WSST Newsletter
Login to WSST.org
About WSST
The Wisconsin Society of Science Teachers was founded in 1958. Today it is the largest Wisconsin organization of individuals
interested in the advancement of science education.
2011 Board Meeting Reports
District Directors and Committee Chairs
Post report under comments
Your reports will be posted with in 48 hours
- admin's blog
- Login or register to post comments
Comments
Web Report
The 2012 conference website looks great this year. Chris Moore did a fantastic keeping the information current.
Set up the Front and Center Grant for the foundation to use at the 2012 convention.
UniversalWSST log in seems to be working well as a method to allow individuals permission to post information to the website.
Have been posting information sent to me from Ed.
Will be checking with Foundations and Awards and Rec to see how the web based forms worked for their committee tasks. Will be working with Public Relations as they create digital PR packet to be used to promote WSST.
· My activities have centered around the annual conference. Planning went well and there was much communication with the 2013 Wausau co-chairs (Lauren and Matt) throughout our organizing of the 2012 conference.
· I attended the funeral of longtime WSST member and WSST historian Ben Thompson. Ed, Floyd Henschel and me represented WSST at Ben’s funeral. Ben was a great guy and a science educator to the end. He spent 22 years of his retirement subbing in classrooms in Eau Claire public schools. He was also very active in the Wisconsin Civil Air Patrol.
· The DPI Science Leadership team has met several times this year. The committee is charged with developing a rollout plan for the Next Generation Science Standards.
· I printed up a poster of the past WSST Presidents. I hope it will be displayed at every conference for the coming decades. We will keep adding to the list as new Presidents continue to help WSST thrive and prosper as a professional organization.
· We need to discuss the support proposal for conferences and memberships that UW-LaCrosse presented to us. Also UW-Oshkosh science outreach office will share a proposal for them to continue serving WSST.
· Science Futures is set for July 22-27 up at Pigeon Lake Field Station. All are welcome to apply!
Kevin and I have had a great commitee that worked very hard over the last several months to bring the 2012 conference together. Matt Lindsay and Lauren Ebbecke, co-chairs for the 2013 conference were able to "sit in" on many of our meetings via conference call. I think this was beneficial to them as well as to our group. They were able to offer thoughtful suggestions to us as well.
Many thanks to Ed for his patience and willingess to answer so many crazy questions. We will give an overview of the conference at the meeting, with a full report in the summer.
Respectfully submitted,
Denise McCulley
Co-chair, 2012 Conference
I have been pretty busy working with a great committee to prepare for the 2012 conference. That has been my main focus for much of the fall and winter, so some of my other duties may have fallen off a bit.
Ia.1 I pass along Science Matters/WSN info to the other science teachers in my building.
IA.2 Met with pre-service teachers at Edgewood in Dec.
IA.3 I gave away 1 new membership since last board meeting - total of 11
IA.6B N/A
IB.4 Will have attended the Town Hall meeting at the 2012 conference
IIA.1B Created/sent out the February eblast, as well as the other monthly eblasts.
IIA.4a Have not posted to the WSST website recently, although I had a lot of involvement with the content for the WSST 2012 conference website.
IIA.4b I have not posted any lesson plans etc.
IIB.1 I encourage District 5 members to apply for Science Futures
II.D1 My main focus has been on the annual conference, so I have not done anything to promote mini-conferences
IIIB.3 I send Eblasts, Science Matters and other pertinent info as it comes along.
I just want to say that I have immensely enjoyed the last 11 years, as I have worked with the WSST Board in one capacity or another. As my term is up and there were 2 candidates for my position (yea Scott and Dan), I am sure this will be my last District 5 report. I want to thank everyone for their friendship, collegiality, and desire to work for the improvement of science education in Wisconsin. It has been an honor to serve with each and everyone of you.
Respectfully submitted,
Denise McCulley
District 2 Report
Spring 2012
1.A.1 - No
1.A.2 - No
1.A.3 - Four new memberships
1.A.6B - No
1.B.4 - I will attended the “Town Hall” listening session at the annual conference in Madison.
2.A.1b - No
2.A.4a - I created the November Eblast and submitted it to the website…Tammy and I created the summary of the winter board meeting…Tammy submitted it to the newsletter
2.A.4b - No
2.B.1 – Encourage District 2 members to apply for Science Futures
2.D.1 - I attend the Central / Western WI share session
3.b.3 - Send "WSST EBlasts" and "Science Matters in Wisconsin" to District 2 members and encourage feedback
Expenses: none
Respectfully Submitted,
Tracy Swedlund
District 2 Director
District 3 Report
Spring 2012
1.A.1 WSST and WEST- personally nothing done at the local school level- I don't regularly meet with the elementary staff.
1.A.2 No collage connections have been made at this time
1.A.3 no new free memberships since winter meeting
1.A.6B no university contacts
1.B.4 I will attended the “Town Hall” listening session at the annual conference in Madison.
2.A.1b- I will be presenting on formative assessment
2.A.4a I added the Dec. e--blast to the website and submitted the summary from the winter board meeting for the newsletter.
2.A.4b I have not added materials to the website for other members at this time.
