Year In Review 2010–11 University Of Indianapolis 1400 .

Project-based classroomsClassrooms largely have stayed the sameover the past 200 years, but expectationsfor student achievement have escalated.To bring Indiana’s classrooms morefully into the 21st century, CELLpromotes project-based learning, anapproach that marries academic contentwith developing such crucial advancedskills as collaboration, communication,and critical thinking through rigorous,real-world class projects.PBL is not new to education, butthanks to CELL, its popularity inIndiana is. CELL co-created Indiana’sProject-Based Learning Institute, leadsthe state’s only PBL school network,and recently received a 74,000 grantfrom the Talent Initiative in northeastIndiana to train and evaluate PBLschool coaches in that region over thenext two years.CELL’s support for project-basedlearning has helped nearly 1,000K-12 educators across the state—andhas influenced UIndy professors as well.After attending the annualProject-Based Learning Institute, forexample, Physics Chair Tim Dumanworked with his colleagues to create agroup project using a high-altituderesearch balloon. School of Occupational Therapy professors RebeccaBarton, Julie Bednarski, CandyBeitman, and Jennifer Fogo usedPBL to create a health, wellness, andprevention project that turned OTstudents into consultants for community organizations. (See “Gym dandy”on page 16.)These high-flying experiences andon-the-ground learning opportunitieshelped students better retain the subjectmatter, engaged them in the coursework, and taught valuable life skillsalong the way.Angry Birds. Smart kidsEver consider the parabolas and geometry behind a game like Angry Birds?UIndy student Kaley Robbinsdid, which is why she partnered withPlow Digital, an Indianapolis-basedinteractive game and software developer,to create a class project teachingstatistics through gaming.Kaley’s project was part of hercoursework for UIndy’s WoodrowWilson Indiana Teaching Fellowship,which recruits talented individuals fromacross the nation and prepares them toteach math or science in Indiana’shigh-need urban schools.UIndy’s Woodrow Wilson Fellowship stands as Indiana’s first teacherpreparation program to integrateproject-based learning throughout thecurriculum. The Fellows pair theirclassroom learning at UIndy with fieldexperiences to design engaging projectsfor their secondary school students thataddress academic standards their pupilsneed to master.Engaging in their own projectbased learning teaches the Fellowsabout student differentiation, community collaboration, learning integration,and how to make content relevant forstudents, notes Woodrow WilsonAssistant Professor Jean Lee.Consider the alternativeWhile the Woodrow Wilson IndianaTeaching Fellowship represents onepathway for new teacher preparation,UIndy’s Master of Arts in Teachingprogram takes a different road todevelop high-quality teachers. As withmany in the Fellowship program, MATcandidates are career-changers drawn toteaching at the secondary level.UIndy’s MAT faculty identifiedthat few, if any, Indiana transition-toteaching programs provided learningexperiences in alternative schools—nontraditional schools that often struggle toattract and retain talented teachers. Tofill this niche, the faculty developed aclass called Introduction to AlternativeEducation and made it a requiredcourse for the program.Through the class, MAT studentsbecome immersed in alternative schoolenvironments to learn best practices,develop educational plans for high-needsecondary students, and engage inservice-learning. Candidates completethe course prepared to help studentssucceed in alternative schools.UIndy’s MAT program boasts a listof accomplished graduates, many ofwhom have chosen to teach in alternative education programs as a result ofthis one-of-a-kind experience.UIndy’s principal preparationmaster’s program, meanwhile (see page8), uses virtual reality to train leadersfor the actualities of today’s schools.continued‘CELL and the Department of Teacher Education are a unique alliance. Our joint focuson student achievement and the preparation of tomorrow’s teachers creates a strongposition for the University of Indianapolis to advance Indiana’s educational future.’—Da vid D res s lar, C E L L Exe cuti ve Di re ctorw w w.u i n dy.edu7

