Curriculum & Instruction
New Partnership Benefits Aspiring Special Education Teachers
Since 2015, Monique Duzant-Hastings has been working with students in grades 5 through 8 who have social, emotional, and behavioral needs. Thanks to the Neag School’s new partnership with her employer, the LEARN Regional Educational Service Center, she has now found a way to advance her career by pursuing certification as a K-12 special education teacher — at no cost to her. The new partnership offers LEARN personnel like Duzant-Hastings — a busy mother of three — the opportunity to apply for admission to the Neag School’s Teacher Certification Program for College Graduates (TCPCG) in special education at UConn’s Avery Point campus.
Teaching in Turbulent Times: Inspiring Dialogue Among Educators
Faculty in the Neag School teacher education program this March brought together more than 70 people — from current students and alumni to local educators and school administrators — for an interactive discussion focused on the theme of “Teaching in Turbulent Times.” Prompted by ongoing discussion in recent months among faculty and educators about political divides surfacing in today’s classrooms, the event — led by Dorothea Anagnostopoulos, executive director of teacher education at the Neag School — was intended to serve as an opportunity for a diverse range of people in the education field to network and speak openly, offering suggestions and concerns.
Kennelly Partnership With Neag School Serves as National Model
The Neag School of Education has long dedicated itself to providing aspiring educators with in-depth, firsthand experience in the classroom as part of its rigorous teacher education program. Its partners include numerous schools across the state of Connecticut at the elementary, middle, and high school levels. For the past 10 years, E.B. Kennelly, a public neighborhood elementary school in Hartford, Conn., has been one of those school partners — and an exemplary one at that, having been recognized this past year with the National Network for Educational Renewal (NNER) Richard W. Clark Exemplary Partner School Award for 2016. The award recognizes a partner school collaboration that is advancing the complex work of developing, sustaining, and renewing partner schools.
Schools Key to Solving Fake News Problem, Says UConn Expert
'If I were going to invest in one thing, that’s where I would invest – giving teachers the instructional tools they can use to teach kids to think critically about online information.'
10 Questions With Three Future Teachers Studying in South Africa
Three Neag School students — Alexandra “Ali” Jabick ’16 (ED), ’17 MA, Cheyann Kelly ’16 (ED), ’17 MA, and Yizhi Wang ’16 (ED), ’17 MA — each in their fifth year of the Integrated Bachelor’s/Master’s program with a concentration in elementary education, are currently spending the semester in Cape Town, South Africa, where they are working at Christel House School, which is run entirely on donations and where all students are on full scholarship.
Noyce Scholarships Offer Opportunity, Support for Careers in Teaching Science
Thanks to a $30,000 Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship, 43-year-old Arthur Lerner is now advancing his education through the Teacher Certification Program for College Graduates at UConn’s Avery Point campus. The scholarship is helping to create a smooth transition for him as he goes from nonprofit work to pursuing a career as a biology teacher.
Using Writing to Engage Your Students in Math
While educators have long been encouraged to engage students in writing when teaching math, specific recommendations on how to leverage writing to enhance learning of mathematics have fallen short — until now.
First-Generation College Grad and First-Year Teacher Comes Full Circle
When recent Neag School graduate Sarah Hodge ’15 (ED), ’16 MA was still a high schooler, she enrolled as one of the first students in the Teacher Preparatory Studies Program at Bulkeley High School, an initiative funded by Bank of America and designed to prepare and encourage talented students, particularly from minority groups, to become teachers. Although she found that she liked working with students, a teaching career was not necessarily what she thought she wanted to pursue at the time.
10 Questions With Kelsey Karp, Aspiring Agriculture Educator
In this new series, the Neag School will be catching up with students, alumni, faculty, and others throughout the year to give you a glimpse into their Neag School experience and their current career, research, or community activities. Here, Kelsey Karp ’16 (CAHNR) — an aspiring agriculture educator currently enrolled in in the Neag School’s Teacher Certification Program for College Graduates (TCPCG) — shares insights into her time at UConn, where she spent her last year as an undergraduate living and working at UConn’s Spring Valley Student Farm. Through TCPCG, an 11-month program designed for college graduates looking to earn teacher certification, Karp is getting one step closer to fulfilling her ambition to become an educator.
Orlando Valentin ’15 (ED), ’16 MA: From Karate to the Classroom
With awards ranging from the Alma Exley Scholarship to the state Minority Teacher Incentive Grant, Orlando Valentin completed the Neag School’s teacher preparation program this spring. The first in his immediate family to have earned a university degree, his goal is to land his first job — ideally, as a teacher in his hometown of Meriden. But don’t let Valentin’s plans to return home to teach fool you. During his time in the Neag School, he has sought out firsthand experience in school districts across Connecticut — as well as in classrooms abroad.