P.J. Fleck will never forget his semester as a student-teacher at Clinton Rosette Middle School. It was Spring 2004, and the wide receiver for the NIU Huskies football team had tried to postpone that classroom immersion – he was training for his
Read moreKNPE, Lorado Taft staff combine forces to keep field experience despite COVID
COVID-19 is not stopping P.E. majors in Gail Koehling’s KNPE 466: Field Experience at Outdoor Environments course from getting a taste of Lorado Taft training. Students in KNPE 466 typically visit the NIU facility in Oregon, Ill., for three days and two
Read moreBlack, Brown & Bilingüe: Alums launch podcast while leading suburban schools
For Lissette Jacobson and Maurice McDavid, the connection began Day One. Both began working in DeKalb in August of 2011, when they attended an orientation for new teachers – and Jacobson couldn’t help but notice McDavid’s commanding voice in the room: “You’re
Read moreAlumni Accomplishments
Congratulations to these alumni who are making a positive impact on the leadership and administration of education at all levels! Dan Bertrand, Ed.D. Educational Administration, ’05, was named director of Park Operations for the Marengo Park District. Bertrand was superintendent of Marengo
Read moreJobs, jobs, jobs! ETRA Ph.D. students, grads turn IT prep into prestigious gigs
Max Anderson is on a unique journey. He was the first instructional designer hired by the University of Illinois College of Medicine. That was 2013. And when college administrators were ready a few years later to recruit and appoint a director of
Read moreUncharted waters: KNPE alum leading COVID-prompted online public school
Families in the 15,000-student Thompson School District of Loveland, Colorado, were offered an intriguing and innovative option this fall as the COVID-19 pandemic barreled into another semester. Called Thompson Connect Online (TCO), it’s a completely virtual “school” created solely to enroll the
Read moreWilkins, Quinzio-Zafran co-edit guide offering advice, support to new teachers
Elizabeth A. Wilkins, coordinator, Graduate Career and Professional Development for the NIU Graduate School and professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, and Anna M. Quinzio-Zafran, an adjunct instructor in the department and 2015 alumna of the Ed.D. in Curriculum Leadership
Read moreCongratulations!
Congratulations to these members of the NIU College of Education family! Dean Laurie Elish-Piper, Professor Emeritus Jerry Johns and NIU College of Education alumna Susan Lenski are recipients of the 2020 Diane Lapp & James Flood Professional Collaborator Award from the International
Read moreNoted golf-swing guru Jim Suttie named Fall 2020 ‘virtual’ Educator in Residence
Jim Suttie was only 4 when he first encountered what has defined the rest of his life and his still-growing list of internationally celebrated accomplishments. “My dad was a physician – a pediatrician – in DeKalb. He played golf, and he got
Read moreAlumni Accomplishments
Congratulations to these alumni who are making a positive impact on the leadership and administration of education at all levels! Andrew Allen, M.S.Ed. Educational Administration, ’04, M.S.Ed. Instructional Technology, ’00, was named executive director of Information Systems in the East Aurora School
Read moreMessage from the Chair
The ancient Greek philosopher, Plato, is credited with the proverb, “Necessity is the mother of invention.” In 2020, I cannot think of truer words. As the COVID-19 pandemic has reshaped higher education, in KNPE we have learned new ways of mentoring students,
Read moreClinical experiences shift for COVID-19, remain meaningful via creative faculty
As a parent who is helping to manage the remote learning of his three young children, Jim Ressler sees firsthand how teachers in the Kaneland School District are shifting their instruction for COVID-19. Ressler, an associate professor of Physical Education Teacher Education,
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