Weber State College Comment, October 1989, Page 3 Teacher Academy brings “best” to Weber State O Forty men and women sat at _ the table in sage-like silence as they listened to a colleague expound on the social sciences. They came from the Greater Ogden Area late last month to the communal Walden-like experience, and spent the day reflecting, absorbing, contemplating. The forty people were part of a new Teacher Academy started by Weber State but run collectively by five school districts, the college and a number of other interested agencies, said Dr. Richard Sadler. Dr. Sadler, dean of the School of Social Sciences and director of the academy, said the project gathers top teachers a number of times each year to listen to invited lecturers and to generally hob-nob. “The number one reason for the academy is to recognize good teachers and to recognize the outstanding job they do,” Dr. Sadler said. Teachers from schools in the Morgan, Box Elder, Ogden, Weber and Davis school districts and Weber State, are nominated and appointed to the academy by their perspective supervisors. The effort is to collect the best and brightest, Dr. Sadler said. “Here’s an opportunity to say to the teachers that we recognize you and appreciate you, and realize that your ~ impact on the kids is long-lasting,” he said. Once appointed they spend approximately five days throughout the year exchanging ideas and learning the latest information from guest speakers. The Teacher Academy focuses on a different content area each year with social studies the emphasis in 1989-90, Sadler said. “This is very much a cooperative effort. It’s not the college telling secondary and elementary schools how to be better teachers. In fact, the college faculty will learn a great deal from their public education counterparts,” he said. WSC, one of 30 U.S. Schools to improve teacher preparation | j i “Too often we pigeon-hole teachers and say, ‘You’re an elementary teacher or a secondary teacher or in higher education.’ What the academy does is gather all kinds of teachers and tells them we’re in this together,” Dr. Sadler added. The off-shoot of the process will hopefully be even stronger teachers who have an even greater impact on the teaching profession and on students, he said. “During those four or five days they will analyze what they are doing in the classroom and be critical of their own techniques with the hopes of improving them,” Dr. Sadler said. The idea for the academy grew out of Weber State’s participation in Project 30, a national effort to improve the way educators are trained, he said. At first the college planned to solely direct the Teacher Academy, but as the idea developed a cooperative effort seemed more advantageous, he said. “Now instead of the just the college doing it we have five districts, plus a number of agencies in a true partnership,” Dr. Sadler said. “It appears to be a real win-win situation.” The original founders of Project 30 spent two years discussing and preparing the five themes, he said, hoping they had the right approach. “And I’m more and more convinced that whether by luck or intelligence we got the right ones,” he said. “We are doing a good job, by evidence of the number of people that we are educating,” Ulibarri said. “Many receive their formative years of education from public schools— somebody had to do something right to produce the leaders in business, industry, and education—but we have to admit that we do have failures. This project is one example that we are trying to do something about it,” Ulibarri said. One of the hoped for outcomes of the endeavor is also to increase the prestige of teaching and teachers, Dr. Fallon said, “to provide them with the major step needed to empower them as professionals in their societies.” member John Ulibarri, an Ogden City he first year of a three year School District administrator, but rather effort to dramatically revamp that how students learned a decade ago teacher education has produced may not be the best system now. some “incredible” advances, said the “Project 30 is a consortium of excelco-director of a national teacher lent colleges that says, let’s examine education program. teacher methodology to see if we can Dr. Daniel Fallon, dean of liberal » develop new processes. We’re not arts at Texas A&M University, is one saying to junk the old, to throw it of two directors of Project 30, an away, but to keep the good and adjust effort funded by the Carnegie Corporawhere we have to,” Ulibarri said. tion that is rethinking the way AmerThe directors of Project 30 have not ica’s teachers are taught, and visited attempted to outline how the education Weber State earlier this spring. system should be changed, instead they “At your campus already incredible are hoping each participating college things are happening,” Dr. Fallon said, will design approaches that work for “and across the nation others are