educatorSYCAMORE FALL 2012

16 Education students TOTALly in

18 Modesitts show Sycamore pride

CYBER BULLYING Changing

the climate

Indiana State University | Bayh College of Education

On behalf of the Bayh College of Education, I extend to you warm greetings. It is with great pride that the college continues to fulfill its

mission imperative, which calls on us to prepare, promote and advance education and human service professionals for a diverse and ever-changing world. However, mission fulfillment would not be possible without a focus on continuous improvement. This year’s issue of the Sycamore Educator will evidence that continuous improvement permeates our culture and underscores our mission-driven efforts.

The educational landscape at the state level has experienced much change in the last 12 months. Educator licensure, evaluation, compensation, preparation and accreditation have been impacted. I am pleased to share that students, faculty and staff have all participated in the change process and informed it greatly. Whether it’s piloting licensure exams, offering public comment during rules promulgation, providing testimony to our elected and appointed officials, crafting position papers or authoring

language for rules, statutes and public law, we remain very engaged in our disciplines, helping shape the future of education.

Student success remains a priority for the college, and we continue to post the highest retention and graduation rates campus-wide. Strong advising, caring faculty and staff, rigorous and relevant programming and engaged students significantly contribute to our student success efforts. The college’s Class of 2017 is an exemplar group, and they received a warm welcome during a reception in the college on Aug. 18. We are excited to help them arrive at their full educational potential!

The college’s network of alumni and friends remains strong and robust. More than 16,000 homes will receive the Sycamore Educator this year, representing a web of support that extends far and wide. Fulfilling our mission would not be possible

without your continued generosity. Through gifts from alumni and friends of the college, we were able to offer more than 150 scholarships for undergraduate and graduate student assistance this academic year, allowing us to support college completion and reward excellence.

We have so many exciting things to share about the college, and not everything could be included in the Sycamore Educator. I encourage you to visit us in University Hall or peruse our website often to stay informed of all the university and college news (http://coe.indstate.edu).

Thank you for your continued support and interest in the Bayh College of Education. With best wishes, I remain

Very truly yours,

Bradley V. BalchDean

Dean’s desk FROM THE

Bayh College of Education Dean Brad Balch with Associate Dean Denise Collins.

SYCAMORE educator2

Bayh College of EducationMission StatementTo prepare, promote and advance educational and human service professionals for a diverse and ever-changing world.

Sycamore Educator MagazineSycamore Educator magazine is published annually for alumni and friends of the Bayh College of Education. Send changes of address or comments to Sycamore Educator, Bayh College of Education, Indiana State University, Terre Haute, IN 47809. For more information on the Bayh College of Education, visit the college’s website at coe.indstate.edu.

Magazine StaffBayh College of Education Dean

Bradley Balch

Bayh College of Education Associate Dean

Denise Collins

Editor

Jennifer Sicking

Photographers

Tony Campbell Sam Barnes

Designer

Jen Johnson

The opinions expressed in Sycamore Educator do not necessarily reflect those of Indiana State University or its Bayh College of Education.

FALL 2012 Vol. IV No. 1educatorSYCAMORE

FeaturesBullying still occurs in college, professors findA new study by ISU Professors Bridget Roberts-Pittman and Christine MacDonald reveals troubling trends.

Modesitts show Sycamore prideJanice and Maurice Modesitt express their love and appreciation of ISU by giving back.

Future teachers immersed in classroom experiencesImmersion semester allows students to hone skills prior to student teaching.

Education students boost internship success with TwitterBeth and Todd Whitaker’s use of Twitter opens a new world to educators young and old.

Standing firmTuskegee Airman Quentin Smith remembers the trials and triumphs of serving during WWII and teaching in Indiana.

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Student orGanization StriveS to increaSe diverSity of future teacherS

Devante Stubbs, along with other students and staff members at Indiana State University, took the initiative to create the African American Student Educators (AASE), a student organization dedicated to increasing diversity in education.

“When we have diversity in our classrooms, it prepares us for the real world that we have to face,” Stubbs said. “It also helps us become tolerant of people that are in a different race than us. I figured if there was an organization to support our minorities, then we could possibly keep them

within the major.”Brad Balch, dean of the Bayh

College of Education, believes that AASE is a positive addition to the college.

“Continuing to diversify our education majors so they are representative of the K-12 students they will serve is a laudable and important goal that is well-aligned with our mission’s recognition of a diverse and ever-changing world,” Balch said.

Chad Becker, faculty advisor of AASE, hopes the organization will be a “diversifying element” of the university.

“ISU needs more diversity in teaching in the education program,” Becker said. “We are attempting to recruit not only future teachers for the organization, but also African-American students with an interest in thinking more deeply

about education issues.”Students involved with

the organization have had the chance to speak with high school students about transitioning into college, participate in a leadership retreat, volunteer with the Bayh College of Education, and attend various campus programs to talk about AASE.

touchinG equalS learninG with iPadS in elementary claSSroom

Indiana State University’s Bayh College of Education’s Center for Math Education provided 15 iPads to use in the gifted and talented class of fourth and fifth graders at Sugar Grove Elementary School.

“It’s always been for me

about empowering ISU pre-service teachers and teachers with innovative resources to better education,” said Marylin Leinenbach, ISU associate professor of elementary education. “The students can stay engaged with interactive lessons. A classroom can truly come alive.”

That seemed to happen as Brandon Chambers, a senior elementary education major from Bloomington, passed out the iPads to the 29 students. Students’ hands shot into the air after their teacher Tiffany Scamihorn asked them “How can you use an iPad in class to help you with what you’re learning?” Students immediately began responding with various math apps as well as dictionary and geography apps.

“This to me is a teaching tool,” she said. “This brings

BlackBoard

early childhood education center uSeS Garden aS teachinG tool

Teachers are using the garden outside Indiana State University’s Early Childhood Education Center to educate their students about science, nature and nutrition in an interactive way.

The University Apartments, where the center is located, offers a community garden for its tenants. Two years ago, the center’s staff decided to branch off from that garden to start one on the playground. They hoped the children would help in growing, maintaining and picking the produce.

Two years later, the children help grow cucumbers, basil, zucchini, green beans, eggplant, squash, thyme, tomatoes, blackberries, cantaloupe and several other items.

Andrea Henderson, a teacher at the center, said the garden provides a

variety of different learning experiences.

“They’re working in the garden, composting and drawing pictures of what they are doing,” Henderson said.

The children help pick the produce and prepare it to be cooked for part of their lunch.

Gail Gottschling, center

director, said the garden project helps children learn more about the foods they are eating.

“We teach them that the healthiest way is to eat things fresh from the garden,” Gottschling said. “We encourage them to try new foods and prepare the produce in multiple ways. We let them try it raw then cooked in with a meal. We also send recipes home to the families.” Teachers work in lessons throughout the process of gardening. Students have learned the difference between fruits and vegetables, what kinds of produce grows in the United States, where the food comes from and what the produce needs to grow.

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the world to your fingertips visually. They’re not just hearing a lesson, but seeing it and touching it.”

Chambers began talking to Leinenbach, his professor, on the second day of math methods class about using iPads when he entered the Sugar Grove classroom as part of his TOTAL (Teachers of Tomorrow Advancing Learning) program. All of ISU’s elementary education students spend a semester before their student teaching semester working alongside veteran teachers to be immersed in the teaching experience as part of TOTAL.

For Gail Artis, Sugar Grove principal, the technology further strengthens the bond between the university and the school. While a few teachers have used their own iPads in their classrooms, the students haven’t had the opportunity to interact with them. Students need to use the latest technology, she said, and ISU provided it.

“It’s an extension of the core curriculum. It’s fundamentally important to have kids adept at technology,” she said. “It’s just like reading in that technology is important for all the other disciplines.”

