Katie Pasternak is maintaining a face-to-face connection with her students, even during the challenging separation of COVID-19. At 9 a.m. Monday through Thursday, the senior Elementary Education major from Yorkville sits in front of her computer’s camera to teach math – live
Read moreKeep learning, keep teaching – Part 2: Educators detail COVID-19 adjustments
Jeremy Rehmus works full time as the manager of a restaurant in Oswego, where he lives with his wife and their 4-year-old son and 2-year-old daughter. With many restaurants remaining “essential” and open during the stay-at-home order, his is one experiencing great
Read moreKeep learning, keep teaching: Students, alums detail their COVID-19 adjustment
We want to know what our teacher-licensure students and educator-alums and are doing to “keep teaching.” Please complete our Educators in Action online form to tell us how you’re promoting eLearning with your students during the COVID-19 situation! Teaching in the time
Read moreHouston, we have liftoff! Two COE alums reach stars with Texas teaching awards
Jessica Dyra and Aimee Zepeda are proof of the power of positive role models. “I’ve always liked school, and as I grew up, I saw how much of an impact my teachers had on me,” says Dyra, who is from Crystal Lake.
Read moreRochelle school leaders partner with NIU to identify, prepare, hire bilingual teachers
Jason Harper, superintendent of schools in nearby Rochelle, knows that the diversity of his community is evolving. Forty percent of the Hub City’s current population is Hispanic, a number that only will continue to rise in coming years. Harper also understands that
Read moreSeven Golden Apple of Rockford finalists share NIU College of Education heritage
Seven of this year’s 20 Golden Apple of Rockford finalists are graduates of the NIU College of Education. They teach in Rockford, Belvidere, Durand, Machesney Park, Rockton and South Beloit. They teach preschool, kindergarten, third-grade, fourth-grade and fifth-grade. They came to teaching
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 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 moreElementary Ed major Emily Soto earns place on Fulbright-Hays trip to Mexico
Emily Soto came to NIU from Dwight, Ill., to study business, which she did during her freshman and sophomore years. But she ultimately didn’t feel a passion for that career path, prompting her to enroll instead in the Department of Curriculum and
Read moreEducate Global travelers leave China with perspective from another’s shoes
Educate Global 2.0 is history. China looms in the rearview mirror. A new semester of learning is underway in DeKalb. But the broadened perspectives Educate Global provided to NIU’s future teachers seem destined to persist in countless and unpredictable ways. Just ask
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