Graduate Student Colloquium (March 31, 2011)

The content of the email below was forwarded on behalf of Deborah Rifenbary to UNM faculty> I encourage you all to attend. You present as a panel of teacher practitioners, sharing where you are at this juncture in your practitioner research. Being able to articulate and share what you have been doing and what you have been thinking about, helps clarify things and brings new insight and awareness. As Donald Normans said: "The stories we tell not only explain things to others, they explain them to ourselves."

>>> Deborah Rifenbary 11/29/2010 12:43 PM >>>

The 14th annual Graduate Student Colloquium will be held on Thursday, March 31st, 2011. The colloquium is a series of concurrent, break-out sessions (including individual paper presentations, group presentations, panels, roundtables and poster sessions) followed by a buffet dinner and keynote speaker. This year the keynote speaker is Dr. Nel Noddings, the Lee L. Jacks Professor of Education, Emerita at Stanford University and well known for her work in the ethics of caring.

As in the past, I would ask you to encourage your graduate students, both master's and doctoral to participate as a presenter, attendee or both. This is a wonderful opportunity to support and engage students in research activities. Faculty have supported this event in a variety of ways including incorporating a presentation as part of a class assignment, taking classes to the colloquium during class time or requiring students to attend and write a short paper about their experience.

Faculty are being asked to be involved again this year. Once the schedule is finalized, faculty will be needed to chair individual sessions. Sessions are scheduled from 1:00 to 6:00 in hour long blocks. In addition to chairing, you are invited to present your research and facilitate a round table discussion from 12:00 to 1:00 prior to the student presentations. More information regarding the format will be forthcoming but I wanted you to begin thinking about your and your graduate students' involvement as you prepare for the spring semester.

On a final note, Dr. David Scott is expanding the focus on the IMPACT website to showcase the exemplary research of graduate students. Faculty will be invited to recommend colloquium participants to be considered for inclusion on the website. More information will also be forthcoming.

Your participation is most welcome. Thank you for your consideration.

Deb

Deborah Rifenbary
Associate Dean of Academic Affairs and Faculty Development
Office of the Dean
College of Education
University of New Mexico
505-277-8933
riffer@unm.edu

Welcome back to our Research Seminar Capstone Experience (Spring 2011)

(otherwise known as teacher storytelling).

During this Spring Seminar Capstone master’s project, you are connecting practice to theory through inquiry research conducted in your classrooms as you reflect on your daily teaching. As teacher practitioners, you are reflecting on your autobiographical professional selves - your intellectual history - describing how your teaching and learning inside and outside the classroom is transforming you.

Your practitioner research project provides a small glimpse into the culture of your classroom where you are systematically gathering data and analyzing your work and that of your students. In this classroom context you are learning about yourselves and that of your students as you tell and retell your collective stories with students as co-researchers along side you.

Your teacher reflections become data you will cite and reference in the telling of your classroom story. You will augment your experiences finding out what others are saying about your topic, connecting what you are reading to what you are discovering as you go along, trusting the process, yourself and your students.

We will continue to refer to Living the Questions (Hubbard & Power, 1999) as a guide in collecting and analyaing your data and our beloved APA style manual in writing your story to academic specifications.

Now on with the show.........................Frances

End of the Semester

Dear Teacher Practitioners,

What a great journey this has been. You now have all the parts to your practitioner research proposal:
1. Teacher Story Reflections as your Introduction to your proposal
2. Your Literature Review
3. Research Design including Timeline and Support/Collaboration

I look forward to meeting your families tonight at our get-together.
Your symbolic artifacts are metaphors to acknowledge what you have accomplished thus far and what is ahead. Enjoy your ride and destination-filled journey. It is your story to tell.

Practitioner Research
Artifact SYMBOLISM
Balloon – Playfulness
Butterflies – Transformational Process
Friendship – Cohort Colleagues’ Support
Gem – Mining the gem that exists within
Money – Investment already made
Puzzle Piece – Figuring it out as you go
Encouragement – On your Journey
Writing Pad – Power of reflection & stories

This Photo Album is dedicated to your families who are supporting you this next part of your journey!

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Thank you for your dedication and commitment to telling the stories of your classroom!-)......................Frances

Thank you, UNM COE Dean, Committee Members, Staff

Dear UNM COE Dean, TED Faculty and Staff Members,

Thank you your generosity, time and expertise during our visit, November 5, 2010. Thank you, Committee members, for your collegial dialogue and feedback in refining our proposals before implementing our reflective research next semester.

Please enjoy the photo slideshow of our visit.

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Frances & TED Teacher Practitioners

Midterm Reflection Fall 2010

Please read my Midterm Reflection

I look forward to reading yours. Thank you, Frances

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Maps of your Professional Journeys

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