EducationDose of (virtual) realityPower in collaborationWhat would you do if the superintendent demanded a plan to improve yourschool’s academic performance or if oneof your teachers had classroom management problems?If you are an iLEAD student, youneed only log on to a computer to testyour leadership skills in handling theseand other situations that confronttoday’s principals.iLEAD is Indiana’s only principalpreparation program to use vLeader, acomputer simulator allowing studentsto practice different leadership stylesin a controlled environment.The program also offers trainingin turning around a struggling schoolby way of a custom-designed “alternatereality” game. The game provides alearning forum that requires studentsto analyze school data, create a turnaround plan, and work with teachersto gain support.CELL and iLEAD created ascholarship designed for candidatescommitted to working in low-performing districts. More than 50 percent ofiLEAD’s current graduate students nowcome from high-need schools, placingiLEAD in a position to become one ofthe state’s premier principal preparationprograms for improving Indiana’sstruggling schools.CELL and the Department of TeacherEducation’s success largely stems fromcontinual collaboration—both witheach other and among stakeholders.When CELL’s High School-toCollege Transition Project identifiedIndiana’s dearth of secondary teachersqualified to teach dual-credit courses(where students receive both highschool and college credit), UIndy’sDepartment of Teacher Educationpartnered with the College of Arts andSciences to address the issue.The result? Indiana’s only Master ofArts in Curriculum & Instruction witha concentration in dual-credit English.To support the Education and Artsand Science faculties’ work around21st-century learning, Dean Moranproposed that CELL host one of itsschool tours at Columbus SignatureAcademy. The New Tech model focuseson student collaboration in self-directed, interdisciplinary projects, thuschanging the teacher’s traditional rolefrom lecturer to facilitator.While CELL and the Departmentof Teacher Education may have differentstakeholders, they work together towardthe same goal—ensuring that Indiana’sstudents receive a world-class education.The Woodrow Wilson FellowshipsThe innovative STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) teachereducation program recently announced its third cohort of Indiana fellows, 54 selectstudents who will pursue master’s degrees in the coming year at UIndy and threepublic universities. Meanwhile, the program’s second-year fellows have completedtheir intensive coursework and will begin teaching math and science this fall inhigh-need urban and rural Indiana schools. Since its Indiana debut, the WoodrowWilson Teaching Fellowship has been launched in Michigan and Ohio.8UIndy 1 4 00

CELL brings TAP to high-need Indiana schoolsUIndy’s Center of Excellence inLeadership of Learning and the stateDepartment of Education are partnering to implement “TAP: The Systemfor Teacher and Student Advancement”through a 48-million Teacher Incentive Fund grant awarded from theU.S. Department of Education.The five-year grant brings thenationally renowned TAP professionaldevelopment system to 44 high-needschools across the state and aims toenhance teacher quality to increasestudent achievement.The Indiana Department ofEducation selected CELL to implementTAP because of its record of innovativeeducation reform initiatives.“Partnering with CELL for thisinitiative makes perfect sense,” saidTony Bennett, Indiana superintendentof Public Instruction. “CELL isdedicated to preparing all students forsuccess and is respected as a leadingcatalyst for dynamic 21st-centuryreform in Indiana schools.”TAP works to attract, develop,motivate, and retain high-qualityteachers so that all students, especiallythose in high-need schools, have accessto exceptional learning opportunities.TAP uses a four-pronged, comprehensive model for teachers’ professionalgrowth and accountability:Multiple career paths:opportunities for teachers to assumeadvanced roles and responsibilitieswith commensurate pay.Ongoing applied professionalgrowth: job-embedded professionaldevelopment focused on bothteacher and student needs.Instr uctionally focusedaccountability: meaningfulevaluations based on clearly defined,research-based standards to improveteaching practices.Per for mance-based compensation: salaries and bonuses tied toteacher roles, responsibilities,instructional performance, andstudent learning gains.Teachers vote to TAPIndiana’s 44 TAP schools, representingtraditional elementary, middle, and highschools as well as public charters, willlaunch the initiative during the2011–12 school year.Each school self-selected to adoptthe program after receiving a certifiedteaching staff vote exceeding 75 percentin favor of implementing TAP.CELL supports TAP schoolsthrough onsite staff support, ongoingtraining, and constant collaborationthrough the new Indiana TAP Network.Indiana joins 200,000 studentsand 20,000 teachers in 500 schoolsacross 17 states in implementing TAP.The system is expanding nationally, asdata show TAP schools significantlyoutperform traditional schools instudent academic growth.More than 1,500 teachersacross Indiana will benefit from thisprofessional development system.Visit cell.uindy.edu/TAP formore information.w w w.u i n dy.edu9

