DESCRIPTION:  The content of winter quarter evolved out of students' experiences in their first student teaching and the WAC codes of the State of Washington.  During this quarter, program members focused on:

• completing their master's projects and presenting their findings;
• improving their abilities to create engaging curricula and lessons that reflect teaching strategies based on current research;
• deepening their understanding of how to teach specific content areas effectively;
• becoming knowledgeable about the general education teacher's responsibilities concerning IDEA, characteristics of students with disabilities, and accommodations in the general education classroom;
• participating in professional development of: teacher rights and responsibilities, classroom management, and grant writing;
• developing an understanding of middle school philosophy and practice;
• gaining an understanding of early, middle and late adolescent development, and;
• improving their abilities to infuse technology into their teaching practices.

Students accomplished these goals through helping to plan and implement content area workshops, participating in cooperative group research, individual learning projects, and interactive workshops, creating web-based curriculum units, writing reflections on their learning experiences, analyzing and improving lesson plans, and completing written tests.