Education Commons^™

Common Data Set 2006-07, Kirk England

Office of Institutional Effectiveness

WWU 2006-07 Common Data Set

Klipsun Magazine, 2007, Volume 38, Issue 02 - November, Brittney Leirdahl

Klipsun Magazine

Past. Present. Future.

This phrase has a different meaning to everyone. My history dates back 22 years. Klipsun is more than 50 years old. And a few stories in this magazine are about artifacts dating back hundreds of years.

No matter what this phrase means to you, we all have history. Some of us want to never look back and just continue forward to see what our future entails. I personally am terrified of my future and seem to rely heavily on my past. An unfamiliar future scares me, while a past of familiarity comforts me.

For many, reading historical …

Tune-Up In Math: A Journey To Reduce Test Anxiety, Leza Madsen, Ping-Tung Chang Professor

Leza Madsen

This paper focuses upon small group learning in mathematics and methods of overcoming classroom challenges like math anxiety and unmotivated learners. Re-testing shifts the emphasis from punitive measurement of points to an indicator of strengths and weaknesses of the students. There is also an emphasis on the practical application of the Zojonc Module dealing with the optimal division of labor and Polya’s problem -solving heuristics. Utilizing small group settings and retesting are two methods of helping learners overcome classroom challenges and their own math anxiety. This paper is intended to present methods to be used with adult learners or continuing …

Tune-Up In Math: A Journey To Reduce Test Anxiety, Leza Madsen, Ping-Tung Chang Professor

Western Libraries Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Klipsun Magazine, 2007, Volume 38, Issue 01 - October, Erin Dewey

Klipsun Magazine

For many, arriving in Whatcom County is just one step along the path­ way to a higher education. Fall brings fresh faces to Western to become part of the ever-growing student body, but even those who aren't new may still find some things to learn.

This issue of Klipsun Magazine tackles life in Whatcom County from cof­fee to surviving college, local heroes to area attractions. There is even a photo challenge to test your knowledge of the surrounding community. We sought to provide a glimpse into our corner of Washington, teaching amateurs some tips while providing new insights to those …

Reflective Reactions: Learning What It Means To Read And Reread Self Within A 6th Grade Social Action Project, Joy L. Wiggins

Woodring College of Education Faculty Publications

This article focuses on the ways in which social action can be read and reread through one white female teacher’s experience. More specifically, how I read my actions and how I was read by them illustrates the compelling need to consistently reevaluate our perception of what we believe aligns with the ideals of building socially just and safe communities and what could subvert the very causes we are trying to help. This article originally started as a tribute to the success of my sixth-grade students writing letters to the mayor about the problems with drugs, gangs, and homeless people in …

Window On Western, 2007, Volume 13, Issue 03, Dee Johnson, Alumni, Foundation, And Office Of University Communications, Western Washington University

Window on Western

No abstract provided.

The Planet, 2007, Fall, Page A. Buono, Huxley College Of The Environment, Western Washington University

The Planet

No abstract provided.

Klipsun Magazine, 2007, Volume 37, Issue 07 - August, Kim Oakley

Klipsun Magazine

Summertime is a favorite season for so many, but with college over, it takes on an entirely different meaning to me and many others in my same position. Now it means 18 years of education is over. Hot days are spent trapped inside a cubicle glued to a computer screen instead of basking in the sun. Long summer nights are no longer an option now that I am up at 6, and moving back to Bellingham in September is not on my calendar anymore.

Nothing will ever compare to these past four years. My only regret is that I never …

Klipsun Magazine, 2007 - June, Kim Oakley

Klipsun Magazine

I started thinking about this note the minute I became Editor-in-Chief, but here I am, minutes before deadline not knowing what to write. An elite group of people has come before me and they all seemed to have something profound to say. So, I went where I always go when I need inspiration — my friends. The most eloquent person I know, had this quote from the movie “Serendipity” on his Facebook profile: “The Greeks didn’t write obituaries. They only ask one question after a man died: ‘Did he have passion?’”

This sparked my interest. In the beginning, it didn’t …

2006-07 (3 Quarters & Aya) Sch & Fte Faculty Report, Ernest Sams

Office of Institutional Effectiveness

Student Credit Hours; GUR Courses; Sections; FTE Faculty Allocated and Used; Compare With 2 Year Ago; Measures per FTE Faculty

Klipsun Magazine, 2007, Volume 37, Issue 05 - April, Kira Freed

Klipsun Magazine

Signs of spring blossom everywhere. Bellingham is a gorgeous city to be in during the warmer months. Let us help you get outside and enjoy the beauty that Bellingham has to offer.