Education‘Here comethe scientists!’UIndy students infusescience lessons intos e c o n d g ra d e c l a s s ro o m sIn second grade classrooms at Abraham Lincoln Elementary School, Fridaysat 2:30 are the best time of the week.That’s when teachers tell students that “The special visitors are coming,”and students wait eagerly for the visitors to appear in the hallway. When the gangof college students comes around the corner, clad in orange T-shirts and carryinglarge brown boxes, the eager whispering begins.“Here come the scientists!”The “scientists” are with instructor Mary Gobbett’s Biology for ElementaryEducation class. Some are Biology Club members, some are Americorps volunteers,and some are students who’d taken the class earlier and simply loved the experience.10UIndy 14 00

Make room for scienceThe need to teach children STEM-related subjects (science, technology, engineering,and mathematics) has been well documented. Still, science is not a graded subject insecond grade, so teachers have to try and work science instruction into the literacyportion of their teaching.Teachers focus on reading and math, since that is what students are tested on,but there usually isn’t an entire chunk of time set aside for science in the secondgrade curriculum. At least that was the case until Gobbett’s daughter was in secondgrade at Abraham Lincoln.When Gobbett noticed that her daughter wasn’t learning as much science as shecould, she wanted to change that. She started bringing in college students now andthen to teach age-appropriate science lessons to the second graders.What started as a few lessons in just one classroom has blossomed into two orthree visits per month in all six second-grade classrooms.Brittany Summers is a freshman Elementary Education major. Thanks to thisprogram, she is already gaining teaching experience in the classroom.“I enjoy being around the kids and seeing their excitement,” she says. “It’s fun tobe interactive and to be involved in hands-on projects with the kids.”The UIndy students teach creative lessons on fossils, weather, the solar system,plants, even topics such as chemistry and physics. The second graders might plantseeds to observe how plants grow or dissect an owl pellet to discover what’s inside.“We just love all the material the UIndy students bring,” says Abraham Lincoln’sLori Beaupre, who has been teaching for 13 years.“It’s so engaging and hands-on, and they teach the kids about things that theydon’t see every day. We love when they visit.”Benefits for teachers, tooEven after the UIndy students leave, the teachers are finding ways to incorporate thelessons into future discussions or readings.“Because the UIndy students are based in science, they bring in more thingsthan I as a classroom teacher would know about,” says UIndy alumna Corie Steed,a teacher at Abraham Lincoln for seven years.“They do some really cool things with the kids—such as bringing in worms orslugs—that I wouldn’t have access to on a regular basis. I watch the UIndy kids andthink ‘Wow! I never would have thought of that!’”Steed enjoys being able to interact with her own students on a different levelwhen the UIndy students are there—not as teacher, but as observer. She takes theopportunity to see what the UIndy students bring to her classroom and think howshe could incorporate their lessons with her weekly lesson plans.Making it permanent?Gobbett hopes to expand the program over the next couple of years, eventually turning itinto a required element for a class that elementary education majors take as sophomores.She is working with Nancy Steffel and Bev Reitsma in UIndy’s Department ofTeacher Education to develop a class that would cover all science areas and include apracticum at the school. UIndy students would be learning college science as well ashow to apply the techniques and content knowledge to teaching elementary students.“I’m really excited that our kids are getting exposed to science and piquing theircuriosity in the subject,” says Steed.“It’s fun to see the creativity that the UIndy students bring to my classroom andto see how much my kids enjoy learning from them.”Stemming the tide ofscience inadequacyThough they might not always don labcoats, wear goggles, or carry test tubesin their pockets, UIndy’s elementaryeducation majors are becoming confidentscientists in their own right, thanks to agrant from the I-STEM (IndianaScience, Technology, Engineering andMath) Resource Network and someexperimental University faculty.The focus on science developedafter the UIndy Department of TeacherEducation discovered that graduates weremotivated to become more comfortableteaching in this subject area.The department secured thetwo-year, 60,000 I-STEM grant in2009 to develop a curriculum designedto enhance content knowledge anddevelop positive attitudes toward sciencein elementary education majors.Freshman and sophomore biologystudents now engage in seminars andlabs twice a week, then visit local elementary school classrooms to apply theirlearning by teaching a lab themselves.This experience is open to all UIndystudents taking introductory biology, notjust teacher candidates, because peoplelearn best by teaching others.Capitalizing on the department’snationally recognized expertise in literacy,the faculty revised elementary educationcoursework to connect science withreading and writing in elementaryclassrooms. [See “Here come thescientists,” opposite.] UIndy teachersin-training now study specific sciencecurricula and learn how to integrate booksand nonfiction writing to develop scienceknowledge in elementary students.Science also plays a role in everyfield experience for UIndy elementaryeducation majors and is embedded inall teaching units.The two-year experiment with newcoursework and field experiences is beingevaluated to ensure that it’s helpingfuture teachers gain the competence andskills they need to incorporate science ateven the lowest grade levels. Their owninterest in science, and their skill inteaching it, could spark a lifelong interestin a child—good news for a state benton producing more STEM graduates.w w w.u i n dy.edu11

