goes in tandem with building professional identity, I believe that when I can articulate what teaching and learning mean to me, I will find that identity. Or alternatively, how am I able to cross pedagogical lines if I don’t know where I stand?

Aside from attending workshops, I also had the opportunity to speak on a plenary panel discussing some of the trials and tribulations of my first year teaching. It was not the panel talk itself but rather the feedback I received that was so poignant and thought provoking for me. Teaching can be an isolating experience. In the concentric circles of inclusion, I am in the center. From there, my students, departmental colleagues, school faculty, and district occupy the outer circles roughly in that order. While I shared my experiences as a first year teacher in a high needs school, I falsely assumed that many in the audience would not be able to relate to the unique vagaries and challenges of teaching in Northern California, or more specifically, at my schools. For example, I believed that some would take offense to the idea that I see myself as both a science and language educator. After this plenary session, a first year teacher from Mobile, Alabama thanked me for the talk. This teacher expressed gratitude and appreciation for my words because, as she put it, “You articulated everything I was thinking and wanted to say.” From that brief exchange, I learned two new things. First, a teacher from Mobile, Alabama and one from Northern California shared similar teaching experiences. It suggests to me that our situations and experiences are far more alike than not. For one, we are attempting to teach scientific literary. While there are always nuances to each individual circumstance, teachers in high-need schools throughout the country share similar obstacles, needs, and student populations. If this is true, then there must be similar underlying root causes to these challenges we face. The second realization I made from talking to this teacher is that I am not as isolated as I think. As I attempt to make small ripples in my classroom, teachers all over the country are doing the same. And together, we are collaborating to generate a large wave of positive change while propagating social justice.

This conference was an invaluable opportunity for me to immerse myself in quality discourse. It challenged my own ideas of what it means to be an educator. And in a year when I was just treading water to stay afloat, this experience was a lifeline that brought me back to the raft of values that originally inspired me to teach. During my time in the SSU credentialing program, I felt indoctrinated to many of the visions contained within the School of Education Conceptual Framework. I understood what that meant on paper, but only now am I beginning to embody and understand what that means in action.

Congratulations to Windsor High School's Vineyard Academy and Oak Grove Elementary School's Primos programs for both receiving the 2012 Jack London Award for Educational Innovation.  Each year this award is granted to one or more programs for their exemplary and innovative contributions to education in a Sonoma County Public School Because of their originality, creativity, and their ability to engage children and the community, these exciting programs deserve public recognition.

This year the honor in the elementary school category goes to the Primos program at Oak Grove Elementary School in the Oak Grove School District in NW Santa Rosa.  Program coordinator Nancy Saylor designed it after a big brother mentorship model, to provide support for kids who are learning English.  The mentors provide a little extra help at school and and a lot of encouragement.  To find mentors, Saylor started out by extending an invitation to some Oak Grove alumni who were enrolled in nearby El Molino High School, Those kids took on the role of primos, our cousins to the younger students. Their time together is characterized as playful and fun, a mix of homework help, games, and social events, all with the goal of helping these kids acquire academic skills and foster a desire in them to succeed.

The award to a secondary level program goes to Vineyard Academy at Windsor High, an interdisciplinary career track program combining culinary arts training, English, math, science and history. Students at Vineyard Academy see and experience the real world relevancy of these subjects as experience coursework in business building, economics and applied arts. The program works with community collaborations, and is supported by local businesses and organization partnerships, who provide not only resources but mentors for these students. Graduates of Vineyard Academy have a good foundation for building a career path in local tourism, including hospitality, winery and food businesses. Marie Ganister is the culinary instructor coordinating this program, but the strong collaborations include many teachers across the curriculum.

The Jack London Award program is now in its 25th year at Sonoma State University. Recipients of the award this year received a framed award certificate, two hardcover books by Jack London for their school library and a gift certificate for Copperfield's Books to purchase more reading material for their programs.

The Jack London Awards are sponsored by the California Faculty Association, The Sonoma County Educators Council CTA/NEA, The Sonoma County Office of Education, and the Sonoma State University Educational Leadership Institute, which is supported by Lozano Smith Attorneys at Law.

On April 25, 2012 the School of Education made a public presentation to 2011's Elliott Scholars: Christina Towner, Linsey Gannon, and Chris Berg. The presentation was part of the annual School of Education Recognition and Awards Ceremony. Recipients were selected for their scholarship and success in the classroom.


The F. George Elliott Scholarship Fund is an endowment of over $250,000 to the Sonoma State University School of Education. The endowment each year awards two scholarships for graduate study at Sonoma State University; one for an outstanding student teacher, and the other for a Santa Rosa City School District middle school, junior high, or high school teacher. Recipients of these scholarships will be known as Elliott Scholars.


Christina Towner is a student who came to the Special Education Credential Program at Sonoma State University in the Fall 2009 term, and she completed her Education Specialist Credential from Sonoma State in 2011. She is an outstanding student, praised for maintaining her strong academic record at Sonoma State while also holding a full-time teaching position as a Special Education Intern. Currently, Christina teaches a Special Day Class comprised of students who have mild to moderate disabilities at Altamira Middle School in Sonoma, CA. According to her University Support Provider, Barbara (Bobbie) Russell, Christina has created an exemplary positive learning environment for all of her students. As an Intern, Christina quickly adopted many of the core practices necessary to become an effective special educator. With recommendations from faculty, her dedication, preparation and passion make Christina Towner the perfect recipient of the Elliott Exemplary Student Teaching Scholarship this year.


Professor George Elliott taught Education at Sonoma State University from 1968-1992.  He worked for many years supervising student teachers in middle schools and junior and senior high schools in the Santa Rosa City School District. He was dedicated to quality teacher education, and worked closely with many master teachers and school administrators in Santa Rosa schools to achieve that end. This scholarship is his legacy to the middle level, junior high, and senior high teachers of the Santa Rosa City School District.


The Elliott Fellowship for Professional Renewal is an award open to all Santa Rosa City School District middle school, junior high, and senior high teachers who have completed from three to nine years teaching in the Santa Rosa City School District. It provides the recipient a two-semester scholarship in the amount of part- or full-time enrollment fees plus an additional twenty percent toward fees for books and supplies. For the award year 2011, two recipients were chosen to receive the Elliott Fellowship for Professional Renewal. The first award goes to Chris Berg, a physics teacher at Montgomery High School. And the second recipient for The Elliott Fellowship for Professional Renewal is Linsey Gannon, Assistant Principal at Lawrence Cook Middle School. Linsey is also now enrolled in the Master's Degree program of Educational Leadership at the Sonoma State University School of Education.