Take a walk around town and discover all of the locations local artist Ben Mann has touched with his brush; use the list on page 11 as your guide. As long as you’re outdoors, try one of the picnics writer Marinda Peugh describes. You’ll be sure to enjoy both the surroundings and cuisine she suggests.

With spring comes romance, and this issue of Klipsun even has that. Check …

Window On Western, 2007, Volume 13, Issue 02, Dee Johnson, Alumni, Foundation, And Office Of University Communications, Western Washington University

Window on Western

No abstract provided.

The Planet, 2007, Spring, Shawn C. Query, Huxley College Of The Environment, Western Washington University

The Planet

No abstract provided.

A Profile Of The 2007 Western Washington Unviersity Graduating Class, Gary (Gary Russell) Mckinney, Chris Stark

Office of Institutional Effectiveness

Summary and analysis of statistics for the 2007 Western graduating class.

The First-Year Experience (Fye) And Freshmen Interest Group (Fig) Programs Compared: Fall, 2006, Course Offerings, Patricia M. Fabiano, Gary (Gary Russell) Mckinney, Chris Stark

Office of Institutional Effectiveness

1) The FYE seminars are stand-alone seminars, not linked to a GUR course as are the FIGs.

2) While the FIGs are taught by faculty and qualified staff, the FYE seminars are taught only be full-time faculty.

3) FYE seminars are offered in the fall, winter, and spring quarters, whereas the FIGs are available only in the fall of each year.

4) The FYE program does not have a mission statement that brings together a unified purpose for all the FYE seminars. Rather, each seminar is more closely aligned with disciplinary and / or departmental goals.

Klipsun Magazine, 2007, Volume 37, Issue 04 - March, Kira Freed

Klipsun Magazine

I’ll be honest. The first quarter I wrote for a publication, I was intimidated by the editors. They seemed so much older, wiser and more experienced than me. It took me a while to have confidence in myself and my abilities, but now here I am an editor.

Many of the people in this issue also have found their confidence, and they are accomplishing amazing things. Unintentionally, this issue features many women and coincides with Women’s History Month. The women at Femeninete are producing heartfelt, poignant pieces about what it means to be a woman. Kelly Hill is living with …

The First-Year Experience (Fye) Program Report: Course Offerings In Fall, 2006, Patricia M. Fabiano, Gary (Gary Russell) Mckinney, Chris Stark

Office of Institutional Effectiveness

1) The FYE seminars are stand-alone seminars, not linked to a GUR course as are the FIGs.

2) While the FIGs are taught by faculty and qualified staff, the FYE seminars are taught only be full-time faculty.

3) FYE seminars are offered in the fall, winter, and spring quarters, whereas the FIGs are available only in the fall of each year.

4) The FYE program does not have a mission statement that brings together a unified purpose for all the FYE seminars. Rather, each seminar is more closely aligned with disciplinary and / or departmental goals.

The Freshmen Interest Group (Figs) Program Report: Course Offerings In The Fall, 2006, Patricia M. Fabiano, Gary (Gary Russell) Mckinney, Chris Stark

Office of Institutional Effectiveness

In the fall, 2006, the Freshman Interest Group (FIGs) Program entered its eighth iteration. To use assessment terminology, the program has passed through its beginning and emergent stages and has entered maturity. Its mission has been crafted, student learning outcomes (SLO's) have been identified, and its identity has solidified. Yet while maturity has wrought a degree of self-confidence, it has not brought complacency. The program remains one of the most assessed academic programs on campus. Yearly, FIGs, administrators and instructors pore over results of surveys and quantitative data, searching for ways to improve both the program and its assessment. Findings …

Demystifying Millennial Students: Fact Or Fiction, Leza Madsen Associate Professor, Hazel Cameron

Leza Madsen

No abstract provided.

Demystifying Millennial Students: Fact Or Fiction, Leza Madsen Associate Professor, Hazel Cameron

Western Libraries Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Klipsun Magazine, 2007, Volume 37, Issue 03 - January, Taune Sweet

Klipsun Magazine

Every day, life presents us with obstacles. Big or small, we must confront these head-on in order to continue on.

Three stories in this issue of Klipsun exemplify the necessity of carrying on in the face of overwhelming obstacles.'Tutting the Pieces Back Together" by writer Emily Krahn tells of a local woman's turn to art for healing in the midst of loss.

In "Back to Basics," Shawn Query explores the day-to-day challenges Whatcom County residents face as they strive to overcome functional illiteracy.

