Something we did yesterday...

The 2nd annual Graduate Research and Creativity Expo:  "Scholarship that Matters" was held yesterday on campus.  I've mentioned this awesome opportunity earlier in this blog (you can read about it here...skip down to 4th paragraph if you don't want to read the ridiculously long posting).

Last year, a colleague from my cohort and I presented on research we had done and were honored with winning our category of Professional Programs.  Using the funds from that win, I was able to co-present the study we had done relating to users of American Sign Language (ASL), in Minneapolis last fall.

This year, a different set of colleagues and I worked with our advisor, Dr. Compton, to share research we have been working on over the last 3 years with her.

For those of you who are curious about what it was we shared with the judges and others yesterday, here is the abstract from the program:

"When Your Car is Your Classroom"

This presentation discusses the process used by itinerant teachers of deaf and hard of hearing students to engage in collaborative practices using Friend’s and Cook's (2007) theoretical framework of collaboration.  The US Office of Special Education (2004) found that 85% of students with hearing loss are educated in public schools. Luckner & Howell (2002) reported the primacy of consultation in itinerant teaching; however, little literature describes HOW itinerant teachers engage in collaboration.  Individual interviews with itinerant teachers reveal perceptions of how they collaborate with others.  Findings are organized around seven themes:  mutual goals, voluntariness, parity, shared accountability, shared participation, shared resources, and responsibility for decisions.  Disconnects/barriers to collaboration and supports as outlined by seven itinerant teachers will also be presented.  These findings are relevant to general educators, special educators, researchers, administrators, and other education staff because changing times, within the education world, require an increase in proficiency of collaborative practices.

Thanks to my nephews for allowing me to "borrow" the cars.
Thanks to the Teaching Resource Center for letting me laminate the cards and map (or "roads" as almost 4 year old Clark calls them).
Thanks to Margo's children for being the reason she purchased the road signs (hehe).
Thanks to my brother and his wife for letting me "practice" on them.
Thanks to Skype for allowing Stef to be involved in North Carolina all the way from Wilkes Barre, PA.
Thanks to the itinerant teachers who participated in our research.
Thanks to Dr. Compton for allowing us to work with her on this project that is very near and dear to my heart as it directly relates to what I did for 8 years.

And thanks to the judges for our WIN in our category of Professional Programs!!