SPecial education ProGram receiveS recoGnition

The special education program in Indiana State University’s Bayh College of Education recently received recognition from the Council for Exceptional Children.

Robin Burden, associate professor of special

education, said the five-year recognition lets students know they are enrolling in a top-notch program.

“ISU is providing them with a quality education that meets the beliefs and standards proposed by the premier organization for special educators,” Burden said.

To receive recognition, programs must meet 10 standards related to knowledge and practice, including practicum experiences in a classroom and high mastery rates for the Praxis II exam, which students must pass to become licensed teachers.

ISU’s students studying special education not only observe teaching in resource rooms, they also work with the teachers and co-teach. Before the college students begin student teaching, they have already had six occasions to work in depth in a classroom, including through the TOTAL (Teachers of Tomorrow Advancing Learning) program in which students spend a semester working all day in classrooms.

Between 30 and 50 percent of ISU’s students studying elementary education, one of the largest majors at ISU, also major in special education. ISU professors prepare the future teachers to work in mild intervention, which makes up about 85 percent of the special education population.

“Our program concentrates on working with mild and moderate disabilities so our students really are getting the biggest bang for their buck,” Burden said. “The majority of students served by special education are in the mild and

renovation GarnerS national recoGnition

American School and University, an organization for education facilities and business professionals, named renovations to the Bayh College of Education as among the best in the nation in its 2011 Architectural Portfolio. The jury determining the selections considered multiple aspects of each project, including sustainability and community connection, though they also sought projects that use space efficiently and are a “living laboratory” for students, according to the publication.

While buildings constructed on a college campus have areas designed for specific uses, some spaces in the Bayh College of Education provide opportunities for greater student development, said Kevin Runion, associate vice president for facilities management at Indiana State.

“What often is not thoroughly addressed are the ‘non-specific’ spaces that should be planned, designed and constructed to foster ‘accidental interactions’ of students with their peers and with faculty members,” Runion said. “These quite often are the spaces where

true learning occurs away from the traditional classroom lecture setting—learning that often is the foundation for true and meaningful student development.”

The publication noted that the nearly $35 million renovation for the Bayh College of Education was finished in 2009, and it transformed a structure originally built in 1934 as the university’s laboratory school. Renovation highlights included in the Bayh College listing include the renovation of an exterior courtyard into an indoor atrium, “establishing it as the building’s ‘town square.’”

The renovations meet current necessities “without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs,” said Brad Balch, dean of the Bayh College of Education. The building also provides opportunities for traditional educational programming while also allowing for “incidental learning” and for students to reflect on what they’ve learned.

“Students enjoy being in our building. Faculty members also enjoy teaching in our building,” Balch said. “This contributes greatly to the professional feel of our building—it’s simply a great place to be. “(continued)

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moderate categories.”The ISU program enables

students to teach K-12. Starting in 2013, the program will include preschool licensure.

Bayh colleGe of education recoGnized for PreParinG future teacherS

College leaders presented Indiana State University’s Bayh College of Education innovative teacher preparation program in Washington D.C. before a national audience, regarding giving future educators an in-depth experience in elementary and high school classrooms sooner.

Brad Balch, dean of the college, led a team in presenting its practices during the National Convening on Clinical Practice, which was hosted by Teachers for a New Era Learning Network and FHI 360, a part of the National Institute for Work and Learning. Diana Quatroche, chair of early, elementary and special education, along with Susan Kiger, chair of curriculum, instruction and media

technology and Marie Theisz, a recent clinical faculty associate employed with the Vigo County School Corporation, shared how Indiana State prepares future elementary, middle school and high school teachers for classrooms.

“This is a powerful testament to our strong K-12 partnership,” Balch said. “It also is a strong statement about the value our faculty and students add to the K-12 teaching and learning environment. Our clinical practices are proven to improve K-12 student learning.”

Indiana State requires the future educators to spend a semester in classrooms with mentor teachers before student teaching, effectively giving university students one year of teaching experience. For the elementary education majors that program is called TOTAL (Teachers of Tomorrow Advancing Learning). For future secondary teachers, their program is called the Immersion Experience. In both, the university’s students spend entire days and weeks in one classroom, working from bell to bell, observing and assisting a mentor teacher.

“They are unique nationally because they are rooted in real conditions of practice,” Balch said of the programs. “As a result, our graduates are ready for the rigors of K-12 teaching and learning. Educator preparation quality is an imperative. These programs exemplify quality programming.”

Brandon Chambers, a senior elementary education major from Bloomington, has recently finished his TOTAL experience.

“You understand what happens in the teaching world,” he said. “It reinforces whether you want to be a teacher or not...It prepares you entirely for student teaching. Student teaching folks I’ve talked to said it flies by. They’re prepared for what to expect. You feel at ease because you’ve experienced it.”

The ISU team also spoke about the clinical faculty associate investment, in which ISU brings a current high school, elementary or middle school teacher to the university for a year. That associate brings current perspectives into the university classroom and faculty meetings allowing

the college to continue to evolve to meet education requirements.

“Needs and conditions of practice change in K-12,” Balch said. “Our preparation programs must be responsive to those changes. Our programs are flexible and responsive to change. Outstanding faculty members are to be credited for this responsiveness.”

Bayh colleGe alumni recoGnized for outStandinG commitment to education

Two of Indiana State University’s former education students received statewide recognition for their exceptional leadership by receiving the 2011 “Principal of the Year” awards.

Mary Beth Harris, '88, GR '95 and Lezlie Winter, '11, were honored as Elementary School Principal of the Year and High School Principal of the Year, respectively. The Indiana Association of School Principals presents the awards annually to recognize principals,

ProfeSSor named exemPlary counSelor educator

The Indiana School Counselor Association recently named Tonya Balch the Exemplary Counselor Educator for 2011.

The award recognizes excellence in preparing school counselors. In selecting Balch, an assistant professor

of school counseling in the Bayh College of Education, the association’s officials noted, “Tonya’s first priority is always the students in the program. As both an instructor and a clinical supervisor, she is very conscientious in meeting their needs.”

Balch said she was honored

to receive the award in November, but that she viewed the award as recognition of ISU’s school counseling program.

“We have wonderful faculty members who are

committed to ensuring our students are fully prepared to serve as school counselors. It is a privilege to work with my colleagues and aspiring school counselors,” she

said. “As an award recipient, I was pleased that my recognition would be based on a strong student-centered commitment.”

Association officials noted that Balch acts as an advocate for her students across the state.

“She works hard on behalf of them and is always willing to go the ‘extra mile’ for them,” according to officials. “She is readily available to students and is very responsive to their issues and concerns.”

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superintendents and other leaders for their commitment to educational excellence.

Harris, who is from West Terre Haute, completed both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in elementary education at ISU because of the education program’s positive reputation.

“I was trained to handle situations and was able to see other leaders at work and pull from their positive qualities,” she said. “It trained me to be what I am.”

“I just think it’s a positive reflection of the quality of people who work with you and surround you. That’s the most meaningful part for me,” said Winter, principal at Mississinewa High School in her hometown of Gas City.

Winter described her experience in ISU’s educational specialist degree program as “wonderful.”

“Most of my classes were with Dr. Bob Boyd and Dr. Terry McDaniel, who are extraordinary instructors, and I learned a lot from both,” she said.

“We are always honored when our alumni win awards. It showcases our students and our programs,” said Terry McDaniel, assistant professor in ISU’s department of educational leadership.. “As far as our reputation in the Indiana educational world, I truly believe we expect to see our students be award winners. We already have a reputation as being one of the best, if not the best, leadership preparation program for school administrators.”

