Melanie Walski joined the NIU College of Education in the fall of 2016 as a visiting assistant professor. She was hired as tenure-track in 2017. Peet Smith came 12 months afterward, arriving in 2018. One year later, during the autumn semester of
Read moreThree-time NIU College of Ed alum climbs ladder to DeKalb District 428 headquarters
During his 15 years at DeKalb’s Clinton Rosette Middle School, Tim Vincent donned many hats. Four years teaching seventh-grade science. Two years teaching math. Two years serving as assistant principal. Seven years in charge as principal. What the three-time NIU College of
Read moreThree-decade CPS principal remembers finding career mantra in NIU classrooms
At age 30, recently married and with a child on the way, Richard Morris decided to take an interview for a principal’s job in the Chicago Public Schools. The 1980 alum of the NIU College of Education really wasn’t in the market
Read moreEnrollment climbing in College of Ed
NIU’s official 10-day enrollment numbers showed encouraging gains for the College of Education. The college welcomed 1,186 undergraduates and 1,196 graduate students this fall; both totals are higher than the same time last year, lifting the college’s headcount to 2,382. It comes
Read moreElementary Ed’s Elgin 2+2 off to good start
Esme wants “to give something back to my community, and what better way to do it than by educating the leaders of tomorrow.” Lisset loves “working and interacting with children. I have always looked up to my teachers as role models, and
Read moreJames Cohen studies novel ideas to teach English during Fulbright visit to Uruguay
James Cohen will remember the dirt roads, and the long drives to reach the most rural schools in Uruguay. He’ll remember touring those buildings, seeing the kitchens where the teachers and students eat and the bedrooms where the teachers sleep during the
Read moreGraham, Gabel halls remain busy places as learning flourishes throughout summer
Summer is never slow in buildings that house the NIU College of Education. June saw more than 125 educators, mostly from DeKalb Community Unit School District 428 and Elgin’s U-46, absorbing the Social Justice Summer Camp’s immersive and intensive challenge to their
Read moreFirst cohort of Finland travelers return, minds open to innovative philosophies
Amanda Surrusco hadn’t expected the freedom. Maria Almeida hadn’t expected the differentiation. Kyle Conway hadn’t expected the trust. Surrusco, Almeida and Conway, three of the four NIU College of Education student-travelers on the inaugural Educate Global trip to Finland this May, witnessed
Read moreLiteracy Education grad students tutor, learn inside Jerry L. Johns Literacy Clinic
Danelle Davis spends most of her weekdays from August through May teaching in front of a classroom of nearly 30 first-graders. Summer 2019, however, has afforded the DeKalb School District 428 teacher the opportunity to work individually with a child who needs
Read moreEducate U.S., Engage U.S. celebrate second year of journeys to North Dakota, Colorado
Sometimes the second time around is just as sweet as the first. May 2019 saw the return of Educate U.S. in North Dakota and Engage U.S. in Colorado and Nebraska; both new options of the NIU College of Education programs debuted in
Read moreSTEM Read Summer Institute prepares educators to bring books, curiosity to life
Melanie Koss donned a headpiece that gave her deer ears, reclined motionless on a couch in the Gabel Hall Learning Center, closed her eyes and played the role of a deceased doe. And that wasn’t even the strangest sight at July’s NIU
Read more‘Keep talking’: Educators witness strength, advocacy at Social Justice Summer Camp
They were different women of different ages, sitting in different rooms, hearing different words on different subjects at different times. Yet their response – their natural, human reaction – was the same. The proverbial lumps in the throat, the moisture of not-quite-yet
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