Authors Contributors Biographies Winter 2012 journal New Horizons for Learning

New Horizons
for Learning

Professional Development > New Horizons > Journals > Winter2012

Vol. X No. 1, Winter 2012 - Contributor Biographies

Sarah Baker
Patty Carlson
Dr. Chip Harris, Ed.D.
Dr. Thomas Knestrict, Ed.D.
Pamela Johnson, M.S.Ed.
Dr. Peter M. Jonas, Ph.D.
Stewart Levine
Dr. Nicole Luongo, Ed.D.
Ryan Schaaf, M.S.Ed.
Dr. Terry A. Silver, Ed.D.
Rick Smyre, M.S.
Dr.Teresa Young, Ed.D.

Meet Our Contributors:

Sarah Baker

Sarah Baker is the Education Librarian and an Assistant Professor at New Mexico State University. Her research interests include ways of using educational technology to teach information literacy and student information seeking behavior.

Correspondence: e-mail: sbbaker@lib.nmsu.edu

Article: A Place for Wikipedia or Putting Wikipedia in its Place

Patty Carlson

Patty Carlson composed and produced music for film scores broadcast on PBS, ABC and Turner Broadcasting Systems for over 12 years. As a music educator, Patty began to teach piano in the early 1980's. Patty's first music education program was published in VHS format titled "Play the Piano Overnight". selling over 1 mil- lion copies in the US and abroad. Patty continued to develop and simplify musical theoretical concepts to basic visual templates coupled with performance patterns. In 2008, Patty was granted a US Patent for the unique system of conveying musical information. Patty recognized the benefit of introducing the Music Education Primer Course prior to introducing conventional curriculum as a foundation of mental templates upon which conventional music terms and theory become far easier for the student to understand and for the teacher to explain.

Correspondence: email: pcarlson@pianologic.com
Web: http://www.pianologic.com

Article: The Numeric Language of Music, Music Education Primer Course

Back to top

Dr. Chip Harris, Ed.D.

Dr. Chip Harris is Director of the Center for Career and Technical Education at Tennessee State University. The Center serves new CTE teachers with classes, workshops, advisement and mentoring leading to full teacher licensure. He has conducted workshops and training for students and teachers in 24 states and in Canada. In addition, Dr. Harris teaches the seminar classes for transitional licensure. He incorporates Service Learning into the seminars by placing new teachers into the Tennessee Literacy Partnership Clinics as mentors to struggling reading students.

Correspondence: charris@Tnstate.edu

Article: An Urban Reading Lab Experience for Teachers in Training

Dr. Thomas Knestrict, Ed.D.

Thomas has been at Xavier for eight years. He serves as Associate Professor in the Early Childhood Education Program and teaches several courses in both the undergraduate and graduate programs. His research interests center on families who are raising children with special needs, resiliency in children and families as well as disability studies. He is married with three children and lives in Mason, Ohio.

Correspondence: e-mail: knestrictt@xavier.edu

Article: Preparing Better Teachers: Using Collaboration in Preservice Education

Pamela Johnson, M.S.Ed.

Pamela Johnson earned her Master's Degree in Early Childhood Special Education from Johns Hopkins University. After graduating from college with a Bachelor's in Psychology, she was employed at Kingsbury Day School. At this establishment she was introduced to ways to effectively deal with children that suffered from emotional disturbances as well as learning disabilities. Shortly after, she worked as a Teacher's Assistant working with students with autism and mental retardation at Forbush School, a division of the Sheppard Pratt Hospital System. As part of her degree program, she participated in an internship with CSAAC, Community Services for Autistic Adults and Children in Montgomery County. Ms. Johnson works at Appletree Public Charter School as a special education resource teacher. In addition to supporting students with IEP goals, she supports English Language Learner (ELL) students to reach goals set within their Individual Goal Plans (IGP).

Correspondence: e-mail: pjohnson@appletreeinstitute.org

Article: The Benefits and Administration of Alternate Assessments

Dr. Peter M. Jonas, Ph.D.

It's easy to make fun of Peter Jonas. So go ahead, laugh at him, everyone else does. Peter is a Professor of research and chairperson of the Doctoral Leadership Department at Cardinal Stritch University in Milwaukee WI. He has become well-known for his wise-cracking comments and lectures on humor; however, beneath the humor is a message: If you get people laughing, you can teach them anything.
The professor has written three books (two of them that were any good) in support of his research on humor: Laughing and Learning: An Alternative to Shut-up and Listen (2009) and Secrets of Connecting Leadership and Learning to Humor (2004). Peter has been at Cardinal Stritch University for almost 30 years teaching, researching, and serving in various leadership capacities (e.g., Director of Institutional Research, Dean in the College of Business). He has a keen interest in technology and has made more than 100 presentations across the country talking about humor, research, leadership, and technology. In addition, Peter has also been actively involved in consulting and writing; authoring more than 40 books, manuals, and articles in professional periodicals. Ultimately, Peter attempts to integrate teaching, scholarship, service, and humor into his leadership philosophy.