Other ISU education alumni earned district awards:• Elementary School

Principals of the Year: Jane Rogers, '09, Milan, and Judy Stegemann, '11, Stout Field Elementary (Indianapolis)

• Middle School Principals of the Year: Tim Vislosky, '87, West Vigo, and Michael Sowers, '83, Southmont

• High School Principals of the Year: Greg Briles, '93, Oregon-Davis; Destin Haas, '11, Benton Central; Derek Marshall, '94, Scottsburg; and Roger Benson, '81, Wood Memorial

• Assistant Principals of the Year: Andrew Hartley, '12, Plymouth High School; Brian Emmert, '93, East Noble Middle School; W. Tom Russell, '84, Mount Vernon High School; and Greg Walker, still a student, Brownstown Central Middle School

• Superintendents of the Year (given at the Indiana Association of Public School Superintendents conference): Jerrill Vandeventer, '81, Greater Jasper Consolidated Schools; Steve Disney, '96, Oregon- Davis School Corp.; and Peggy Hinckley, '84, Metropolitan School District of Warren Township

• Dell Technology Director of the Year: Andrew Markel, '04, Crothersville Community Schools

SycamoreS Provide readinG tutorinG

Students majoring in elementary and special education participated in the Sycamore Readers tutoring program that for 10 years has helped struggling readers in Vigo County.

In the tutor training sessions, tutors for Sycamore Readers learned ways to incorporate fun that reinforces lessons. Previous training sessions lead the university students through assessing the elementary students’ reading levels and creating a lesson plan around any book.

“We like to come back and give them this to add sparkle to their lessons so they can think beyond just the basic lesson plan and think, ‘How can I make this really fun and engaging for my student?,” said Kathryn Bauserman,

associate professor of elementary, early and special education who oversees the tutoring program.

Brianna Walker, a freshman from Maryville, came to the tutoring program through an elementary education course in which the students must participate in Sycamore Readers. Other tutors come from the university’s work study program.

“It gives our students that experiential, hands-on learning that we like here at ISU and it gives them a chance to explore teaching,” Bauserman said. “We feel like we’re adding to the literacy of the students in the community, of course, the service is free, so I think that’s a great service for the parents.”

Each of the future teachers said having the tutoring experience will aid them when they enter their own classrooms.

“It will help me, especially in my special education classroom, because with the differentiated instruction, I’ll have certain students who will

(continued)

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be reading at different levels within my same classroom,” Walker said. “Some people will need easier reading materials and some people will need more difficult reading materials. It takes getting to know each student individually and seeing what works for them and what doesn’t.”

Student teacheS in SiBeria

Christin Keirn wanted a challenge, and she does enjoy winter. So for her, student teaching in Siberia seemed an obvious choice.

A Bayh College of Education collaboration with Indiana University’s Cultural Immersions Project allows Indiana State University education majors to do part of their student teaching internationally in more than a dozen countries made Siberia an option for Keirn. The Terre Haute resident chose to travel to the city of Tomsk, home to 700,000 people.

As an elementary and special education major with a love of traveling and meeting new people, Keirn saw the student teaching abroad possibility as a perfect opportunity to go somewhere many Americans would not.

“When you go places that all the Americans don’t go, you see the real people and they invite you into their homes for soup,” said the traveler who has already visited Peru, Poland and Ukraine. From her time in Ukraine, she found that she enjoyed hearing the language. She also liked the Soviet-style buildings.

Keirn, who graduated in December 2011, also saw it as a good career move.

“I thought it would be a good opportunity to grow as a teacher, to see another school and culture,” she said. “It would help me towards understanding another culture and to be aware of different cultures in my own classroom.”

Keirn taught at Gymnasia No. 24—an English-language school for students from first through 11th grade. The school split its day as its buildings couldn’t hold all of the students with half of the school’s 800 students arriving for classes during the morning. The other 400 students attended classes during the second half of a day that stretched to 6 p.m. On Saturdays, all of the students crowded into the school for a half day of classes.

In serving at a soup kitchen with the Missionaries of Charity, she met homeless people who had limbs frozen and amputated because of the bitter Siberian winters. When Keirn first arrived for October in Russia she found it to be warmer than Terre Haute. That

changed. When she left in late December the temperature was 25-degrees below zero Fahrenheit.

“One day it was 30 below. I almost froze during the half-mile walk from the bus stop to the school,” she said. “They told me this winter was very mild.”

doctoral Student landS internShiP with hiGher learninG commiSSion

The Higher Learning Commission selected David Seiler, a second-year doctoral student in Indiana State University’s educational leadership program, to examine dual credit courses and programs, a controversial topic that could affect the number of students who attend college and complete their degrees in four years or less.

“The idea of dual credit is extremely appealing, but there has not been a lot of research on it,” Seiler said. “It is hugely popular across the country, but there is just not a lot of hard data to say whether it is effective and that is what I will be looking at.”

High schools across the nation offer students the opportunity to take classes for credit towards both a high school diploma and a college degree.

Dual credit has developed into a controversial topic because of concerns regarding quality control, but the classes can be an enormous cost and time saving opportunity to a student, said Josh Powers, professor of higher education leadership and interim associate vice president for student success.

Due to the debate surrounding the issue, Seiler

became interested in the topic and conducted some research on his own before being selected as an intern with the Higher Learning Commission. Instructors in the higher education leadership program knew of Seiler’s interest in dual credit and Powers informed him about the internship opportunity.

Seiler was selected as one of three interns to conduct research on the topic. The three interns met for the first time in January to begin research discussions, Seiler said.

“Hopefully as we dig into this we are going to find that other people have been looking into this research and maybe it is just a matter of compiling it,” Seiler said.

High schools implement different dual credit programs just as colleges accept the credit in different ways, Seiler said. This can lead to problems, but Seiler does not foresee the creation of a universal dual credit model as an outcome of the internship.

“Knowledge takes care of a lot of things,” Seiler said. “If you have the information and then disseminate the information you can let people make their own decisions.”

howard-hamilton recoGnized for reSearch

The Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE) has recognized an Indiana State University professor for her research on underrepresented student populations.

Mary Howard-Hamilton, professor of educational leadership, received the Garcia Senior Exemplary Scholarship Award from the Council on Ethnic

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Participation, which is part of the association. The award recognizes exemplary scholarship that focuses on research and issues related to underrepresented populations of color.

“It’s a nice honor,” Howard-Hamilton said. “It lets me know that my colleagues received and respect my work.”

Howard-Hamilton’s books, which she has co-edited and co-written, include: “Diverse Millennial Students in College,” “Multiculturalism

on Campus,” “Standing on the Outside Looking In” and “Unleashing Suppressed Voices on College Campuses.” Her next research will focus on examining rural students in higher education and K-12.

Howard-Hamilton encourages researchers to look past traditional methods. Traditional methods do not include minority information,

if there is not enough to create extrapolations.

“They would toss out people of color or rural students,” Howard-Hamilton said of the traditional research.

“They would take white males and females traditionally and generalize out to the population. Now, we look at smaller data sets and do not toss out the outliers.”

Such moves are necessary

for changing higher education, she said.

“We’re beginning to move into a society now where we have to recognize each other for our unique gifts,” she said. “These are gifts we bring to make the campus better, stronger. It pushes our faculty to be more accepting of uniqueness and our administration to think outside the box to make sure everyone is included in a university environment.”

honorS StudentS learn By enGaGinG navajo culture

Ten Indiana State University honors students trekked to Pinon, Arizona, to see how high school students live on the Navajo reservation and connect with Kristin Monts, '09, an English teacher on the reservation.

Monts, who student taught on the Navajo Reservation—called the Rez by the Navajo—then accepted a teaching position there after graduating in 2009, has stayed connected to Greg Bierly, director of the University Honors Program. ISU first visited the reservation three years ago, then hosted the Pinon students this past spring. The collaborative effort of the cross-cultural program has one primary purpose: two-way education.