2.B.1 continue to share materials with my district
2.D.1 no scheduled forums in my area
3.b.3 I sent out e-mail messages including but not limited to the monthly e-blasts
Expenses: none
Respectfully Submitted,
Tammy Huenink
District 3 Director
I-A.1: Continue to recommend elementary teachers to become members. I-A.2: I was asked to speak at a NSTA Student and WEST Student group in November. The meeting was cancelled due to weather, and will be rescheduled. I-A.3: No free memberships given out. I-A.6b: None made. I-B.4: N/A II-A.1b: Sending out requests for presenters with eblasts. II-A.4a: Continue to post things as they come up. II-A.4b: Area is on website. II-B.1: N/A II-D.1: I continue to pass on information regarding my areas physics and chemistry share groups III-B.3: I continue to send out information as it becomes available via eBlasts. I wrote the district director report for the upcoming newsletter.
Membership Committee Winter Board Meeting 2011
1. Summer Brewer Baseball game was a success. Will plan the same for next year around the same time. Price will depend on costs of game tickets.
2. Executive Director report has information on past dues. Reminders will be sent out.
3. Welcome letters have been sent out to new members. Welcome letters include a note from the President & appropriate District Director.
4. After Jan. 1st we will obtain the names of new National Board Teachers so they can be congratulated and offered one year free membership.
Submitted by Ray Scolavino
Public Relations Committee Board Report
December 4, 2011
According to the Strategic Plan the Public Relations Committee has three primary duties:
(1) Maintenance and organization of the booth at the WSST Annual Convention.
a. The booth at the WSST Convention has been the primary focus of the committee. Members of the committee, with the cooperation of the members of the organization, have done an outstanding job on providing and adding items to the booth. The committee will continue to provide an updated booth at and for the 2011 convention.
(2) Development of PR Materials.
a. Ideas currently suggested for PR relation materials include:
i. Development of a poster with a “rip-off” pad attached directing potential members to the WSST website.
1. The poster would be placed outside the offices of science education departments.
2. The poster would be designed to depict the benefits of becoming a member of WSST.
ii. Development of a smaller index sized card for distribution by the District Directors when visiting Science education classes and other potential distribution outlets.
1. These cards would be similar to the “rip-off” pads on the poster – reminding potential members of the organization and website.
iii. Development of PDF files or materials to be digitally accessed from the WSST website
1. These materials would be similar to the paper materials previously distributed and may include such items as: a listing of Local Sharing Sessions, Additional Statewide Organizations (KEEP, WAPT, WAEE, etc..), Retail resources specific to science teachers, a description of the value of joining WSST, a listing of activities of WSST, director contact information, ADDITIONAL SUGGESTIONS….
(3) Maintenance of a list of teacher education institutions
a. A list of science teacher educators was received from Ray and a member on the committee has volunteered to take charge of this task.
Respectfully Submitted
Kelley Hoffman
Public Relations Committee Members
Julie Fitzpatrick, Fond du Lac
Susan Harrington
Kelley Hoffman, Rio
Terri Jackley, Racine
Deb Wearne-Neurohr, Portage
Becky Peppler, Winneconne
Kara Pezzi, Appleton
Executive Director Ed Mueller
Since our Summer Board Meeting, I had 683 dues notices sent out and deposited about 100 in the checking accouint. I culled the over one year in arrears and removed about 12 that had moved without a forwarding address (usually Exploratoriium seniors) The database was updated when our mailing service found about 40 addresses with problems. This is done before the Newsletters are mailed so we do not have to pay about $2.60 to get an undeliverable Newsletter back.
The Money Market at the bank has been added to the Checking account so we do not incur penalties when the amount drops below $2000. The $7000+ dollars was only making less than a dollar which would be less than the cost of a penalty. Met with our stock and securities man at Edward Jones to make a few movements within our portfolio. The market has been good to the securities we have in the Foundation portfolio.
The Federal Tax Form 990 has been a bit of a challenge with the Milt Pella funds but I have finished a penciled copy, checked it once and will check it again before sending off on line before December 15. Hopefully the large increase in funds will not cause us to have to file additional forms.
The financials and membership data will be shared at the Board Meeting.
I have been thinking about offering a WSST leftover for anyone who is in arrears and pays the 3 year dues. We'll discuss. I also will bring along some items I have found from previous Board meetings for anyone who may wish them.
Website Report - Julie / Dale 2011 winter board meeting
Chris the 2012 web person has done a great job learning our system. We have had a few snags but we will continue to work through the issues.
We had an issue with the ability to upload files to the website. Dale spent a few hours on the phone and on the web trying to figure out the problem. A patch has been made and the issue has been resolved.
Jason has been working hard to make the awards and rec group become more digital. Some of the awards info will be filled out through our website and the rest will be sent to Jason through g-mail.
I did receive a few e-mails this fall from people having troubles working with our forms. The first issue is a common one. People forget their log in and password. The site if not friendly when it comes to re-sets so I have made most forms available to any one even if they are not logged on. The second issue seems to be that schools are improving their firewall. If users try to open the forms at work the firewall may be blocking this process.
A recommendation for committees using our website to complete a task: Always provide an e-mail contact in case the user is having issues. We do not want the technology to stop people for completing tasks such as apply for grants or nominating an individual for an award.
On the website I have attempted to set a contact e-mails for our committees and board members. As the committee member change and new board members are elected this information should be provided.
Keep sending any editorial corrections my way. Any board members or committee chairs can make changes if they would like. I am always notified when a web change is made. Here is a screen cast with some instructions. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMob87iFG0w
If you would like post to the web you will need to use the following Login to make editorial changes:
Login: UniversalWSST Password: ___________ Kevin will give you the password. DarlyFitz has been deleted.
