The University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) is recruiting high school science teachers from both public and private high schools that teach in Maryland schools for its comprehensive 2008-2009 professional development program in modern biology.
(NOTE: To be eligible, teachers must teach in a Maryland high school; teachers are NOT required to live in Maryland.)
Eighteen Teacher Scholars will be selected to create a cooperative learning community. The scholars will receive instruction in four phases which provide a sustained professional development program aimed at expanding and fortifying their learning base in molecular and cell biology, genetics, biochemistry, evolutionary theory and laboratory skill development. This increased knowledge and skill base is very adaptable and can be immediately applied by the scholars to benefit their current and future high school students.
Funded by the Maryland Higher Education Commission (MHEC) for a fifth year, the Teacher Quality in Biology (TQB) Program at UMBC will help teachers become highly qualified in biology through face-to-face and online instruction with UMBC faculty. The program is intended to enhance each participant’s success in his or her own classroom. The laboratory workshop phase has been designed with exercises that can be easily repeated by participants in their classrooms and function to reinforce-knowledge of modern biology topics. An experienced education coordinator will help participants develop specific applications for course concepts and procedures.
FOUR-PHASES of the TQB PROGRAM
1) Preparation Course - features eleven half-day Tuesday sessions of instruction in current biology with supplemental online instruction and meetings announced by course instructors.
For the first time, UMBC will also offer a remote-access learning experience to a selected group of applicants unable to commute to our campus during Phase I. These select remote scholars will participate in real-time through simulcast classroom interaction using their home computer and high-speed internet access* *. The 2008 TQB sessions will be held Tuesday evenings from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. on the following dates:
February 19 (orientation*) & 26, 2008
March 4, 11, & 25, 2008
April 8, 15, 22 & 29, 2008, and
May 6 & 13, 2008
*ALL participants (including the remote-access positions), must be present for the first class for orientation to be held on the UMBC campus.
* *If you are eligible for consideration for one of the limited remote-access positions, you must have access to a modern computer with high-speed internet access. Appropriate computer configuration specifications must be verified and will effect eligibilty.
Multiple online meetings with the course instructors in the Blackboard Virtual Classroom will supplement the in-class training for all participants (remote and in-class scholars) and will be held during the Preparation Phase to provide additional opportunity to review course material, take online quizzes and reinforce course concepts.
2) “Hands-On” Summer Laboratory Course - features comprehensive lectures and laboratory instruction during the activity-based, nine-day session held:
June 23 to July 3, 2008 (weekends excluded)
Participants will have the opportunity to sequence their own DNA and receive workshop instruction focused on the following seven laboratory procedures:
• Gel Electrophoresis
• DNA Sequencing
• Bacterial Transformation
• ELISA
• Forensic DNA Analysis
• Western Blotting
• Protein Purification
• GMO Detection
3) A 2008 Fall Tuesday Evening Seminar – tentatively scheduled for October 14, 2008 from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m.
The purpose of this evening is to review concepts and provide feedback on the final projects of the TQB Teacher Scholars as well as share lesson plans based on program content.
4) 2009 Spring Gala “Share Our Success” – tentatively scheduled for Saturday, April 18, 2009
This seminar and poster session will be jointly attended by both the TQB and TQC scholars. It is the opportunity to showcase what you’ve learned and how you have incorporated it into your classroom.
IMPORTANT: A condition of acceptance into the program requires that teacher scholars agree to participate in a comprehensive formative and summative evaluation of this program and their own classroom use of the course content, which includes a self-evaluation and academic year classroom visit by the education coordinator. Self-evaluations must be completed and submitted to the UMBC Department of Biological Sciences by May 31, 2009.
FACILITIES
The majority of 2008-2009 TQB Program activities including the “Hands-On” Laboratory Course will be held at the following location:
Department of Biological Sciences, UMBC
1000 Hilltop Circle, BS Bldg.
Baltimore, Maryland 21250
BENEFITS
Participants who successfully complete all the program requirements will receive the full stipend, all books and materials, and a total of three graduate credits in biology. Credits with the final grades will be posted at the end of the Spring 2009 semester. Participantss will be required to first pay the cost of tuition at UMBC and then seek reimbursement through their traditional tuition remission benefit procedures. Upon proof of processing/payment of the tuition remission benefits, UMBC will pay for all unreimbursed tuition expenses related to the TQB Program participation through grant funding.
Stipends
Teachers will receive attendance-based stipends of $120 for full-day and $60 for half-day participation in the TQB Program at UMBC, which may be supplemented by individual teacher’s employing school systems. The stipend is paid in three increments. Twenty-five percent from each of the first two stipend installment payments is withheld until all program requirements are completed.
Total TQB Stipend Payment Possible:
Preparation Phase:
11 half-day sessions @ $60 = $ 660.00*
Summer Laboratory Course:
9 full-days @ $ 120 = $ 1,080.00*
2 Follow-up sessions including preparation:
1 half-day and 1 full-day = $ 180.00*
TOTAL Possible TQB Stipend = $ 1,920.00*
Stipends may be supplemented by employing school systems
* - 25% will be withheld and paid only if TQB Program is completed
Course Materials
Participants will receive course textbooks and notebooks/manuals to support laboratory exercises that are filled with ideas for incorporating modern biology knowledge into the high school classroom.
Tuition
Each scholar will enroll for one graduate credit in summer 2008 and two graduate credits in Fall 2008. The scholar will pay the cost of instruction for each semester at UMBC associated with this enrollment and then seek reimbursement through traditional remission benefit procedures as required by the scholar’s employing agency. Tuition costs not reimbursed by the employing agency will be paid by UMBC through grant support funded by the Maryland Higher Education Commission.
Summer Housing
Campus housing will be provided at no cost to a limited number of participants who live over 40 miles from UMBC and/or demonstrate need for this support.
SPONSORSHIP
This course is supported by the Departments of Biological Sciences and Education at UMBC and the Maryland Higher Education Commission through an Improving Teacher Quality State Grant: Teacher and Principal Training and Recruiting Fund Partnership Grant Program (Public Law 107-110 (No Child Left Behind Act of 2001)
For more information, contact the TQB Program Administrator, Cynthia Hollis at
(410) 455-8071
or by e-mail:
chollis1@umbc.edu