“We took our students to Pinon so that the issues of culture and education that they had investigated in the classroom could truly come to life,” Bierly said. “It is one thing to discuss these issues

as variables in a classroom in Indiana; it is entirely something else to walk the reservation and learn from someone that has always lived there.”

“The biggest thing for my students is just exposure opportunities, them being able to meet people that live off the reservation, that are not Native American and learn from them, but then also feel empowered by teaching them about their culture,” Monts said. “Exposure is huge since my students live in a very isolated area.”

Family duties often take priority over schoolwork. Freshman Shevon Badoni and sophomore Megan Tom,

both introspective Pinon students, routinely clean their houses and cook dinner, as well as take care of younger siblings. Other students have animals to herd, which makes it difficult to begin homework until 10 each night.

“When they come to school, it’s a freedom,” Monts said, “They’re able to see their friends, their teachers. They’re able to learn and be high-schoolers, and they’re not really able to do that when they’re home.

Pinon High School juniors and seniors asked Indiana State students questions about college during a question and answer panel.

Students inquired about topics ranging from the difficulty of classes to what it is like leaving home.

“It’s just great to have role models there that can equip them with more knowledge and confidence that they can do it. They can leave home and they can succeed in school,” Monts said.

Monts took pride in her students, who developed the itinerary and activities for their visitors, throughout the collaboration.

“They’ve become leaders. All of them have become leaders,” Monts said.

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BULLYING

still occurs in college, professors find

By: Jennifer Sicking

Research conducted by professors at Indiana State University shows that bullying and cyberbullying doesn’t come to an end with high school.

“We hoped that maturity happens at some point,” said Bridget Roberts-Pittman, assistant professor of counseling. “But is an 18-year-old senior any different than an 18-year-old college freshman?”

Roberts-Pittman and Christine MacDonald, professor of educational and school psychology, said little research has been conducted on bullying and cyberbullying among college students. They decided to help fill in that gap.

“We got into looking at college students because there are studies on elementary, junior high, high school and the workplace,” MacDonald said. “There’s nothing on colleges. It doesn’t just stop when they turn 18.”

In the study, MacDonald and Roberts-Pittman found that almost 22 percent of college students reported being cyberbullied while 15 percent reported being bullied. Cyberbullying occurs when technology such as social networking, text messaging or instant messaging is used to harass others with harmful text or images. Bullying is defined as when a person attacks another verbally, attacks another physically, makes obscene gestures or intentionally isolates another from a social group.

The study also showed that 38 percent of students knew someone who had been cyberbullied while almost 9 percent reported cyberbullying someone else. Comparatively, research on

kindergarten through 12th grade students suggests that as many as 25 percent of school-age children have reported being cyberbullied and also 25 percent report that they have cyberbullied another student.

“You’d normally think that wouldn’t happen,” MacDonald said regarding the students reporting their own cyberbullying. “The real number may be higher.”

Of college students who reported being cyberbullied, 25 percent reported being harassed through a social networking site, 21 percent reported that they received harmful text messages, 16 percent receiving such harmful communication through e-mail and 13 percent through instant messages.

“You don’t have to be the biggest or the strongest or have the best clothes, now you can say, ‘I have a keyboard,’” Roberts-Pittman said about how cyberbullying has changed the face of bullying.

In bullying, 42 percent reported seeing someone being bullied by another student while about 8 percent reported bullying another student. Additionally, almost 15 percent reported seeing a professor bully a student while 4 percent reported that they had been bullied by a professor.

“Students who are different in some way seem to be singled out. If it’s by ethnicity or sexual orientation, we don’t know. We don’t have enough data,” MacDonald said.

Universities and colleges must take steps to create safe environments, according to the professors.

“We really believe there’s a whole dimension to bullying from minor rude behavior like not saying hello to assault at the other end,” MacDonald said. “By intervening at minor behaviors, we can stop more severe negative behaviors.”

Intervention must take place from the residence halls to the classrooms.

“We recommend trying to change the climate,” Roberts-Pittman said.

From kindergarten through 12th grade research, they know that anti-bullying measures only work when its enforced systemwide, and the researchers recommend that happen at universities as well.

“We must insist on civil and respectful behavior,” MacDonald said.

They said those being bullied, must come forward and speak out about it.

“Keep talking about it until someone is willing to do something,” MacDonald said.

They also suggested recruiting allies to have someone advocate for them whether it’s a resident assistant, student ombudsman or a professor.

“Come forward,” Roberts- Pittman said.

“ By intervening at minor behaviors,

we can stop more severe negative behaviors.”

11SYCAMORE educatorFEATURE

Near the end of World War II, First Lt. Quentin Smith of East Chicago and 100 fellow officers in the Army Air Corps were confined to their barracks at Freeman Army Airfield near Seymour, Ind.

They faced courts martial and a possible death sentence.

“A sentry told me he had orders to shoot to kill if I left the barracks,” Smith, 94, recalled during a recent interview at his home in Gary, where he worked as a teacher and school principal before and after the war.

The Army charged the 101 aviators not with murder or treason but with an offense that would be unimaginable today. They simply refused to stay out of the officers' club.The mutineers were African-American and the U.S. military at the time, like much of the nation itself, was still highly segregated.

Officially, the Army charged them with failure to obey the direct order of a commanding officer. With the United States at war, their refusal carried the ultimate penalty.

“The white colonel said that we should not use any of the equipment or the tennis courts of the officers club or the swimming pool after 5 p.m.,” Smith said. “But when you fly all day and then eat and shower, it’s 5 o’clock and you know how muggy it is down there (in southern Indiana).”

Col. Robert Selway ordered all 546 Tuskegee Airmen at Freeman Field to sign a paper agreeing to stay out of the officers club in the

evenings. Most signed, but Smith and 100 others refused.

Smith, the highest ranking officer among the mutineers, remained steadfast in his refusal even when threatened with the 64th article of war, which provides for potential execution for failure to obey a commanding officer. He had not expected the 64th article to be invoked and could manage only a “squeak” in responding to Selway that he still refused to sign.

Attorney Thurgood Marshall, who later became the first African-American on the Supreme Court, went to bat for the aviators and, after 90 days, persuaded President Harry Truman to release them. Three years later, Truman ended segregation in the U.S. armed forces.

“That’s how we changed the military,” Smith said.

Before the war, Smith attended Indiana State Teachers College and completed a bachelor’s degree in social studies in 1940. He taught for two years at Roosevelt High School in Gary before joining the war effort.

“I thought I got a good education” at Indiana State, Smith said. He taught the children of professors and some of

Terre Haute’s leading residents at the university’s lab school.

Students at the lab school “wanted to make me out to see if I was competent to teach them,” Smith said. “Luckily, I was a reader and so I had all the background on all of the things they were doing and they found out, ‘Hey, maybe this guy does know what he’s doing’.”

Smith also faced discrimination at Indiana State. He played football, served on the Union Board and was vice-president of his senior class but was not allowed to live on campus. At the time, the school also barred African-American students from social functions, prompting Smith to take a stand much as he would do years later in the military. He made a lavish request of the dean of students, “never

Standing FIRM

Left to right: Roland Shelton, ISU Foundation; Quentin Smith;

Kale Walker, ISU Foundation.

By: Dave Taylor

SYCAMORE educator12 FEATURE

thinking (she) would do it,” he said.He asked for two letters of

recommendation “to the best stores in town” for a fashion show as well as funding for a separate prom. The dean granted the request and African-American students held their own prom.