I.A.1 - I pass along Science Matters/WSN info to fellow teachers in my building.
I.A.2 I met with the pre-service teachers at Edgewood on Thursday, Dec. 1 to promote WSST
I.A.3 I gave away free memberships to the Edgewood students.
I. A.6B N/A
1.B.4 - plan to attend the town hall meeting at the 2012 conference
2.A.1b- Send eBlast, conference reminders, WSST Grants and WSST awards to district 5 members
2.A.4a - I have not posted to the WSST website recently
2.A.4b - N/A
2.B.1 - Encourage District 5 members to apply for Science Futures
2.D.1 - N/A
3.B.3 - Send "WSST eBlasts" and "Science Matters in Wisconsin" to District 5 members and encourage feedback
Respectfully submitted,
Denise McCulley
District 5 director
The conference planning committee is meeting regularly. We conference call with the 2013 chairs (Lauren and Matt) to help them in their planning.
We have our three speakers, Tim Samaras (National Geographic tornado guy) for Friday night banquet, Rupa Shevde from UW-Madison (stem cells) for Friday lunch and Christina Cruzen (primate vet) for Saturday breakfast.
The exhibit chairs have been making personal calls to vendors. So far we have one check from National Geographic and 3 verbal commitments. We are trying to encourage more vendor contributions. We have three levels of participation $100‐$499: (¼ Page Newsletter, advertisement on WSST Website for 1 Month, Shared Banner with Company Logo) $500‐$999:½ Page Newsletter, Advertisement on WSST Website for 2 Months, Banner with Company Logo, Lunch for 2) $1000 and up:(Full Page Newsletter, Advertisement on WSST Website for 3 Months, Banner with Company Logo, Booth Upgrade, Choice of Booth Space). Holt has commited to again helping to sponsor the pre-banquet social.
The information on our website is increasing. At this point, you can reserve your hotel room online (14 reserved as of Nov. 28). We have speaker information on Tim Samaras and are developing the bios for our other speakers. The call for presenters has brought in 14 workshops and about 60 sessions so far. We will get the registration form up promptly, along with workshop and fieldtrip descriptions.
Some things will remain the same: exploratorium, vendor social (moved up to 3-5 on Thursday) meal offerings, graduate credit course offering, etc. But we are trying a few new things. To increase attendance and to try to bring in new faces, we are offering a 4 for 3 registration rate. All four teachers must be from the same school district and we are encouraging groups to include an elementary teacher. On Thursday we will have a schmooze with the scientists social at the new Wisconsin Institutes of Discovery on the UW campus from 5-7pm. Friday night after the banquet, we will be hosting a science murder mystery in lieu of a band. We were concerned that many of the attendees would take advantage of all the night life that Madison has to offer and the expense of a band would not be worth it. Saturday morning we will have a family-centered presentation called the Wonder of Physics rather than the Legends of Science. By giving the guys a year off, we may keep them fresher for our audience.
We have a dedicated and hard-working group. We are looking forward to seeing you all in Madison, March 8-10.
Respectfully submitted,
Denise McCulley and Kevin Niemi
Co-chairs 2012 WSST conference
WSST District 2 Report: 2011 WINTER Board Meeting
I attended Jason Brazzale and Brad Wysocki's first "Western WI Science Ed Share Group" in October. AWESOME!! WSST sponsors the food for these meetings. Group members (~30) have the opportunity to share chemistry/physics/biology activities via a WIKI. I will be attending the second meeting on Dec 7th and plan on giving away free WSST memberships to those who are interested.
Strategic Plan Responsibilities:
I.A.1 - Send WSN eNews to elementary teachers
1.A.2 - N/A (not assigned an IHE)
1.A.3 - I will be attending the Central / West Science Share Session on Dec 7th...I will update on the number of free memberships awarded at the share session at the Spring Board Meeting.
1.A.6B - N/A
1.B.4 - attended the town hall meeting at the 2011 conference and plan to attend the town hall meeting at the 2012 conference
2.A.1b- yes - Send eBlast, conference reminders, WSST Grants and WSST awards to district 2 members
2.A.4a - 2011 WSST Conference Web Page and added the November eBlast to the website
2.A.4b - 2011 WSST Conference Web Page
2.B.1 - Encourage District 2 members to apply for Science Futures
2.D.1 - N/A
3.B.3 - Send "WSST eBlasts" and "Science Matters in Wisconsin" to District 2 members and encourage feedback
Expenses: none
Respectfully submitted,
Tracy Swedlund
District 2 Director
WSST President's report
Kevin Niemi
District 3 Report
Winter 2011
1.A.1 WSST and WEST- personally nothing done at the local school level- I don't regularly meet with the elementary staff.
1.A.2 No collage connections have been made at this time
1.A.3 I gave1 free membership- new teacher at Sheboygan Falls HS
1.A.6B I did not hear from Silver Lake this year. I did not contact Sister since I do not have materials to give her or send to her. I usually drive 40 minutes one way to speak to her class.
1.B.4 I attended the “Town Hall” listening session at the annual conference in the Dells and plan to attend in Madison.
2.A.1b- I have submitted materials to present in Madison on Formative Assessment. I also spoke to members of the high school staff about presenting.
2.A.4a I will be adding the Dec. e--blast to the website.
2.A.4b I have not added materials to the website for other members at this time.