their particular situations, Dr. Fallon making changes.” said. Weber State is one of 30 colleges and “If anything characterizes American universities chosen to participate in education it’s decentralization. The Project 30, named for the number of institutions taking part in the $848,000 grant, and was selected from more than “At your campus already incredible things are 100 teacher education schools in the happening,” Dr. Fallon said, “and across the nation country, Dr. Fallon said. The schools are involved in a three others are making changes.” year, in-depth look at how teachers are prepared. worst thing we could do for reform is As a result of Weber State’s To do that Dr. Fallon noted that those to go on a mountain top and throw involvement the college is currently who prepare educators need to realize down thunderbolts,” Dr. Fallon said. reviewing the programs leading to that effective teaching is not tied to a ‘“‘We’re not preaching a single model secondary and elementary education knowledge of the subject matter alone. for teacher education,” he added. certificates, instituting a Teacher Neither do teaching skills by them“We’re saying, do what you think is Academy to upgrade training of current selves make superb instructors. right, but keep in mind the five teachers, to form stronger teaching “The best is when pedagogy is in the conversations.” alliances between the WSC schools of service of content,” Dr. Fallon said. What Dr. Fallon calls conversations education, arts and natural sciences, “We have to change the way we do are five themes around which any and to look at ways to encourage the things, but teachers are not the only changes should be based, he said. most talented students from each educators. Kids learn from parents, They include a look at the subject academic area to enter teaching, from sunday school teachers, from boy matter a teacher must know, what college officials stated. scout leaders and others, and Ill know-how someone should have to probably get in trouble for saying it, “We want reform that goes all the teach that subject matter to young way down to the syllabus level, but but some of the worst teaching people, the knowledge required for methodology is in the college classuniversities and faculty will discover teaching to become widely accepted as room. The idea is to change teachers the solutions that are most appropriate a true profession, how to recruit more on all levels from dispensers of for their own teaching environment,” minorities into teaching, and the need information to master teachers,” Dr. Fallon said. to inject cultural and global awareness Ulibarri said. It’s not that school teachers are doing into curriculum. a bad job, said Project 30 team Kristy Hughes, Miss Rodeo Utah History of rodeo queens at WSC When Kristy Hughes, a Weber State College student, won the title of Miss Rodeo Utah this year it was another in a long tradition of rodeo queens from WSC. In fact nine of the past tien state queens have been from Weber State. That same number of WSC students own Miss Rodeo Ogden titles, and three Miss Rodeo America queens have attended the Ogden college. That is due mostly to the fact that the Ogden rodeo queen contest is one of the most difficult in the state, and most girls who compete in the Ogden competition attend Weber State, said Elizabeth Goff, an Ogden resident and former director of the rodeo queen contest in Utah. “Miss Rodeo Ogden is probably the toughest contest in the state next to Miss Rodeo Utah. The competition is extremely strong,” Goff said. Utah has a national reputation for having extremely difficult requirements for rodeo queens. That makes it difficult for the girls initially, but better prepares them for national competition, Goff said. “Most of these girls (who win Miss Rodeo Utah) were in the top ten in Miss Rodeo America,” she said. Three captured the Miss Rodeo America title. ; Goff, who was Miss Rodeo Ogden in 1956, directed the Miss Rodeo Ogden and Utah contests for 10 years, and noted that being a rodeo queen involves much more than “being pretty and riding well.” “This is something you really have to be dedicated to,” she said. “There is a lot of time and a lot of money involved.” Queens are judged on overall personality, on appearance and on horsemanship, she said. The girls are required to give speeches, and judges interview each contestant relative to their knowledge of current affairs, rodeo clothing and equipment. They also must be able to physically handle any horse they are required to ride, she said. “Hours and hours are required, and it’s very much a family affair. A little gal cannot participate unless she has someone to back her up,” Goff said. “It’s a real growing experience for the girls, and they have to be toughskinned too. It’s not just go out there and sit on a horse and look pretty. People don’t realize how much time is involved,” Goff said.