While grateful for the opportunity to attend Indiana State, one of the few Midwestern public colleges to accept African-Americans at the time, Smith said he has spoken out neither in support of nor against the university throughout the more than 70 years since his graduation.

The incident “really stuck in my craw,” he said. “She (the dean) didn’t apologize…she was just going along with the program.”

After his military service, Smith

helped change the lives of thousands of young people during a 40-year career with Gary Public Schools.

He was the first principal of Banneker Elementary School, reserved for academically talented students, and developed Emerson High School for Visual and Performing Arts. He also served as the first principal of Westside High, the city’s answer to desegregation in 1968. The building served as a 3,900-student “amalgamation of three high schools – worst thing you could do,” he said. “The gangs had names then and I had to develop their loyalty to one school.”

Smith demanded order and civility, to the point of telling security officers at football games to throw out any student who refused polite requests

to remove his hat during the national anthem or “put him on the ground.”

Working with Indiana Sen. Richard Lugar, Smith helped establish the Fund for Hoosier Excellence, which awards scholarships to minority students from throughout the state. He also is one of three surviving Tuskegee Airmen with the power to appoint young men and women to U.S. military academies.

Recently, ISU’s African-American Alumni Council unanimously voted Smith as an honorary member. They are also honoring him by establishing a scholarship in his name. For more information, contact ISU Foundation's vice president for constituent relations, Roland Shelton, at 812-514-8518 or roland.shelton@indstatefoundation.org.

13SYCAMORE educatorFEATURE

Laurren Edwards stood in front of the high school sophomores and uttered the words that brought some groaning and shuffling for paper.

“We have a quiz over chapter 12,” she said.

The students at Terre Haute North Vigo High School good naturedly tried to negotiate the type of questions before quieting to answer Edwards’ quiz about John Knowles “A Separate Peace.”

Though in the middle of her student teaching, Edwards, a senior English education major from Paris, Ill., credits Indiana State University’s early field experience with her feeling of ease in the classroom.

“There’s no way I could have been as successful in my student teaching as I am now had I not had my early field experiences,” she said.

In preparing future teachers for middle and high school classrooms, Indiana State transforms its students through a unique building block of classroom experiences that culminates in an immersion semester prior to student teaching. In that immersion semester, ISU

students spend at least five weeks in Vigo County School Corporation high school classrooms observing, assisting and teaching alongside veteran teachers from bell-to-bell.

“It’s real instruction in real classrooms,” said Sue Kiger, Bayh College of Education’s chair of curriculum, instruction and media technology department. “They teach and participate in multiple capacities in the classroom and school with the host teacher there the whole time. They are overseeing, helping with group work, doing hall duty with the teacher but, most importantly, they are judging every instructional strategy and interaction by the effect on student learning. They understand the measure of their effectiveness as teachers is student achievement.”

“They bring new ideas and energy and excitement and anticipation along with them and our current teaching staff can provide them with the guidance and support necessary to be able to be successful in the classroom,” said Stacy Mason, principal at North High School.

That time observing and working alongside veteran teachers aids the fledgling ones.

“Being first-year teachers and being young, we don’t know exactly how we want to teach. We don’t know styles that we can incorporate into the classroom,” Edwards said.

New teachers can have difficulty in handling discipline issues. The immersive experiences provide time for the future teachers to learn how to work through management issues under the guidance of the host teacher. Kiger said such learning is important because about 40 percent of teachers who leave the profession in the first five years do so due to discipline issues.

“You do not know a discipline issue until you see it in the classroom,” Edwards said. “Being in the middle school and high school before I came here really helped me figure out good ways to interact with the kids, just to keep them in line without freaking out.”

Initially, Zach Thompson was hesitant about the immersion semester.

Future teachers IMMERSED IN CLASSROOM ExpERIENCES

By: Jennifer Sicking

SYCAMORE educator14 FEATURE

“I just went into it with an open mind and I felt like ISU had prepared me enough to dive in those first couple of weeks,” said the senior social studies education major from Dallas, Ore. “I would say that the number one thing that helped me was just getting in there and interacting with the kids and seeing how the school ran on a day-to-day basis.”

Jennifer Deal, an English teacher at North High School who hosts ISU students, sees the real world experience affect the college students.

“They come in with this ideal of a perfect classroom and how all of their kids are going to behave and they’re all going to do their homework,” she said. “And even after a few weeks of teaching, they realize that’s not the case. They have to adapt and change.”

Within the classrooms and halls at North High School, Mason said ISU’s students are exposed to a variety of socio-economic status as well as classroom abilities.

“If they get a job in a small rural community, they are going to see students similar to what they have seen in this building and if they go to downtown Indianapolis, they are going to see students like they have seen in this building,” she said. “We can tailor experiences for them in that way.”

David Utterback, chair of the Terre Haute North social studies department, said the field experiences prior to student teaching allow Indiana State students to decide if a teaching career is for them as well as allowing them to try different teaching techniques and to learn professionalism in the classroom.

“I think our profession has changed,” he said. “I think we’re judged way more heavily by the public. We’re held more accountable than we used to be. I think if we want to be considered professional then we need to consider this as a profession, not a job.”

Such an opportunity to live the professionalism of an educator makes Tara Knopp feel prepared for her future.

“I feel ready,” said the senior Spanish education major from Dayton, Ohio. “In my early field experience, I really soared and I loved it...It helped me be more confident in teaching all of the subjects of Spanish that I teach.”

She’s also learned that ISU’s approach is unique in educating the future teachers.

“I had more early field experience than any of my friends from other universities and it really gave me an advancement in my student teaching,” she said. “I knew what to expect. I wasn’t walking in without any information. I wasn’t walking in without any preparation.”

That preparation through experience confirmed for each of the students that they wanted to be teachers.

“It’s a job. It’s a year,” Thompson said of the experience. “These early experiences and the student teaching, it weeds people out. If you aren’t going to be able to do teaching or be a teacher then this experience will be there to find out what you want to do. If you want to continue with teaching, then you just keep pushing forward.”

Kiger said principals and veteran teachers have reported that the preparation pays off.

“They have confidence that they can do the job before student teaching,” she said. “What we’re hearing from colleagues is they are so much better prepared and they can handle the classes.”

That preparation has also instilled in them a passion for teaching.

“It really changes your heart and it strengthens that resolve that you want to be a teacher,” Edwards said. “It’s really helped me move from just ‘I’m going to be a teacher’ to ‘How am I going to be an excellent teacher?’...It has helped me figure out ways to be the best teacher I can be, not just a good teacher, the best teacher, which is what the kids need.”

Laurren Edwards assists a sophomore at North High School.

“ Being in the middle school

and high school before I came here really helped me figure out good ways to interact with the kids...”

Zach Thompson leads discussion during a social studies class at North High School.

Tara Knopp teaches a Spanish class at North High School.

Capture this QR code to see a video about the immersion experience.

SYCAMORE educatorFEATURE

Education professors at Indiana State University are emboldening students to use the social media site Twitter to their advantage by exchanging teaching tips and “following” the nation’s leaders in education.

“I’m starting to learn that there’s more opportunities [with Twitter],” said Wesley Thomson, a senior elementary and special education major from Terre Haute. “It can be used as a professional growth tool.”

Todd and Beth Whitaker, a husband and wife team of education professors in educational leadership and elementary and special education, first developed the idea of Indiana State’s TOTAL (Teachers of Tomorrow Advancing Learning) internship program using Twitter to create an online community of exchanging ideas and networking with education professionals.

Elementary and special education majors complete the TOTAL internship a semester before student teaching to get them acquainted with the school setting. The hashtag ‘#isutotal’ allows students, professors and education leaders to post teaching ideas, articles and other resources in a central and accessible location.