2.B.1 I added materials on the Dino Dig to the Dec e-blast
2.D.1 As our Summer meeting I have not worked to plan any new forums.
3.b.3 I sent out e-mail messages including but not limited to the monthly e-blasts
Expenses: none
Respectfully Submitted,
Tammy Huenink
District 3 Director
District VI Report Kathy
Cady
<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
I-A.1: Promoted WEST to any elementary teachers I
came across, both in and out of district.
I-A.2: No visits were made since conference
I-A.3: One free membership given to student teacher.
I-A.6b: none made
I-B.4: Attended town hall at the conference
II-A.1b: N/A
II-A.4a: continue to update website and eblasts with
current information
II-A.4b: area is set up by webmaster
II-B.1: Worked on selection committee for Science
Futures, but did not act as a staff member this year.
II-D.1: Helped the physics share group get in
contact with Ed to receive materials for collaboration and building of wave
tubes. Continue to share emails about upcoming group activities for both chem. and
physics share groups in my district.
III-B.3: send out emails to district members and ask
for input whenever I send out eblasts.
no expenses incurred
Did promotion of the 2012 conference at the Kalahari.
Added several new people to our committee, got a new vendor contact, and took suggestions from conference attendees on ideas for Madison.
Speakers include National Geographic Explorer (name to be announced later) for the Banquet, Rupa Shevde (stem cells) for the Friday luncheon. We are looking into Michael Feldman (Whad'Ya Know fame) for the Satuday morning breakfast, but that is only an idea.
Preliminary list of field trips has been generated.
Looking at a Thursday evening schmooze with the scientists at the new Wisconsin Institute of Discovery (following the exhibit opening?)
Friday evening may be tough to keep people on site. Bob Boone's band was fantastic at the Kalahari and we'd like to bring him back. But downtown Madison may be a really strong draw.
Conference logo is on the website.
Handled a little bit of correspondence regarding the Madison conference
Will be establishing dates for meetings throughout the year to stay on track.
Checking account ($1500.00) has been established at the Dane County Credit Union. Kevin and Denise are both able to sign checks. Expenses so far have been related to meeting costs and promotional items.
Rainbow spectral glasses 434.50
Fiber optic centerpieces 126.00
Committee shirts 319.17 (will need to order more)
Placemats 58.97
We probably will need another advance from WSST to cover upcoming costs until we begin to generate revenue.
Respectfully submitted,
Denise McCulley
District 5 Report Summer 2011
Continued to send out monthly eBlasts to District 5 members and to respond to their questions and concerns
Strategic Plan
I –A.1: Received old WEST display board for use in promotion of upcoming conferences. Will pass board onto the 2013 group.
I-A.2: Contacted Edgewood College in Fall 2010 for WSST promotional visit
I-A.3: Gave away 9 free memberships; 8 to Edgewood College pre-service students and one to a new science teacher at my school.
I-A.6b: Visited Edgewood College Fall 2010 (Oct. 21) to promote WSST to pre-service science teachers
I-B.4: Oops, missed the Town Hall meeting at the Kalahari conference. Was meeting with vendors…..
I-B.5: Completed in 2010, no updates done.
II-A.1b: Included call for presenters info in monthly eBlasts to district members, as well as encouraged the pre-service teachers I met with to consider presenting.
II-A.3b: Composed and sent out the March eBlast
II-A.5a: Posted my March eBlast to the blog page
II.A.5b: Did not contribute any lesson plans, resources, or activities, other than those in the March eBlast.
II-B.1: Promoted Science Futures through the monthly eBlasts.
II-D.1: Did not provide any forum-type activities for District 5
III-B.3: Sent out monthly eBlasts and contributed articles to each of the newsletters
Expenses: None
Respectfully submitted,
Denise McCulley
Web Page Report: Submitted Julie Dale and Brian
-Worked with the foundation to help them get their on-line application for grants set up. The face to face meeting was important to help the group with an understanding of using the web to complete grant applications.
-Starting to create screen cast to help facilitate the use of our web site with WSST committees. Made a few screen casts for the convention web person Chris and for foundations. Will also be sharing a screen cast with the board.
-Reminder that the committees need to be responsible for the writing end of any web task that they would like to complete and they need to be able to work with in the constraints of the web.
-Kevin has requested that old minutes be linked to our web site. I consulted Dale and Brian on this one. Publications will be working on this task.
-Professional Development: Chad was posting many opportunities and categorize them according to content. Publications feels that this should continue but they would also like to see this responsibility stay with the professional development committee. Publications can highlight professional development with main page links.
-Will be making screen casts that will help committee chairs keep current their members list and description of their function. Please advise on how to make sure that the web information is updated. It is important to committee members to have their names documented with in our organization.
-Host server GoDaddy will be renewed for one year. Summer 2012 we will be looking for a newer quicker server.
Reminders for the web page:
Start up conference web page and call for presenters Summer
Work with foundation Summer
Up date pictures Summer board meeting
Up date e-mail contacts Summer board meeting
Communicate process for updating web with committee chairs Summer
Tech support for conference web page Fall
Set up Awards and Rec Sept
Set up Front and Center Grant Feb
Advertise: Vendors that help us, Science Futures, Professional Development
All current events go to center blog
I have sent my detailed report to Ed who I trust will have copies at our meeting.