Education‘More fulfilling thanI could have ever imagined’Fellowship pays offfor first-year teacher—and his studentsSometimesstudents makethe bestinstructors.That’s one lessonDavid Johnson(left) has learnedin his first yearas a full-time public school teacher.But Johnson also has imparted hisshare of wisdom to young teens atLynhurst 7th and 8th Grade Center onIndianapolis’s west side—not only aboutpre-algebra mathematics but also aboutthe value of going to college and settlingdisputes peacefully.“This year has been more fulfillingthan I could have ever imagined,” he says.The former mortgage broker wasamong UIndy’s first cohort of WoodrowWilson Indiana Teaching Fellows. TheNew Jersey-based Woodrow WilsonNational Fellowship Foundationlaunched the program in Indiana in 2008and has since expanded to other states.C o mmi t t i n g t ohi g h-n e e d sch o o l sThe fellowships include 30,000stipends to attract would-be teachers—ideally career-changers or recent gradsfrom math, science, and technologyfields—to an intensive one-year master’sdegree program followed by at leastthree years of closely mentored teachingin high-need public schools.The University of Indianapolis,IUPUI, and Purdue and Ball Stateuniversities designed special curricula to12UIndy 14 00prepare recruits for the rigors of theclassroom. At UIndy, the fellows beganobserving and teaching in local schoolsfrom the very start. Johnson was placedat Lynhurst for his student teachingand, after completing his coursework,secured a full-time position at theWayne Township school last fall.“I was able to jump into it withboth feet,” he says. “The program reallyprepared me for the challenges thatwe’re facing as first-year teachers.”Lynhurst Principal Dan Wilsonsays Johnson is handling those challenges well.“David has made a huge impact inthe short time he’s been a part of ourschool family,” Wilson says. “He’s anoutstanding math teacher, but he hasalso become a leader, mentor, and rolemodel for our students.”A key element of UIndy’s WoodrowWilson program is its emphasis onproject-based learning, a teachingmethod that replaces traditionalclassroom lectures with collaborativegroup assignments in which studentsapply their knowledge in multiplesubjects to address real-world concerns.Johnson said instructors such asDeb Sachs, clinical/mentoring coordinator for the UIndy fellowship program, walked the talk by using PBLmethods to teach the concept.“We weren’t sitting in a lectureabout how we’re not supposed tolecture,” he says. “She modeled everything perfectly, and it was effortless. Shedidn’t say, ‘I’m doing this because .’”One class project for Johnson’sstudents this year involved the surfacearea and volume of three-dimensionalforms. They were asked to consider astandard band drum—a cylindricalprism—and redesign it for maximumstorage efficiency with no change in pitchor volume. (Did you answer “hexagon”?)UIndy’s Woodrow Wilson curriculum also covers the non-academicaspects of teaching, such as the important influence of home life and socioeconomic issues on student success.Some students at Johnson’s school missclass regularly. Many come from lowincome families that move frequently.Ke e p ing it re alJohnson, therefore, made an effort tobuild a rapport with each of his classes,using team-building and group exercisesh

Year in Review 2010–11 University of Indianapolis 1400 East Hanna Avenue Institute for Civic Leadership & Mayoral Archives debuts ‘Five Mayors: An Evening of Insight & Vision’ brought 40 years of mayoral leadership to c