“There are so few programs in the country doing this,” said Todd. It put us as one of the leading programs in the country in terms of thinking about how to integrate social media with our programs in education.”

Senior Brittany Parrett, an

elementary and special education major from Michigan City, spent her internship in a second-grade classroom at DeVaney Elementary School. She plans to use Twitter to keep her connected to ISU while student teaching.

“It will just be a really good way for me to link back to ISU and to my professors and other students that will be going through the same thing as I will,” Parrett said. “That will be helpful to bounce off ideas, and also just to professionally grow because you have all these top people in education and their ideas are right there for me.”

Parrett has experienced firsthand the helpfulness of Twitter, as earlier in the semester, she wanted to develop an innovative way to teach her second-graders about inventions. Parrett put out a request for advice on the ISU TOTAL Twitter page.

“Within a couple hours, I had six different ideas on different things that I could do, so I was able to beef up my lesson and make it better through Twitter,” she said.

Fellow senior Sara Pfister, an elementary education major from Brazil, had a similar experience while searching for ideas on how to teach a unit on the Titanic. She ‘tweeted’ her questions to Todd Whitaker, who Pfister called the “king of Twitter.”

“He re-tweeted it to his followers, who are education superstars, and within an hour I just had so many responses, links and ideas,” Pfister said. “I was able to just run with that,

and it was great.”Pfister described the social media

tool as a “complete web of giving and taking” and Thomson agreed whole-heartedly.

“It’s like a chain. It just connects you so much from person to person,” Thomson said.

The seniors, who will complete their student teaching in the fall, realize the importance of connecting a traditional classroom education with an international piece of technology.

“I feel like we are in such a transitional state with education as a whole,” Pfister said. “If we’re going to be good teachers and do as well for our kids as teachers as we can, we need to be checking everything; we need to learn about everything.”

“I think it’s really important to keep you ahead of the game,” echoed Parrett. “When I go out to interviews, I want to be that innovative teacher that is receptive to change.”

Todd thinks that as a professor, he, too, can benefit from Twitter’s instant network of information in a “selfish” way.

“It is easy, as a professor, to be out of the loop related to changes in education, what’s currently happening. If you’re not directly in the field, you could easily get behind,” he said. “On Twitter, I interact with thousands, literally thousands, of educators [all over the world] who are in the trenches every single day. So not only do I know what are the latest, current things taking place in North Dakota, I know the latest, current

EDUCATION STUDENTS boost internship success WITH TWITTER

By: Mallory Metheny

SYCAMORE educator16 FEATURE

things taking place in Japan.”Thomson thinks that if used

appropriately, Twitter can help her develop a professional network.

“It’s what you do with the social media. It’s just a catalyst,” she said.

Pfister added, “I consider it as an online portfolio almost, a documentation of things I’ve done and how I’ve grown.”

Beth Whitaker taught her students about the opportunities waiting for them on the social media site.

“There is a whole world of professional development going on right in front of our eyes,” she said.

The ISU TOTAL page also features quotes and encouraging comments to motivate the future teachers, an aspect that Pfister appreciates.

“You see all the things that are going on, legal battles over teaching right now, and it can be very frustrating wondering, ‘Am I going in already fighting a losing battle?’” Pfister said, “Then you can get on and

see things that people have written, people who are already teachers, people who are going through it right now. It’s uplifting because it makes you think, ‘You know, I am going in fighting a battle, but I’m fighting the battle for a good reason.’”

Todd is confident that connections made on Twitter benefit not just the ISU students, but also those who learn from Indiana State’s teaching methods.

“Other people around the world see our program and they’re going ‘Look at what they’re doing here.’ There’s nobody else doing this kind of stuff,” he said. “It lets us have access to the world, but it also lets the world have access to us.”

The seniors agree that Indiana State gives education students an advantage by encouraging them to explore social media and other teaching technologies.

“There’s a reason why our program is so innovative. There’s a reason it’s

so well-known. There’s a reason our professors are pretty much drooled over by everyone else because they do think of things like this,” Pfister said. “I would never have known or thought to use Twitter as a way to make myself better at what I do. It says a lot for our professors to take time to learn to use it themselves and then take time to teach us about it.”

“I think that we kind of have an edge. Being an ISU TOTAL student, I have an edge on my competition when I go out and apply for those jobs because I’ve been exposed to so much more beyond the traditional methods of teaching,” Parrett said. “I feel like I’m really prepared to use all kinds of different strategies in my classes because of what I’ve learned.”

Thomson concluded, “Other people just don’t get what we get here.”

Todd and Beth Whitaker pose with President Dan Bradley while receiving an award from the ISU Foundation.

In the evening, Janice and Maurice (“Mauri”) Modesitt roll out of their garage sporting their pride in Indiana State University. They cruise their neighborhood, through the nearby golf course and over to Forest Park.

Along the way, they stop and visit with their neighbors and friends.

“They say we know where you’re from,” Janice said with a laugh. She’s one who convinced the golf cart company to replace the beige roof and seats with white to go with the royal blue paint.

“They’ll see us and say, ‘Well, I’m not surprised,’” Mauri added.

In case anyone missed the significance of the blue and white cart, ISU stickers make it clear that their devotion lies with the Sycamores.

“We appreciate what Indiana State

has given us, as I hope you can hear in our story,” Mauri said. “It has given us the opportunity to do what we have done and to have a happy time doing it.”

Mauri grew up in Cory and was the first in his farming family to enroll at Indiana State. There, professors guided him into what would be his life-long work.

“This is why I am so appreciative,” Mauri said. “A couple of really kind, caring professors saw potential in me, but not in the area I was in and they took me aside.”

They suggested he become an elementary teacher and he enrolled in those classes.

“And it just went from there,” he said. “Every year it got better and better academically.”

He also excelled athletically and

lettered in tennis. A large photo of him graced the old ISU gymnasium until that building burned in 1984.

After he graduated from ISU in 1958, he taught fifth grade in Brazil for a year before the Air Force called up his weather team to active duty. A year later, Mauri returned to teaching fifth and sixth grade in Brazil and working on his master’s degree in education.

Soon Mauri would reconnect with a woman who would “keep him hopping to a tune.”

Janice grew up in Center Point and attended Ashboro High School. From when she was 4 years old visiting her dying mother at Clay County Hospital, she knew she wanted to be a nurse.

“I had to climb on boxes to get up to the beds, they were so high,” she said. “And the nurses came in white and I just thought they were the neatest looking people and caring people. I decided right then I wanted to be like them, never changed my mind at all.”

When she graduated from high school, she enrolled in Union Hospital’s nursing program, which included classes at Indiana State. She graduated from the program in 1960.

One evening as Janice sat with

Modesitts SHOW SYCAMORE pRIDE

By: Jennifer Sicking

Mauri and Janice Modesitt attend a recent Bayh College of Education Congress meeting.

Janice and Mauri Modesitt enjoy riding in their golf cart and showing off their Sycamore pride.

SYCAMORE educator18 FEATURE

friends at the Eat-a-teria, which was located at 25th and Wabash, Mauri came in to grab some food after a graduate class. Janice, who cheered for Ashboro, knew Mauri from his basketball playing days at Corey.

“He was a very good basketball player,” Janice said. “He wasn’t interested in girls. He was interested in basketball.”

That had changed.“I spoke to her and then I called her

and from then on it was history as they say,” Mauri said.

But a decision had to be made. Janice had just finished her final interview with Trans World Airlines to be a stewardess. In addition to meeting height and weight requirements, stewardesses also had to have some college education or to be nurses. They also had to be single. The airline company had scheduled Janice to start in September 1960, but then Mauri called.

“We were dating and she asked me would I still be here if she did her stewardess deal for two years,” Mauri said.

“I wanted to do it for at least two years,” Janice said.