Karyl
District 3 Report
Summer 2011
1.A.1 WSST and WEST- personally nothing done at the school level-
1.A.2 I made contact with Silver Lake College no visit was made
1.A.3 I gave1 free membership
1.A.6B I did not visit Silver Lake this year. We kept waiting for the new updated materials to be handed out. As it got later in the semester we were not able to schedule even without materials. My contact at Silver Lake is S. Lorita Gaffney lorita@silver.sl.edu.
1.B.4 I attended the “Town Hall” listening session at the annual conference.
2.A.1b- I did talk to a few members about presenting at our last conference.
2.A.4a I added materials to the website including professional development opportunities.
2.A.4b I have added materials to the website for other members
2.B.1 I shared the materials on Science Futures with my district members.
2.D.1 This spring I offered a Great Lakes workshop in cooperation with Great Lakes in My World. I was able to give the curriculum $50 for people that registered for the workshop.
3.b.3 I sent out e-mail messages including but not limited to the monthly e-blasts
Expenses: 19.77 Great Lakes Workshop
Respectfully Submitted,
Tammy Huenink
District 3 Director
WSST District 2 Report: 2011 Summer Board Meeting
I want to thank Ray, Ed and the membership committee for an AWESOME time at the WSST - Brewer game!!!! My family had a great time!!!! Thanks for all the work organizing the tailgate food and making sure the brewers came away with a win!!!!
Strategic Plan Responsibilities:
I.A.1: Send WSN eNews to elementary teachers
1.A.2 N/A (not assigned an IHE)
1.A.3 none
1.A.6B N/A
1.B.4 - attended the town hall meeting at the 2011 conference
2.A.1b- yes - Sent eBlast, conference reminders and WSST awards to district 2 members
2.A.4a - 2011 WSST Conference Web Page
2.A.4b - 2011 WSST Conference Web Page
2.B.1 - Encourage District 2 members to apply for Science Futures
2.D.1 - did not complete
3.b.3- Send eBlasts to District 2 members and encourage feedback
Expenses: none
Respectfully submitted,
Tracy Swedlund
District 2 Director
2011 WSST Conference – Summer Board Meeting Report
The 2011 conference committee would like to thank each of you who attended, participated and presented at the 53rd annual WSST Science Conference held at the Kalahari Resort and Convention Center!! Our goal was to make the science conference a fantastic experience and one that you will remember. Enhancing teaching strategies, engaging in sessions / workshops / field trips, visiting with friends, building new relationships / community partnerships, and sharing ideas with each other is what the WSST conference experience is all about.
2011 Conference Committee: THANKS FOR ALL YOUR WORK AND ENTHUSIASM!!
Tracy Swedlund & Rodney Dymesich (Co-Chairs)
Jason Brazzale – AV Equipment & Session Greeter
Amy Dopp – Field Trips
Rodney Dymesich – Exhibitors & Presenter / Member Gifts
Tammy Huenink – Registration
Jim Huhn – Retired Workers
Kristin Michalski – Registration
Ed Mueller – Registration
Dan Nelson – Meals / Entertainment
Ray Scolavino – MACSTEP Exploratorium & WSST Conference Signs
Jenny Shipman – Meals / Entertainment
Scott Stankowski – Sessions / Workshops / Science Content Sessions
Tracy Swedlund – Conference Web Page & Program
2011 Conference highlights include:
-Vendor Social (80 + exhibitors) / Passport Challenge
-Over 135 Sessions / Workshops / Science Content Sessions
-Keynote Speakers:
Banquet: Mark Lee (Colonel, USAF, Ret.) NASA Astronaut (former)
Lunch: Chris Cold – (WI DNR)
Breakfast: Alvin Schuller – (South Africa) / Pat Arndt – (Berlin High School)
-Legends of Science (Gary Krueger, Steve Bower, and Larry Scheckel)
-9th annual MACSTEP Exploratorium
-4th annual town hall meeting
-WESTA Rock Raffle
-Member Social (upper deck of the water park – pizza & beverages)
-WEST Share Session (coffee & rolls)
-Retired WSST member session gathering (coffee & rolls)
-Field Trips (Aldo Leopold Shack and Center Tour, Woolersheim Winery, Devils Lake, etc)
-After Banquet Dance featuring “The Cutaways” (Past WSST President Bob Boone)
The 2011 WSST Conference Financial Report will be presented at the Summer Board Meeting....
Strategic Plan Responsibilities:
I-B.1 - Science Futures 2011 session at the Conference
I-B.4 - 4th annual Town Hall Meeting during the Conference
II-A.1a - Committee implemented standards-based sessions to meet membership needs... (did not complete a post conference survey)
II.A.1b - New & Innovative Sessions for the annual conference (Science Content Sessions)
Respectfully submitted,
Tracy Swedlund & Rodney Dymesich (Co-Chairs)
Continue to forward the eBlasts to District 1 members.
2. Continue to offer freebie memberships through the eBlasts to anyone who has a colleague that is not a member. I’ve sent out six freebies so far.
3. Continue to post on NSTA listservs.
4. Attended the WSST convention in Wisconsin Dells.
No expenses.
Respectfully submitted,
Steve Gustafson
Kevin and I have a core committee of about 8 people at this point. We have met a few times and have focused mainly on preparing for our promotion of the 2012 conference at the Dells.
We have established an account at the Dane County Credit Union, Kevin and I are both authorized to sign the checks.
We have our theme - Science on the Terrace and Beyond
We have begun to develop a field trip list.