Writer Ciara O'Rourke's story "Missing in Laos" tells of the actions family and friends are taking to …

Developing Dispositions: Professional Ethic Or Political Indoctrination, Lorraine Kasprisin

Journal of Educational Controversy

During 2005 and 2006, Gary Howard, the founder of the Reach Center for Multicultural Education and author of We can’t teach what we don’t know: White teachers, multiracial schools, facilitated several workshops at Western Washington University. Gary’s workshops provided the impetus for reexamining what it means to be a teacher in a multiracial society, and the kinds of dispositions that should be promoted in the education of a teacher (view video of the workshops from Mar. 30, 2006 and May 12, 2005). We are dedicating this issue to Gary Howard, who has written a special prologue for this …

Dispositions For Good Teaching, Gary R. Howard

Journal of Educational Controversy

The central focus of my work over the past 30 years has been to struggle with two overarching and related questions. First, what are the qualities of personhood that the adults in our nation’s classrooms must embody to be worthy of teaching our richly diverse students? And second, how do we best prepare ourselves and our colleagues for this work? In this article I reflect on the first of these questions, and do so in light of the fact that any discussion of “teacher dispositions,” either in pre-service or in-service contexts, is best engaged from the perspective of the students …

Turning Our Ideals To Concrete Deeds, Jonathan Kozol

Journal of Educational Controversy

Among the many burning issues of concern to educators and educational ethicists during the past few years, none appears to provoke more heated controversy than the devastating backswing of our urban public schools to racial segregation at a level of intensity the nation has not seen in decades. The proportion of black children who are educated in a deeply segregated school has now reverted to a higher level than in any year since the death of Dr. Martin Luther King in 1968. In New York and California, only one in eight black children is a student in an integrated school. …

Advocacy And Teaching, Stanley Fish

Journal of Educational Controversy

Reprinted by permission of the author, from a New York Times article, March 24, 2007. This article is part of a larger project entitled "Save The World On Your Own Time: Or Why Colleges and Universities Should Tear Up Their Mission Statements and Just Aim Low."

When a bill before a state legislature bears a woman's name, it is usually because someone has been abducted or raped or murdered. But in Missouri, House Bill 213, or the Emily Brooker Intellectual Diversity Act, is under consideration because someone was given an assignment.

Ideological Indoctrination And Teacher Education, William Hare

Journal of Educational Controversy

Philosophers who have been concerned with the problem of indoctrination have focused attention chiefly on teaching, textbooks, and the curriculum in elementary and secondary schools where the age of the students and the fact that they have yet to fully develop their own critical judgment suggests a certain vulnerability and susceptibility to non-rational persuasion. On the one hand, teachers may abuse their power and authority and seek to impose certain beliefs and values, actively discouraging their students from raising problems or objections; on the other hand, certain views may simply escape scrutiny and pass unchallenged in education because they have …

Return Of The Deficit, Curt Dudley-Marling

Journal of Educational Controversy

"What is it about school that manages to transform children who are good at learning . . . regardless of their economic and cultural differences, into children who are not good at learning, if they are poor or members of certain minority groups?” (Gee, 2004, p. 10)

Education as the great leveler of social class is one of the enduring myths of American culture. With hard work and a good education “any American can grow up to be president.” It was in this context that the Brown v. Bd. of Education decision of the US Supreme Court held such …

Making Sense Of Dispositions In Teacher Education: Arriving At Democratic Aims And Experiences, Thomas Misco, James Shiveley

Journal of Educational Controversy

Dispositional aims are found in many teacher education programs and they embrace numerous laudable ideals. These ideals often stand for a wide variety of goals and tend to be abstract in nature, which may make them vulnerable to attacks. For example, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (Shibley, 2005) criticized teacher education programs for liberal bias and imposing a politicized litmus test for pre-service teachers. This was largely due to the amorphous dispositional goals containing social justice language and because many dispositional goals, as high inference constructs, are largely left to the discretion of teacher educators. If teacher educators …

Excerpts From The 2006 Report: Racial Transformation And The Changing Nature Of Segregation., Gary Orfield

Journal of Educational Controversy

Editors: The excerpts below are from "Racial Transformation and the Changing Nature of Segregation," a report by Gary Orfield and Chungmei Lee for the Harvard Civil Rights Project. Too often in our national conversations, racism and segregation are treated as though they are things of the past or problems that remain only in isolated pockets. This report makes clear that racism in education remains a significant problem and that segregation has reasserted itself with a vengeance over the last decade. It also points out that racism and segregation can no longer be understood as simply a black/white problem while reminding …