News

MSUM, in collaboration with Clay County Community Transition Interagency Committee and North Dakota Region V Transition Community of Practice, held a two-day conference in the Comstock Memorial Union. The conference involved high school youth with disabilities, their educators, and parents and sought to educate participants about transitioning to life after high school. High school students participated in breakout sessions focused on college life, advocacy, and fitness activities. Read the rest of this entry →

Layna Cole, Associate Professor of Early Childhood Education in the School of Teaching and Learning, has been elected by her statewide peers as president of the Minnesota Association of Early Childhood Teacher Educators.

Sue Severson, STL, co-presented with Troy Gonzales, St. Mary’s University and Roxanne Pickle, MN edTPA Coordinator at the Special Education edTPA informational session held at the Minnesota Department of Education April 12.

Be that Teacher: Breaking the Cycle for Struggling Readers, a book coauthored by Doris-Walker Dalhouse, Professor Emerita, STL, and Victoria Resko, Vanderbelt University, was listed in a recent publication by Teachers College Press as one of its three bestsellers.

Dr. Ruth M. Newton from the School of Teaching and Learning recently had a chapter published in a book edited by Dr. Steven Grineski, Julie Landsman, and Robert Simmons III. Grineski is also from the School of Teaching and Learning. The book is titled “Talking About Race.” The chapter she authored is Chapter 6, Vignettes on Education and Racism in My Life and the Lives of My Children.

American Sigh Language Night (ASL) is April 13, 8 p.m. to 10 p.m.

Come for a night full of fun and signing! Members of ASL Club and the Deaf community will showcase a variety of entertainment including signing songs, performing skits, and showing a short documentary about having a Deaf parent. There will also be several speakers presenting important topics in Deaf culture. Read the rest of this entry →

Last week, it was reported that Steve Grineski co-edited a book entitled, “Talking about Race: Alleviating the Fear,” with Julie Landsman and Robert Simmons III. Dr. Ok-Hee Lee, Associate Professor of Early Childhood Education in the School of Teaching and Learning, is a contributing author to the book. Her chapter is entitled, “Talking about Race: A Story from a Teacher Educator.”

Doris Walker-Dalhouse, professor emerita STL, and A. Derick Dalhouse, Psychology, has a chapter (chapter 1) in a recently published, edited book, entitled: Struggling Readers Can Succeed: Teaching Solutions Based on Real Kids in Classrooms and Communities. The title of the chapter is: Outcomes in Reading for Bryant, An African-American Urban Learner: A Case Study. The editors of the book are Nina L. Nilsson, St. Joseph’s University and Sandra E. Grandy, Governors State University. The publisher is Information Age Publishing, Charlotte, N.C.

Dr. William Ayers, formerly Distinguished Professor of Education and Senior University Scholar at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and founder of both the Small Schools Workshop and the Center for Youth and Society, will be the 2013 College of Education and Human Services Visiting Scholar. Dr. Ayers will make his campus-wide address on Tuesday, Feb. 26 in Weld Hall at 7 p.m., titled Teaching from the Heart: Education for Enlightenment and Freedom. All are invited and welcome. Send questions to Steve Grineski, STL, grineski@mnstate.edu.

Faculty, staff, students and alumni are invited to a Q&A with Kevin Sorbo today at 11 a.m. in the Gaede Theatre. Sorbo is an actor, author and motivational speaker. He’s also an MSUM alum (1977-1981). This event is free.

Sorbo will be at Barnes & Noble Saturday, Feb. 16 at 11 a.m. in Fargo signing his memoir, “True Strength–My Journey from Hercules to Mere Mortal–and How Nearly Dying Saved My Life.”

Read the rest of this entry →

Interested in a career in education? Join the School of Teaching & Learning Feb. 20.

Pizza, pop, desserts and door prizes will be provided.

Information will be shared on careers in education including: Early Childhood, Elementary Education, Special Education, and Secondary Education.

Read the rest of this entry →

Leni Ramberg’s latest book, A Clown Dog’s Christmas, is now available for Kindle, and will soon be available on Nook readers. The paperback is available through Amazon, says Ramberg (1973, Speech-Theatre and English). A book-signing event took place in Los Angeles, where Ramberg lives, last Sunday. The writer’s work was edited by another MSUM alum, Pamela Troumbly (1971, Elementary Education). The two women have worked together on several writing projects, including Ramberg’s first book for young people, Girlfriend Detectives.

The School of Teaching and Learning received news that each of the special education graduate program proposals submitted to the Minnesota Board of Teaching has received approval. Dr. Camille Brandt reports that MSUM is among the first universities in the state to receive official approval to begin offering graduate coursework leading to the new Autism Spectrum Disorders teaching license. Read the rest of this entry →

Teresa Shume, School of Teaching and Learning, presented a paper entitled “An Alternate Vision for School Accountability: Looking Through an Ecojustice Lens” at the American Educational Studies Association conference in Seattle last week.

Dr. David Tack, Teaching & Learning, attended the Critical Questions in Education conference in Springfield, Miss. He presented his paper “There’s no one right way to teach a child! Using educational research to develop understandings of teaching for social justice.”

Dr. Camille Brandt, School of Teaching and Learning, attended and presented at the International Child and Adolescent Conference Sept. 30 – Oct. 2, 2012. Upon return, Brandt is presenting a seminar for Fargo Public School Teachers on intervention planning for students on the autism spectrum.

A two-year $262,000 grant was recently awarded from the National Science Foundation’s Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program to co-PIs Tim Harms (Mathematics) and Alison Wallace (Biosciences). Senior personnel include: Linda Houts-Smith (Languages and Cultures), Richard Lahti (Chemistry; Physics and Astronomy), Steve Lindaas (Physics and Astronomy), and Teresa Shume (School of Teaching and Learning). Read the rest of this entry →

Andrea Noonan, an English language/art teacher at Cheney Middle School in West Fargo, left, was presented with the North Dakota's Teacher of the year award by Superintendent of Public Instruction Wayne Sanstead, right, and Gov. Jack Dalrymple, middle, at Cheney Middle School on Wednesday in West Fargo. Carrie Snyder / The Forum

Andrea Noonan, English Teacher Education, 2004, was named the 2013 North Dakota Teacher of the Year.

By: Helmut Schmidt, INFORUM

WEST FARGO – Andrea Noonan, an eighth-grade language arts teacher from Cheney Middle School, is North Dakota’s 2013 Teacher of the Year.

Noonan was honored Wednesday at the middle school in a ceremony presided over by Gov. Jack Dalrymple.

“This is just a huge honor. … It’s very overwhelming. It’s a humbling experience,” Noonan said.

Noonan’s voice cracked with emotion as she addressed the dignitaries, state education leaders, fellow teachers and Cheney eighth-graders, and she battled to hold back tears.

Read the rest of this entry →

Steve Grineski, STL, presented a paper at the 2012 Hawaii International Conference on Social Sciences-11th Annual Conference held in Honolulu, Hawaii. The paper was titled, “We were pretty darn good:” A social history of the preparation of rural school teachers, 1900-1950.

Dr. Valerie Ritland, School of Teaching and Learning, recently participated in a twelve day Multiage Study Tour to Australia. She joined 17 other educators from across the United States and Canada, along with two instructors from Northern State University, Flagstaff, Arizona. Participants visited two private schools in Sydney, Australia, and two public schools in Brisbane, Australia. The purpose of the Study Tour was to observe and dialogue with Australian teachers and administrators about the strategies, challenges and advantages to multiage instruction. Read the rest of this entry →