Muhlenberg College To Host Governor’s Academy For Urban Education
The 2003 Governor’s Academy for Urban Education will be held at Muhlenberg College from Sunday, June 22 through Friday, June 27. Approximately 250 educators from throughout the commonwealth will attend sessions related to urban issues as well as academic standards in language arts and mathematics.Tuesday, March 18, 2003 00:36 PM
The 2003 Governor’s Academy for Urban Education will be held at Muhlenberg College from Sunday, June 22 through Friday, June 27. Approximately 250 educators from throughout the commonwealth will attend sessions related to urban issues as well as academic standards in language arts and mathematics. The event is sponsored by the Pennsylvania Department of Education and co-sponsored by the State System of Higher Education and Muhlenberg College.
Registration is from 1:30 – 3:30 p.m. on Sunday with the Academy program beginning with dinner at 4:00 p.m. and a presentation by Jay McTighe, a nationally recognized speaker on authentic assessment. The program concludes on Friday at 1 p.m., following an awards presentation. Successful participants earn two graduate credits that may be applied to Act 48 recertification requirements.
The program focuses on ways to successfully differentiate instruction for diverse learners, coordination between language arts and mathematics faculty to provide tools and examples for the integration of mathematics and language arts instruction, concurrent language arts and mathematics sessions to provide increased training, and opportunities to dialogue with colleagues about instructional concepts.
Language Arts standards to be addressed include learning to read independently, reading critically in the content areas with a focus on mathematics and science, and quality of writing with a focus on communicating scientific/mathematical concepts. Mathematics standards include mathematical problem solving and communication, statistics and data analysis, probability and predictions, and algebra and functions.
Additional sessions enable educators to cope with educational issues in an urban setting, learn how to implement technology as an effective instructional tool, incorporate effective assessment methodologies, and understand and interpret PSSA scoring rubrics.
The Academy’s schedule is posted at www.pa-academy.org/gua.
Susan Byrne, supervisor of student teaching, is serving as the conference coordinator for Muhlenberg College and is assisted by George Bonekemper, PDS coordinator. Cathy Kim, literacy professor at Muhlenberg, and Mary Ann Siegle, a teacher at Trexler Middle School, will conduct the language arts workshop for middle level teachers.
Dennis Ebersole, professor of mathematics and computer science at Northampton Community College, and Barbara Kautzman, coordinator of mathematics for the Allentown School District, will lead the mathematics session for middle level teachers, while Kelly Rosario, mathematics specialist for ASD, will be a leader of the K-3 primary math team.
This is the second consecutive year that Muhlenberg College has hosted the Governor’s Academy. Over two hundred teachers and administrators participated last year including representatives from the Allentown, Easton, Erie, Harrisburg, Lancaster, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Reading, Scranton and York School Districts.
