During the SPRING 2012 academic year I taught an Elementary Science Methods course at Decker Elementary School in Manor, TX. This course focused on project based instruction and was a real pleasure to teach. Below is a description of the course as well as the larger coordinated effort going on with The University of Texas at Austin's College of Education and the Manor School District. -Dr. Petrosino
Decker Elementary has partnered with the University of Texas at Austin this past year through a relationship with Cohort N- a group of twenty-one students from their College of Education. This relationship began in the Fall of 2011, when these students took a class on campus at Decker and tutored students in reading from Ms. Tang’s second grade class.
Since January 2012, eleven UT students have come on board at Decker as interns working in second - fifth grades, partnering with their Cooperating Teachers to design and implement a Project Based Learning unit. The entire cohort received PBL training on-site led by Decker and other Manor ISD teachers. Cohort N also took their university classes at Decker.
Through these classes, the UT students have had the opportunity to interact with Decker students in a variety of disciplines, including math with first graders, rocket launches with fifth graders, reading tutoring with third graders, and science fair judging. This partnership will continue into the Fall of 2012 as Cohort N takes on student teaching alongside some of Decker’s Master Teachers.
See course evaluations by clicking HERE.
Picture: SPG 2012 Cohort N
