Monday Minutes

Here are your Monday Minutes for February 22-26, 2021. 

From the Department Head 

Dear Students and Colleagues,

Public Schools Week is February 22-26. Let’s celebrate the great things happening each day in Montana’s public schools and the opportunities that our school district partners provide in order to prepare our amazing future educators and school/district leaders.  Please consider using the resources available in the Public Schools Week Social Media Toolkit and share your stories.  Additional resources can be found at Learning First.

We also celebrate Kindness in Graduate Education Week. Our hats are off to graduate students who teach and assist with research in our department, as well as those earning a degree and working in education settings.

Take good care,

Dr. Ann Ewbank

News and Announcements

• Our next department meeting is March 2, 12:15-1:30 in Ann’s WebEx room.We will continue our departmental strategic planning efforts by examining the current EHHD strategic plan.

• Spring 2021 Curriculum & Instruction program meetings are March 9, March 30, and April 13 (12:15-1:30) in Nick’s WebEx room.

• The Department of Education is pleased to announce the reinstatement of two graduate programs: Education Specialist (EdS) in Curriculum & Instruction and Adult & Higher Education. The EdS is a post-Master’s degree culminating in a professional project. Learn more about EdS degrees here. To submit an application for either of these two programs, please visit the Graduate School application website at https://www.applyweb.com/msug/index.ftl.   Click the links for more information on the EdS in Curriculum and Instruction and EdS in Adult and Higher Education. 
• The Department of Education is also pleased to announce a new certificate program in Educational Leadership.  The Teacher Leadership Certificate will be accepting applications for Summer 2021. We anticipate this application will be available through the Graduate School Application website by March 5^th.  This 15-credit certificate is designed to provide MT teachers with coursework and professional growth opportunities to enhance their instructional capacity and leadership contributions to their school communities. Teachers in many school districts are often asked to take leadership roles including dean of students, instructional coach, and department chair. Often, teachers receive no specialized training to help them in their new teacher leadership roles. The Teacher Leadership Certificate includes coursework and experiences that address general school law, special education law and policy, school finance, teacher mentoring and instructional coaching, data analysis, diversity and equity considerations, and school culture and school improvement. It is designed as a “stackable credential” so that students can apply this certificate to the M.Ed. Principal Licensure program and complete their principal licensure with an additional 2-3 semesters of coursework and field experiences. See our Department webpage at: https://www.montana.edu/education/grad/edlead/edlead_teacherleadshpcert.html for more information.
• Summer and Fall 2021 class registration will open for Graduate Students on March 25^th at 8:00 am.  We expect the summer semester online class schedule to updated by March 15^th with the correct class meeting dates.  Keep a watch out for an email being sent to you directly on March 15^th which will provide your Summer and Fall registration PIN number and registration instructions.  

Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Resources

• Please join us on March 2^nd at 6pm MST for the next webinar in the Library Media Certificate webinar series. Dr. Kayte Kaminski, Assistant Dean/Director of Student Success in the College of Education, Health, and Human Development will present “Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Justice.” Join this session for a discussion on identity, privilege, power, bias, and equity, and how all of these can play a role in your relationships with others and your career. Register here to attend and/or receive a recording link after the webinar.

Professional Development & Engagement Opportunities

• On February 25, 2-3pm, the Library of Congress National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature Jason Reynolds will discuss his ambassadorship, including his recent “GRAB THE MIC: Tell Your Story” virtual tour, with Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden. Through his platform Reynolds has directed his focus as ambassador by empowering students to embrace and share their own personal stories.

Extra! Extra! Read all about it!

• Congratulations to Dr. Hailey Hancock (PhD in Education, 2020) for being named a runner-up for the American Educational Research Association’s Rural Education SIG Dissertation Award in Rural Education. Titled A Multisite Case Study of State Policy and Teacher Perceptions of Recruitment and Retention in Rural School Districts Impacted by the Critical Quality Educator Shortage, Dr. Hancock was supported by Dr. Christine RogersStanton (chair), Dr. Jayne Downey, Dr. Nick Lux, and Dr. Sarah Schmitt-Wilson.
• Congratulations to EdS in Education Leadership student Andrea Abeyta and her granddaughter Keeli King (Eastern Shoshone) who won the Viewer’s Choice award in the 2021 Virtual Hoop Dance Competition (youth category) sponsored by the Heard Museum in Phoenix, Arizona. You can watch Keeli’s dance here.
• Congratulations to our MSU Awards for Excellence recipients who were recently honored:

Sierra Fisher-Dykman
Major: Elementary Education, Special Education
Hometown: Bozeman, MT
Mentor: Dr. Jody Bartz

Jade Williamson
Major: Secondary Education, Social Studies Broadfield
Hometown: Kaiserslautern, Germany
Mentor: Ms. Tina Cusker

• Congratulations to the Science Math Resource Center and Mary Anne Hansen of the MSU Renne Library, who have been selected by the National Informal Science Education Network (NISENet) and the Museum of Science in Boston to receive the Citizen Science, Civics and Resilient Communities (CSCRC) stipend. This award, which is funded by NOAA, will be used to support citizen science initiatives at tribal college libraries in Montana via the Tribal College Librarians Institute, which is led by Mary Anne. The project will provide materials, equipment and training to three or more Montana tribal college librarians so they can launch a citizen science project in their community.
• Our department’s success is determined by our collective accomplishments. Share your own accomplishments with pride! Or if you hear of a colleague or student’s accomplishment, please share. Please send accomplishments and kudos to ann.ewbank@montana.edu.