“And, you know, honestly, I said, I don’t know if I’d still be,” Mauri said.

Janice came to a decision.“I decided I would rather have him

than be an airline stewardess,” she said.

They were married Christmas Eve 1960.

In the years since, Janice worked as a nurse while Mauri taught and then became a principal at Meridian Elementary in Brazil. They raised their three daughters—Michelle, Marci and Marla.

Then John Newton, emeritus vice president for alumni affairs and constituent relations, asked the couple to once again become involved at ISU. They became involved in the Clay County Alumni Club. Mauri served on the ISU Alumni Association Board of Directors, including a stint as president of the board in 1993. Then in 1994—after he retired as a principal—he spent one year as the interim director of alumni affairs.

“Middle class people can do a lot if they want to; it’s not just the domain of the wealthy,” said Newton. “We all have things we can share. It may be talent. It may be time. It may be money. The Modesitts have shared all three with us.”

In 2010, Mauri received the first John P. Newton Spirit of ISU Award, which is given by the Indiana State University Foundation to a person who exemplifies dedication and service.

Newton said the selection of his long-

time good friend made him “feel good.”“He and Janice are so generous,

but the award is not based on money,” Newton said. “It’s based on service and his love for Indiana State.”

The couple has attended numerous homecomings, reconnecting with friends met through the years, as well as the past 20 Distinguished Alumni Award banquets. Mauri continues to serve on the Bayh College of Education Congress as the alumni representative.

“Mauri and Janice exemplify Sycamore Pride. Students are at the heart of their efforts to make a difference at ISU,” said Bayh College of Education Dean Brad Balch. “Whether it is scholarship support, alumni club involvement or service to the college, their contributions clearly impact our students in so many positive ways. I am proud to say that the college is stronger because of Mauri and Janice Modesitt.”

Through those years they often

“ This scholarshipwas a lifesaver

for me, this yearespecially.”

— Carly Pell, sophomore

19SYCAMORE educatorFEATURE

donated money to scholarships, including one set up in Newton’s name when he retired. However, they decided to do more. They recently established scholarships in nursing and education.

“All three of our girls have gone to college and we realized the burden parents have of getting their children through school today,” Mauri said. “Why wait until you die?”

“You’re not going to take it with you,” Janice said. “You came into this world with nothing and you’re going to leave with nothing. What you have, give it to someone who deserves and needs it.”

As a third-generation Indiana State student, Carlee Bell, a sophomore from Brazil, said she is proud to continue the legacy started by her grandparents and parents. She also plans to follow her grandmother into the nursing field.

“I think it’s great that my grandparents are able to contribute to

nursing and educational scholarships to help others. Helping others has been their life goals so to continue that through scholarships, makes me very proud,” Bell said. “I have learned from them to make goals for your life, reach for those goals and attain those goals. Be happy and share that with others!”

To apply for the education scholarship, students must be master’s level and working toward a K-12 administrator’s position. First preference will be given to male students from Clay County, Ind., in an effort to address the decline in the number of men entering K-12 education.

“We need so many more men in elementary,” Mauri said, adding that an estimated 45 percent of children do not have fathers in their homes. “I see what I think is a need, especially for young boys today, to have a father image, if you please. Where are they going to get it? YMCA or Big Brother, but 180 days a year they can get it

in a classroom with a man teacher. That is why we established what we did on the educational side. We’re just concerned about the future, young kids and who’s raising them or educating them.”

They established the nursing scholarship to help bring more nurses into the field.

“They just need a lot of nurses, I think, in the community,” Janice said. “There are a lot of things in healthcare you can do once you get that degree now in nursing. You can go umpteen different ways, there are so many specialties anymore. It just will take you lots of places.”

Biff Williams, College of Nursing, Health, and Human Services dean, described the Modesitts as great friends to the nursing program.

“Their annual scholarship provides the opportunity for a student from Clay County, Indiana, to realize their dream of becoming a nurse,” he said. “Their generosity in providing an education to a health care professional will bless the lives of many.”

Carly Pell, a sophomore nursing major from Brazil, has been the recipient of that generosity for the past two years.

“Receiving this scholarship meant that I had just a little less stress about being in debt from college loans. It made it possible for me to afford to be admitted to the ISU School of Nursing,” Pell said. “This scholarship was a lifesaver for me, this year especially. I had $900 worth of unexpected clinical fees, and the Modesitt scholarship covered a good portion of that cost.”

She hopes her education leads her to a position in Union Hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) or obstetrics.

“I think that they are very generous people who are willing to help younger generations to succeed,” Pell said about the Modesitts.

create a leGacy in iSu’S Bayh colleGe of educationISU alumni, friends, faculty and staff have the opportunity to create a legacy in the Bayh College of Education as an investment in the future of education.

Endow a Scholarship in Education. You can endow a scholarship in honor or in memory of someone. Scholarships start at $20,000, which can be gifted through cash, securities or bequests. Pledge payments can also be arranged, so that a cash gift can be given over a period of time. Scholarship donors are recognized each spring as part of the college’s Honor Day.

Name a Space in University Hall. Whether it is a classroom in memory of your favorite professor or a room in the University Hall Clinic, you can be part of the beautifully renovated University Hall, formerly known as the Lab School, in perpetuity. Named spaces start at $10,000 and range in price based on size and use. Donors are recognized with bronzed plaques and receive a special replica plaque for their home or office.

Be Part of the 1865 Society. When you disclose a planned gift to the Bayh College of Education—a bequest, trust, annuity, life insurance policy—you are recognized in the 1865 Society. Every Sycamore can do this, regardless of the size of gift.

Make a difference today by visiting www.marchonisu.com or contact the ISU Foundation at 812-514-8415.

SYCAMORE educator20 FEATURE

GloBal reach

ProfeSSorS attend conferenceS, make connectionS in thailand

Cows lay in the middle of the dilapidated road, delaying traffic. Exhausted houses and buildings possessed noticeably poorer infrastructure. Red dirt drifted indoors as well as out. The drastic transition traveling from Thailand into Laos struck Liz Brown, an associate professor of mathematics education at Indiana State University.

“[Students are] still committed to their education and to learning even in that kind of environment,” she said, “I thought that was really interesting and kind of powerful really, that education can be so transformative even if it’s in a place where you don’t necessarily have that infrastructure.”

Visiting the country of Laos was an opportunity given to Brown and other ISU education faculty members Will Barratt, Tonya Balch, Bobbi Jo Monahan and Larry Tinnerman, who traveled to Thailand.

The purpose of the trip was to visit Thai universities, present a variety of ideas and make connections with faculty members.

“We wanted the opportunity to teach, the opportunity to learn and we wanted to make contacts,” said Barratt, professor of educational leadership.

The faculty made stops at three Thai schools: Roi Et Rajabhat, Pibulsongkram Rajabhat and Rajabhat Maha Sarakham.

While at Roi Et Rajabhat, the group attended the First International Conference on Education and Technology Research.

Barratt presented on “Educational Leadership” as the first keynote speech of the conference. Monahan and Barratt then met with a group of educational leadership doctoral students to discuss their dissertation topics. Balch presented “Authentic Practice: Bringing Practitioners to the Classroom Via Technology.” Tinnerman spoke on “The Changing Role of Formal Education in a Technologically Shifting World,” while Brown presented “The Algebra Project: Letting Teachers Take the Lead.”

They also participated in the International Conference

on Sciences and Social Sciences 2011: Sustainable Development at Rajabhat Maha Sarakham.

Barratt delivered a speech on “Education Leadership Beyond 2020 AD.” Balch and Monahan spoke with faculty at the demonstration school located on the RMS campus on “Counseling and Leadership: Comparisons between Thai and American Schools.”