Speakers for the conference include Banquet - National Geographic explorer
Luncheon - stem cell speaker from UW-Madison
Breakfast - WSST adventures (tentative)
We are hoping to run a social at the new Wisconsin Institute for Discovery building, perhaps on Thursday evening.
We may be looking to re-negotiate our contract with the Hilton regarding room nights. Currently we are at 240 room nights for Wednesday through Saturday. With a per room cost of $159 and a likely cut in available funds, this may be a HUGE issue.
We have paid for meeting food, banquet placemats and centerpieces, promotional give-aways, and committee shirts. I am sure our checking account needs a little boost. We will discuss that at the board meeting.
We have lots to do, but feel we have a great group to develop a wonderful 2012 conference.
Respectfully submitted,
Denise McCulley and Kevin Niemi
co-chairs 2012 conference
1. I submitted an article to the WSST newsletter about my reflections on the value of attending the WSST conference.
2. Composed the March eblast and posted it to the WSST website. Sent out eblasts monthly to district 5 members.
3. Have been busy planning the 2012 conference in Madison along with Kevin Niemi.
No expenses
Respectfully submitted,
Denise McCulley
Web Report Julie Fitzpatrick/Dale Basler
A big thanks goes out to Tracy for his work on the WSST convention web site. Tracy was very easy to work with and very tech savvy. I am going to ask that he stays involved to help ease the transition to the next convention web person.
The web page is going well. Much of my time is spent helping others to use our web site to meet their needs. Drupal is working well and Dales vision of the use of this application is growing.
Any committee who wants to use the web to promote their ideas needs to appoint or recruit a tech person. This person should be some one who has web experience. I will help the tech person to get started and prefer to do this over the phone.
Front and Center Grant to be given away at the convention was set up for the Foundation. The detailed work was done last year so it was a quick set up this year. Only suggestion would be for the Foundation to get the word out prior to the convention.
Have been working with the Foundations in referene to their grants. Very helpful to have Peter Watts take over the tech part of the grants. We will be meeting at the conference and getting the kinks worked out.
I would like to suggest a meeting between the committee chairs and web correspondence which is me. At this meeting I would like to do a little bit of training and review with the chairs in reference to the web page.
Please take a look at your Strategic Planning Action Items. Be prepared for our summer Board meeting where we will be accountable for reporting on progress towards meeting each Action Item that we are responsible for as Board members. The additional report item is to say that we need someone to take on the Chairing of this amazingly fun and productive committee.
Respectfully submitted,
Kevin J. Niemi, SP committee chair
I.A.1: Send out all WSN eNews to elementary teachers and suggest membership to WSST.
1.A.2 No requests for spring at this point.
1.A.3 Tried to give away a couple, but they never emailed me after an initial meeting and offer.
1.A.6B none
1.B.4 I will be at the town hall during conference.
2.A.1b- I sent reminders to my district for call for presenters and awards
2.A.4a I have not posted to website since the last meeting..
2.A.4b I help with the Science Futures website as needed.
2.B.1 I am working on the planning team for Science Futures and am planning on helping this summer during the week of Science Futures.
2.D.1 I attended Darwin Day at UW-Madison during Feb. I have forwarded information regarding the physics and chem share groups in my area.
3.b.3 I wrote an article for the last newsletter and continue to send out the eblasts and WSN eNews.
-Kathy Cady
1.A.1 WSST and WEST- personally nothing done at the school level-
1.A.2 No contacts for spring.
1.A.3 I have not given any free memberships out.
1.A.6B none
1.B.4 I plan to attend the Town Hall meeting at the 2011 conference
2.A.1b- I sent reminders to my district for call for presenters and awards 2.A.4a I have not added to the website this year.
2.A.4b na
2.B.1 na
2.D.1 I have a Great Lakes workshop for April 9 from 9:00-2:30. This will be sponsored by WSST and Alliance for the Great Lakes.
3.b.3 I wrote one article for the newsletter that focused on District Director open positions.
Expenses: none- I do expect some expenses for refreshments for my workshop.
Respectfully Submitted,
Tammy Gerend
District 3 Director
District 2 Director Report
I want to thank everyone for the wonderful ride serving as the WSST District 2 Director for the past 9 years...It has been a pleasure working with people who have a passion for science education... The past few months have been busy planning the 2011 WSST Conference...Working with Rod and the committee has been a great experience!!
In my district I continue to forward eblast information and other WSST news items..
Sincerely,
Tracy Swedlund
2011 WSST Conference
Rod and I will provide a detailed summary at the spring board meeting.
The WSST Brewer Baseball outting is July 11th. Information has been in the newsletter and placed via flyers in the conference program booklet
After the conference we will once again contact new members and provide them with presidents letter as well as the appropriate district directors letter and information.
The annual congratulations to new National Board Teachers poster has been created and displayed during the conference
Everything is moving along smoothly since the summer board meeting. The big things I have been working on are:
- Mailing out over 700 dues notices to those in arrears.
- Removing over 200 members who have not paid prior to January 1 this year.
- Worked with Darrell Smith (WEST) to move their checking account into our books. We are presently waiting to get the securities held by M&I Investments, moved to our Accounts. The amount is about $20,600 and we may have to go through some hopes to get it moved to WSST.
- I have started the IRS form 990 which is due by the end of the month. The income checks out and I am presently working on the disbursements with related documentation.
