Invisible+College

August, 2010 Dear Colleagues, I would like to invite you to consider coming to the AERA conference 2011 a day before the conference begins to participate in the Invisible College (IC) preconference. Having attended this gathering for many years and having always found it to provide some of the most thought-provoking sessions of the entire conference. The IC sessions offer discussions about ideas or problems or possibilities rather than paper presentations. This year I attended sessions where we discussed projects-in-progress. I also developed my network of colleagues engaged in similar work. What is IC, you ask? IC is From my perspective, IC is a unique opportunity to engage with colleagues with similar commitments to teaching and teacher education around topics of interest. This is also an opportunity to familiarize your graduate students with conference life without the pressure of formal paper presentation. Sessions cover diverse methodologies and international perspectives as well as a broad range of topics. I might say that the broad focus of IC is addressing the question – What would move the conversation about research on teaching and teacher education forward? The IC also serves as the home for two particular graduate student opportunities. Each year, for the last few years, the Narrative SIG and the Self-Study of Teacher Education Practices SIG has each held a graduate student seminar for a day and a half prior to the AERA conference. Each seminar focuses on aspects of research and writing related to methodology. These seminars afford interested graduate students an opportunity to explore the theory and practice of the methodology as well as the prospect of building a network of international colleagues. Where the IC can particularly serve your conference desires is that having a proposal accepted by IC will potentially afford you the opportunity to attend the AERA conference even if you have been rejected by AERA. Again, this would **__not__** be an opportunity to present a paper, but would be an opportunity to engage interested others in a conversation about your work and/or ideas. Or, consider a research topic that you would like to begin pursuing or data that you are beginning to analyze. I invite you to participate. If you are interested, please let me know via email and I will forward your name to Stefinee Pinnegar, the Director of IC. I look forward to hearing from you. Warm Wishes, ML Mary Lynn Hamilton Professor Curriculum and Teaching University of Kansas ANNOUNCING A DOCTORAL STUDENT SEMINAR FOR SELF-STUDY OF TEACHER EDUCATION GRADUATE STUDENTS Beginning last year, the Self-Study of Teacher Education Practices SIG held a doctoral seminar in conjunction with Invisible College for Research on Teaching and Teacher Education. The seminar will be an opportunity for doctoral students to share and discuss their research with other doctoral students and with established Self-Study of Teacher Education Practices researchers. Each doctoral student will be asked to share their research with the group with opportunities for response and dialogue about each student's work. We hope that doctoral students will be engaged in the research part of their doctoral programs. The seminar group will work together on late Wednesday afternoon (April 28, 2010) have dinner together on Wednesday night and will work together on Thursday. Part of Thursday will be spent in the small seminar group with time spent in two Invisible College sessions. The seminar group will meet in the space that Invisible College has negotiated. Interested applicants should send a short curriculum vitae, a one-page description of their research and a letter from their supervisor or member of their supervisory committee to Dr. Mary Manke by January 15, 2010. We anticipate approximately 5-8 students will be accepted.
 * Purpose: ** The meetings are informal and their purpose is the support of research and researchers in the area of research on teaching and teacher education through discussion of topics of interest and concern.
 * History: ** Invisible College was first organized by the office of educational research in an earlier life. One hundred researchers were invited to discuss the field of teacher education. These researchers felt the meetings were so valuable to their own work that they formally organized as an informal group and Jere Brophy organized, managed, and arranged for the meeting from that time until he asked Stefinee Pinnegar to take over leadership in 2007.
 * Format: ** Members of the group propose the sessions (content) and the format for the discussion. We meet in groups of somewhere between 5-30 people depending on personal interest and consider the topics proposed. Some sessions feature a single person seeking help on a research topic, process, or instrument. Other sessions engage two to five people expressing their understanding on a topic followed by discussion amongst the group present. Other sessions involve two people with opposing views presenting their positions, responding to questions from each other followed by group participation and debate.
 * From last year – this seminar occurs at the same time as Invisible College, check with Mandi Berry about 2011.**