Tinnerman gave a translated workshop in the Faculty of Education building on ‘Affective Based Learning and Current Research Trends in Curriculum and Instruction” to faculty and students. Brown presented a workshop on “Convex Regular-Faced Polyhedra: Explanations, Classifications, Models, and Proofs” to math education faculty, graduate and undergraduate students.

Brown was eager to discuss hands-on methods in mathematics education and

show that it can be interesting and exciting.

“In a lot of countries, they are not teaching mathematics necessarily in the same way that we would be teaching it here, using hands-on materials and things like that,” she said, “So I wanted to bring that there also.”

Balch wanted to convey the significant role school counselors play.

“One of my hopes was to share how counselors, particularly in the school setting, can impact student achievement,” she said, “Additionally, I hoped to share how we were incorporating school counseling practitioners into our preparation courses via technology.”

Escorted by Thai hosts for the duration of the trip, the group paid visits to numerous smaller schools in the Thai cities and saw a World Heritage Site, in

(continued)

21SYCAMORE educatorGLOBAL REACH

addition to their trip to Laos. Though the language barrier was “maximum,” Barratt said, “Thais are aggressively hospitable.”

Balch experienced firsthand the varied perspectives on culture and education.

“I gained new understanding of and appreciation for the differences in educational settings across the world and the impact this has on students as they progress through school,” she said, “Being immersed in another culture gave a new perspective on how the world views the United States and life as an American citizen.”

Thailand, though not a third-world country, is still a developing and growing country, according to Barratt. This is true for the education system as well.

“You could really see differences in the

infrastructure of the [schools], in the things they were taught in the schools. The disparities seem a little bit greater than they are in the U.S., and we have pretty big disparities too, but even more so there,” Brown said.

Brown doesn’t necessarily believe the college culture differs much between American and Thai universities.

“Students are kind of the same everywhere,” she said, “That’s always my feeling, that people are people and it doesn’t matter where they are. They have the same hopes. They have the same desire to learn, but also to have fun.”

Plans for collaboration with the Thai schools are already underway, as a second faculty trip is planned for next summer. Faculty members are also coordinating a visiting scholars program

and scholarships for Thai undergraduate English majors to study at Indiana State for a year.

“Our world is becoming increasingly smaller. As educators, we must prepare students to live in a diverse society,” Balch said, “Experiential learning is vital to intercultural competence. Having university connections across the globe allows for authentic dialogue so we can grow as faculty and can impact the cultural competence of our students.”

Barratt promotes Thailand as an ideal place for a study abroad opportunity for ISU students, saying it’s both safe and exciting.

He concluded with laughter, “I’m ready to move there, but that’s a different story.”

iSu StudentS teach muSic in thailand

Eager to meet their host family, Jordan Black and Nathan Rainey stepped into a home in the village of Kosumpisai, Thailand.

“When we arrived, the first thing they asked us to do was to call them mom and dad,” said Black. “They were like, ‘You’re our sons now; you’re part of our family from now on.’”

The inviting welcome was just a hint of the gracious Thai culture the two Indiana State seniors would experience during the next seven weeks.

“When you go over there, it’s waves of graciousness and politeness all the time. They will do anything to make you comfortable,” said Black, a student from Freelandville, Ind.

Black and Rainey, both music education majors, travelled to Thailand this summer to teach band at the Kosumwittayasan School, a secondary school in the eastern region of Thailand.

The students heard about the opportunity to teach abroad through Brian Kilp, a professor of music at Indiana State University. Kilp has been travelling to Thailand for more than 11 years and has visited the Kosumwittayasan School on several occasions.

“When we were in Thailand

ISU faculty Bobbi Jo Monahan, Tonya Balch, Will Barratt, Larry Tinnerman and Liz Brown meet with Thai faculty members.

SYCAMORE educator22 GLOBAL REACH

last January, a teacher at the Kosumwittayasan School asked if it would be possible to have some student ‘experts’ to come teach for an extended period,” said Kilp. “I immediately began recruiting Jordan and Nathan, as I thought they would be a good match.”

The seniors were excited to take on the challenge, which would provide them with valuable teaching experience.

“The school actually treated us like we were a teacher with a real college degree. They gave us our own office where we could work and prepare for rehearsal,” said Rainey, a Petersburg, Ind., native.

The Indiana State students team taught the band course during the summer. Black also had the opportunity to arrange music for the Thai drum line.

In addition to teaching their first classes, Black and Rainey experienced life outside of the United States for the first time.

“First off, you have to throw out every preconception you have about an educational system from America, because it’s nothing like that,” said Black.

In Thailand, for example, band is solely an extracurricular activity. Students meet after school rather than in a class during the day. This was just one of several differences Black and Rainey encountered.

“Again, you have to throw out preconceptions,” said Black. “Many American bands are what we would call field bands, where they march on a football field, but this band is

primarily a parade band.”In addition to parades, the

group performed the national anthem and school song at a daily school assembly. Under the instruction of Rainey and Black, Thai students had the chance to learn about a new style of music.

“One of our goals was to help them focus more on concert style music,” said Black, noting it was something different for the young musicians.

The Indiana State students spoke highly of the Thai students.

“They’re just so willing to learn,” said Black.

Rainey agreed. “They are so, so thankful for the education that they do get,” he said.

Likewise, Black and Rainey were thankful for the opportunity to teach the band class. They were able to see firsthand the value of teaching techniques they had learned in classes at ISU.

“Most education students know that talking is overrated and that you should hear the students talk more than you hear yourself talk,” said Rainey. “But I don’t think I

really understood that until I went over there and saw how effective our teaching was, even though we weren’t usually verbally telling them what to do.”

The language barrier forced them to use more hands-on explanations and demonstrations instead of spoken descriptions, said Rainey. The challenge provided an added benefit to an already valuable teaching opportunity.

“This is experience teaching, which is something that many university students never get until the first day that they’re teaching something,” said Black. “In some cases, you’re a music teacher and that’s your first day.”

“Now we have six weeks of teaching experience under our belt,” said Black.

For that, they have the generosity of the university and the ISU Foundation to thank.

Both students also expressed gratitude for the travel grants they received, echoing the gracious attitudes of the Thai people they described.

“I am extremely thankful for the funding we received. It covered everything,” said Black.

The provision provided the Indiana State students with an experience that will influence their teaching in the future.

Black and Rainey said the culture made a large impact on them as well.

“Every day, when we got to rehearsal, they would greet us. They would stand and say, ‘Good afternoon, how are you?’ and they would stand as a group. And after every rehearsal, they would thank us and tell us that they would see us again tomorrow. Every day,” said Rainey, impressed by the level of respect shown by the students.

“A lot of times as educators in America, we struggle with convincing students that what we’re teaching is important,” said Black.

“But in Thailand, they just immediately accepted whatever we said and applied it to their playing, and the results were incredible,” said Black. “When they’re really willing to do whatever you say, it magnifies the outcome.”

Jordan Black directs the band at Kosumwittayasan School. Thai students practice their parade marching.

23SYCAMORE educatorGLOBAL REACH

Non-Profit Organization U.S. Postage

PAID Terre Haute, Indiana

Permit No. 48

Bayh College of EducationIndiana State UniversityTerre Haute, IN 47809

educatorSYCAMORE

ISU Archives is looking for school yearbooks from 1984 and 1986 to complete

its collection. If you have the yearbooks and are willing to donate them,

please contact Eric Holt at 812-237-8435 or at eric.holt@indstate.edu.

Save the Date!

homecominG » octoBer 5–6, 2012

Sycamore educator day » novemBer 3, 2012

counSelor day » march 19, 2013

law conference » aPril 10, 2013

honor day » aPril 24, 2013

For more information and registration, visit coe.indstate.edu.