- I have been working since September on a project that could bring some income to the WSST Foundation Trust. I will share more information at the Board meeting.
- Copies of the financial report and the membership numbers will be handed out at the Winter Board Meeting
Respectfully submitted,
Ed Mueller
I already gave out my memberships for the year, so gave no more out this fall. I sent out the Sept. eBlast and posted it to the webpage. In November I talked to the student chapter of NSTA at UW-Oshkosh. I have sent out call for presenters, eBlasts and also information regarding the Chem Share group and Physics Share groups in my district. I am planning on presenting a workshop at the WSST conference in the Spring. I have noticed we have still not changed all of our language to “conference” from convention. We should make sure our web site corrects this. I will email Julie F.
2011 WSST Conference:
A detailed summary of the 2011 Conference will be presented by Rod and Tracy at the Winter Board Meeting.
WSST District II Report (Winter Board Meeting)
I will be attending a DPI meeting in Madison representing WSST along with Kristin Michalski on December 8th....The purpose of the meeting is to explore options for providing flexibility around PLTW courses and who is appropriately licensed to teach those courses.
1.A.6B No.
1.A.1 no
1.A.2 no
1.A.3 one free membership
1.B.4 I plan to attend the Town Hall meeting at the 2011 conference
2.A.1b- I have kept District II members updated throughout the year.
2.A.4a WSST 2011 Conference Updates
2.A.4b no
2.B.1 no
2.D.1 no.
3.b.3 no
Expenses: none
Respectfully Submitted,
Tracy Swedlund
1.A.1 WSST and WEST- personally nothing done at the school level-
1.A.2 I made contact with Silver Lake College- There are only 2 students so I will just send information to Sister and she will get that to her students.
1.A.3 I have not given any free memberships out.
1.A.6B I will send folders to S. Gaffney once they are ready. My contact at Silver Lake is S. Lorita Gaffney lorita@silver.sl.edu.
1.B.4 I plan to attend the Town Hall meeting at the 2011 conference
2.A.1b- I have sent the call for presenters to my district members
2.A.4a I have not added to the website this year.
2.A.4b na
2.B.1 na
2.D.1 I have not set up a form yet this year. I am planning one for spring in correlation to my Great Lakes Educator Advanced Certification.
3.b.3 I wrote one article for the newsletter that focused on District Director open positions.
Expenses: none
Respectfully Submitted,
Tammy Gerend
District 3 Director
Conference Coordinator
Since the summer board meeting I have visited two sites for Possible future conferences, The former Holiday Inn in Stevens Point and the Patriot center in Wausau. I will be reporting to the board my visit and a poposal from the Patriot Center.
I have also been contacted by the Grand Geneva on a return to their facility.
Dick S
Put together the November eBlast and distributed to other directors. Continue to forward the eBlasts to District 1 members. In order to attract more membership, especially among new teachers, I offered free memberships with the September eBlast for first year teachers. When that didn’t attract any attention, I offered free memberships to anyone who isn’t currently a member through the succeeding eBlasts. That has resulted in four “freebie” memberships so far.
One of the memberships was for geology professor Tom Fitz from Northland College who I use as a resource for an earth science field trip to the Penokee Mountain area near Mellen. His membership resulted from conversations we had about professional organizations and his expressed interest in WSST, which he hadn’t previously known about. He could be a good resource for secondary issues, especially if we’re looking for someone to represent the northern part of the state, since there aren’t many secondary schools in District 1.
I also presented a session at our CESA 12 convention held at Hayward HS on October 22 on the JASON Project. I’m also supposed to do a similar presentation at the state charter school convention next spring. At the same conference, I chaired a meeting of science teachers. One of the main topics of discussion was having area meetings where we could share curriculum ideas. As of yet, no meetings have been scheduled. In hindsight, this could have been used as a great recruiting tool for WSST; unfortunately, I didn’t think of it until too late. (Next year!)
The huge size of District 1 makes it difficult to feel much unity. I’m guessing we have far fewer members than the other districts. I’d like to discuss recruiting efforts at our meeting in the Dells. For instance, has anyone attempted to go through their local CESA to obtain email addresses or to advertise in their newsletter?
Web Report Julie Fitzpatrick/Dale Basler
Tracy has done a great job using the WSST web site for the 2011 convention updates. It was helpful to meet with Tracy during the summer board meeting and help him to get started. We also had a few phone conferences.
The 2012 Convention committee should be looking for an individual who is good with technology and willing to learn how to use our website to create 2012 convention links. We have archived the old web pages to help with this process. I am asking that I meet with this person during the summer board meeting to help them get started.
Awards and Rec has continued to have an on-line, and mail in version of nominations for awards. The group is also offering an e-mail option. Foundations is working on setting up a on-line grant applications. The form component of the Drupal, our web page application is not very user friendly. This may be a challenge.
The block to the right of our home page are being changed periodically. These blocks highlight current events.
A universal log in for individual who need to post to our website has been created. This log in will change periodically. Using a universal log in is easier than setting up individuals with certain permissions. Too much time was spent trying to find the users original log in.
Directors when it is your turn to post your e-blast, e-mail me and I will send you a user name and log in. Candar@mac.com
We are still having periodic hackers figure out how to blog to our center column. These blogs are usually deleted with in a day or so but I appreciate it if and when people notice these posts that they alert me.
Dale and I will be meeting in the Dells to discuss some possible changes to the website.
