Minutes

Faculty Meeting and Workshop

Spanish-American Institute

January 29, 2005

 

 

Schedule:  The Faculty Meeting started at 10:30 am.  The Workshop convened at 12:00 am.  The session ended at 1 pm with an invitation to lunch at Bond’s 45 and to join the IESPSG meeting afterwards.   

 

Attendance:  J. Arbai, A. Burakovskiy, F. A. Bush, E. Castillo, G. Coronado, M. Diaz, D. V. Ferraro, J. Gaylan, L. Fallarme, L. Hernandez, F. Kikilashvili, J. Kodjo, E. Manliclic, I. Mumkaya, N. Panganiban, O. Piddubna, C. Prager, E. Ramos, I. Rymer, P. Schiffman, N. Tomskikh, A. Tuldanes, C. Vargas, A. Verbine.  

 

President’s Report:  Mr. Ferraro welcomed everyone to the meeting.   

 

  1. License Currency—Mr. Ferraro reminded faculty to check their license currency.
  2. Attendance Records—He reminded faculty of the importance of accurate attendance records.
  3. College Acceptance Letters—He thanked those who have helped get college acceptance letters from students for school display.
  4. Classroom Protocols—He asked faculty to remind students about classroom protocols, including shutting off all beepers and cell phones before entering the room.
  5. Double-Time Offer—He asked faculty to mention the school’s “double-time” offer to their students.
  6. Verifying Textbooks—He restated school practice to not change students’ classes until they have verified that they have the required textbooks. 
  7. Wireless Connections—He also asked faculty to remind students that the Institute supports wireless connections throughout the school as well as hubs for plugging in laptops. 

 

Last, he thanked faculty and staff for their cooperation and goodwill in helping the school through its current challenges. 

 

Chair and Other Faculty Reports 

 

Accounting & Business—L. Hernandez reported that several students are in the process of completing the Accounting curriculum using the new college textbook.  

 

Academic Dean's Report and Faculty Discussion

 

1.      Reminders—

 

·        ESL Video Instructional Support---Dr. Prager reminded ESL faculty that ESL instructional support includes video lesson plans and video student activity worksheets for WorldView and NorthStar.

·        Bookstore Returns--- She asked faculty to promptly return instructional support material to the Bookstore so that other faculty can use it.  Teacher’s manuals may be borrowed for 2 hours and renewed for another 2 hours.  Arrangements can also be made for borrowing materials overnight or over the weekend. 

·        Public Library Education---She reminded ESL faculty to familiarize student with the resources of their neighborhood public libraries and help them obtain public library cards.  She distributed copies of the school’s public library education material, reminding faculty that she is available to speak to students about the American and New York public library system.

 

2.      Student Interest in Computer Graphics---Faculty discussed the recent growth in student interest in computer graphics.  Dr. Prager reported that the preliminary results for the computer graphics student survey supported this assessment, including interest in Movie Maker. 

 

3.      Proposed Movie-Maker Course---

 

·        Proposed Syllabus and Textbook----Copies of the proposed syllabus and textbook were distributed. 

·        Individual Student Project Development----Dr. Prager pointed out how the syllabus helped students define and develop individual project. 

·        Course Objectives and Student Interest----Computer faculty indicated that course goals were compatible with student interest.  A. Burakovskiy raised a question about how to address student familiarity with the textbook’s vocabulary.  Faculty discussed the teachers’ role in assuring that students understand what they read.  They also suggested that computer faculty prepare a simple glossary of commonly used technical terms (e.g., analog, digital), if needed. 

·        Approval----The faculty approved the Movie Maker course offering. 

 

4.      Computer Laboratory Maintenance---Faculty and staff discussed the importance of routine hardware maintenance and laboratory housekeeping.  The discussion identified the need for establishing a regular schedule for timely maintenance and housekeeping. 

 

5.      Computer Faculty Professional Development----Dr. Prager will develop a survey asking computer faculty to identify applications course areas of greatest strength and areas where they believe they would benefit from additional professional development.  The Institute will pay 90% of professional development for computer faculty professional development directly related to the school’s curriculum, pending availability of funds.

 

 

Workshop:  “Integrating Individual Projects Into Computer Applications Projects” 

 

·        Review of Computer Course Syllabi--Faculty reviewed final project requirements in computer course syllabi.

·        Review of Past Final Projects--Faculty also reviewed examples of individual student past final projects and discussed students’ positive reactions to the experience.

·        Techniques for Defining and Developing Projects—Much of the discussion focused on ways to help students select a project topic and narrow it down.  Faculty discussed how important this will be in the proposed Movie Maker course where the challenge is more on editing than collecting material for a production. 

·        Recognizing Students’ Efforts--- The Institute encourages ways to recognize students for their efforts in developing final projects.  Dr. Prager reported that she has visited ESL classes at teachers’ requests to listen to students’ oral project presentations.  Movie Maker students might show their final productions to other students and/or to invited guests such as school faculty and staff.