'CSI' Work Benefits Local Elementary School
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| Scott Johnson Elementary principal
Donna Moriarity accepts the four CSI packets from assistant
professor
of education Mack Hines on Monday afternoon. The boxes
were made by graduate students in Hines' curriculum planning
class, a principal preparation course. |
Nine graduate students have taken what they learned inside
the classroom and turned it into a resource kit for Scott
Johnson Elementary school teachers.
The kits, called “CSI packets” as a spin off
the popular crime scene television show—with CSI standing
for Curriculum Students and Instruction in this case, were
designed for assistant professor of education Mack Hines’ curriculum
planning class, a principal preparation course.
“
Basically what the students did was they developed a series
of lesson plans, modules and different types of instructional
tests around certain themes,” Hines said.
Working in
groups, the students designed four different themed boxes
for US History, Overcoming Obstacles, The Main Idea
and Science and Space. The project counted as a major grade
for the summer course.
“
Each box has a cover with different themes and words related
to the themes,” Hines said. “They also had to
have different types of reading books and primers, and we
developed different types of tests for all grade levels.
“
They had to present it to their colleagues and show them
how schools could actually use these curriculum boxes and
have an impact on student achievement,” he said.
Hines
said he felt the project could “have a direct impact” on
the schools for which the resources were designed, so once
they were complete, he
decided to donate them to Scott Johnson Elementary in Huntsville.
“
By donating these boxes to Scott Johnson Elementary, it does two things: It
bridges the gap between theory and training for students, and it also supports
the evidence
that these principal preparation programs are engaging their students in authentic,
real world activities,” he said. “We’re not just lecturing
them (students), we’re giving them opportunities to actually tap into
the effective and cognitive and psychomotor aspects of what it takes to be
a school
teacher.”
Scott Johnson Elementary principal Donna Moriarity said
she appreciates the work put into the boxes and the decision
to give them to her
school.
“
As an educator it is always exciting to see learning happen full circle,” Moriarity
said. “Certainly for the graduate education students, many future principals,
realizing their new knowledge and skills can be a natural bridge to K-12 student
learning.
“
I hope to share future projects with SHSU in a collaborative and cooperative
way,” she said. “This type of partnership can prove that
we learn from one another no matter if we are in primary school or graduate
level classes.”
Students in the curriculum planning class included
Mary Sowell, Melanie Window, Robert L. Long III, Deborah Spoon, Larry
Gerhart, Shannon Malrey,
Melissa
Fuentes, Lolly McKennry and Thomas Duoto, Jr.
—END—
SHSU Media Contact: Jennifer
Gauntt
Aug. 10, 2005
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