Correspondence: e-mail: pmjonas@stritch.edu

Article: Successfully Teaching with Humorous Videos: Videagogy

Back to top

Stewart Levine
Stewart improves productivity while saving the enormous cost of conflict using "Agreements for Results" and "Resolutionary" conversational models. As a practicing lawyer he realized that fighting was a very ineffective way of resolving problems. As a marketing executive for AT&T he saw that the reason collaborations fall apart is that people do not spend the time at the beginning of new working relationships to create clarity about what they want to accomplish together, and how they will get there. He has worked for American Express; Chevron; ConAgra; EDS; General Motors; Oracle; Safeco; University of San Francisco; U.S. Departments of Agriculture and the Navy. His "Cycle of Resolution" was recently selected for inclusion in the Change Handbook, 2d Edition. His book Getting to Resolution: Turning Conflict into Collaboration (Berrett-Koehler 1998) (Second Edition Oct. 2009) was an Executive Book Club Selection; Featured by Executive Book Summaries; named one of the 30 Best Business Books of1998; and called "a marvelous book" by Dr. Stephen Covey. It has been translated into Russian, Hebrew and Portuguese. The Book of Agreement (Berrett-Koehler 2003) has been endorsed by many thought leaders. It has been named one of the best books of 2003 by CEO Refresher (www.Refresher.com). Collaboration 2.0: Technology and Tools for Collaboration in a Web 2.0 World co-authored with David Coleman (Happy About 2008) provides guidance for effectively communicating in the virtual world. Levine teaches communication and conflict management skills for The American Management Association, CEO Space and the International Partnering Institute. He is a lecturer at the University of California Berkeley Law School and the MBA program at Dominican University of California. Stewart was recently inducted into the College of Law Practice Management.

Correspondence: e-mail: resolutionworks@msn.com
Web: www.ResolutionWorks.com

Article: Leadership in Transformation: Building Capacities for a New Age

Dr. Nicole Luongo, Ed.D.

Nicole Luongo, Ed.D. is an Assistant Professor of Education at Saint Peter?s College in Jersey City, NJ. She teaches a variety of graduate and undergraduate online and face-to-face education courses. Also, she acts as a supervisor for several student teachers. In the past, Dr. Luongo was a full-time elementary school teacher, where she taught grades 1, 2, and 4. Additionally, she has instructed various distance learning courses for the state of New Jersey, and worked as an Educational Consultant for Vantage Learning in Newtown, Pennsylvania and CELT Corporation in Marlborough, Massachusetts.

Correspondence: e-mail: nluongo@spc.edu

Article: Let's Pre-Blog! Using Blogs as Prewriting Tools in Elementary Classrooms

Ryan Schaaf, M.S.Ed.

Ryan Schaaf is an Assistant Professor of Technology in the School of Education at the College of Notre Dame of Maryland. He graduated with a Bachelors of Science in Education in 1999 from Towson University and his Masters of Science in Educational Technology from Johns Hopkins University in 2007. From 1999 to 2010, Ryan was a classroom teacher, instructional leader, and technology teacher at Clarksville Elementary School in Maryland. In 2005, Ryan participated in the development of the FAQ section for the SAKAI project, a new open-source Learning Management System (LMS). Ryan continued his expertise with Learning Management Systems when he interned with Johns Hopkins University and BotKnowledge to create multimedia tutorials instructing faculty using the Blackboard LMS. In 2007, Ryan was nominated for the Howard County Teacher of the Year. Ryan used his experience in instructional technology pedagogy to help create the technology essential curriculum, develop assessments, and mentor new technology teachers for the Howard County Maryland school district. Ryan continues to work at Johns Hopkins University, teaching courses in their Technology for Educator's program. Ryan also conducted action research for Towson University's Action Research Fellowship. Current research interests include: Universal Design in Learning, Instructional Gaming, and 21st Century Learners.

Correspondence: e-mail: rschaaf@ndm.edu

Article: What are the Effects of Utilizing Digital Games During Instruction?

Dr. Terry A. Silver, Ed.D.

Dr. Terry A. Silver currently teaches graduate courses for the Educational Studies Department at the University of Tennessee at Martin. She leads workshops on all aspects of Service Learning and incorporates this instructional strategy into her own courses. Her research interests included Service Learning, Transitional and Traditional Licensure Candidates and Mentoring.

Correspondence: e-mail: tsilver@utm.edu

Article:An Urban Reading Lab Experience for Teachers in Training

Rick Smyre, M.S.

Rick Smyre is an internationally recognized futurist specializing in the area of building "capacities for transformation" in local communities. A graduate of Davidson College and NC State University, he is President of the Center for Communities of the Future and is an architect of the new field "community transformation." Mr. Smyre is the past Chairman of the Board of the American Association of Retirement Communities and was on the staff of the National Economic Development Institute for fourteen years. Married for 47 years to Brownie Allen, Mr. Smyre has three children, Cinda (45), Deric (43), and Beth (40). In the '70s he was the CEO of a textile yarn spinning firm. As a result of his experience at the state and local level, to include chairman of a NC county school board and chairman of a county chamber of commerce, he understands issues local communities face when preparing for a different kind of economy and society. Mr. Smyre?s work emphasizes innovative concepts, methods, and techniques connected with the Communities of the Future idea in collaboration with a network of over 1000 individuals in forty-six states and six countries. Mr. Smyre focuses his work in several ways. He speaks internationally and has provided over 400 seminars, keynotes and retreats over the last two decades to introduce "Community Transformation" ideas such as Master Capacity Builder, Creative Molecular Economy and Mobile Transformational Governance. This year will be the eighteenth year he has presented at the international World Future Society Conference. Of special interest to Mr. Smyre is his work to help local communities ( Hickory, NC; Fayette County, GA: Potter County, PA) prepare for transformational change. He is known for his work with new ideas such as Transformation Learning and a Creative Molecular Economy and as a "master capacity builder? to work with local community leaders to develop 21st century capacities to include skills for community transformation.

Correspondence: e-mail: rlsmyre@aol.com

Article: Leadership in Transformation: Building Capacities for a New Age

Article from Winter 2011: Citizen Education at the Crossroads: The Creation of a Future Forward College

Dr.Teresa Young, Ed.D

Teresa Young, Ed.D. is Assistant Professor in the Department of Childhood Education and Literacy at Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio. She has many years of experience working with preservice and graduate students in the areas of teacher preparation and early childhood education. She continues to focus her interest on literacy and early childhood education.