I continue to distribute e-blasts and other information appropriate for the South Eastern Wisconsin areas served by District 7. Due to the increased contact of my school with Concordia University -Wisconsin in Mequon, i have presented 3 freebie memberships to several deserving people: a recent a science ed grad who is a tennis coach and preferred science sub, a pre service science ed major who is in the observation phase of his training and a biology-chemistry major who has just completed a practicum period with one of our biology teachers and wo will be student teaching next semester with another colleague. (After many years of rarely having student teachers in our department it is wonderful to have a "plethora" of them recently and presently!)
Otherwise, it has been a crazy semester so far- I do not recommend floods and postponed starts to anyone. We all feel like we are on a crazy treadmill this year so far! Hopefully next semester I will be able to do some more District 7 outreach through the Physics Sharing group and some other activities in the Milwaukee/SE Wisconsin area.
Karyl Rosenberg
District 7 Director
1. Continue to forward eblasts to members and to push for presenters for the conference at the Kalahari
2. I visited Edgewood College methods class on Oct. 21 to promote WSST to preservice teachers.
3. Gave out several free memberships to Edgewood students and to a new science teacher in my building.
4. Sent a letter of congratulations to Melissa Hemling who received the Presidential Award for Science Teaching from Wisconsin. Her membership in WSST was complimenarily renewed for one year.
No expenses
Respectfully submitted,
Denise McCulley
I am hoping to get an updated email list of the District 6 members. I would like to redo my address book and have the correct info.
I-A.1 Was present for discussions of integration at spring board meeting. Recruited elementary science teachers to join WSST at Science futures 2.
I-A.2 Emailed all colleges and universities in my district to offer to come speak to their preservice teachers.
I-A.3 Gave away 8 free memberships at the NSTA student chapter at UW-Oshkosh and to a new teacher upon request from WSST member.
I-A.6b Spoke at UW-Oshkosh’s student NSTA chapter about WSST
I-B.4 Attended the Town Hall meeting held at the LaCrosse conference
I-B.5 Learned my new district director position this year
II-A.1b Brought along a probationary teacher to present a workshop at WSST spring conference and sent out calls for presenters via emails and eblasts
II-A.2b Composed and sent out the November eBlast. Added local news and info. to eblasts from other district directors and sent promptly to the Dist 6 members
II-A.4a N/A
II-A.4b N/A
II-B.1 Was on planning team and helped staff Science futures in both ’09 and ‘10
II-D.1 Did not do any forums.
III-B.3 Provided information through email, eblasts and newsletters.
Expenses: NONE
I-A.1 Attended the Spring WSST board meeting where intergration issues were discussed
I-A.2 Contacted Edgewood College in Fall 2009 for WSST promotional visit
I-A.3 Gave away 6 free memberships: 3 to preservice teachers at Edgewood and 3 to Madison area teachers
I-A.6b Visited Edgewood College Fall 2009 to promote WSST to pre-service teachers
I-B.4 Attended the Town Hall meeting held at the LaCrosse conference
I-B.5 Worked with the rest of the directors to complete the district director job description
II-A.1b Included call for presenters info in monthly eBlasts to district members, as well as encouraged the pre-service teachers I met with to consider presenting
II-A.2b Composed and sent out the October and April eBlast
II-A.4a Did not post anything to the blog
II-A.4b Did not contribute any lesson plans, resources, or activities to the blog
II-B.1 Promoted Science Futures through the monthlly eBlasts
II-D.1 Did not provide any forum-type activities for District 5
III-B.3 Sent out monthly eBlasts and contributed articles to each of the newletters
Expenses: NONE
Public Relations Committee Board of Directors Report
August 11, 2010
2010 Action Taken to Date :
March 13th
1. Reviewed strategic plan duties and determined Standard Operating Procedure
2. Prepared and updated WSST booth for 2010 Convention including ordering clothes
July 22nd
1. Reviewed operation and preparation of booth and determined suggestions for improvement and needs for annual updates on booth:
Pictures and info of 2010 Award Winners needed for 2011 booth
Excellence in Science Teaching Award
Friends of Science Education Award
Ron Gibbs Award
Suggestions for Improvement:
Pictures and names of newly certified and re-certified Nationally Board Certified Teachers
Picture and Quote from Ed
A list of contact information for members of WSST willing to work would be very helpful to seek members to work the booth.
2. As per strategic plan Action Step I-A.6b the former public relations kit was reviewed and suggestions were made for items to be placed in updated membership kit. A goal for distribution of the public relations kit at the December Board Meeting. This will depend on District Director contact as well as membership committee contact.
3. WEAC Convention Booth: It was determined to pursue obtaining a booth at the upcoming 2010 convention in October. This booth would focus on elementary school recruitment. The booth would also depend on support from the Board as well as support from the WEST committee.
Suggestions for Improvement
As a new committee chair it was thought it would be nice to have a meeting time for all committee chairs to connect as many of the duties between committees connect.
Kelley Hoffman
WSST Newsletter Report, Summer 2010
Newsletter Checking Account:
August, 2009 Balance (After $500 deposit to Ed): $181.67
+Ad Revenue: $825.00
LibSyn Payments (+$70 for upcoming year): $130.00
August, 2010: $876.67
WSST Advertising Rates (No Change):
(10% discount on 2 or more of identical ad in current volume)
Recommended 2010-2011 Newsletter Deadlines: