Brittany Wereminski has a new tool in her work to bring students to the NIU College of Education. Jumping on a suggestion from Department of Kinesiology and Physical Education Chair Todd Gilson, Wereminski launched a series of podcasts titled “ED Talks.” “Todd
Read moreNIU’s Educators Rising chapter hoping to engage, mentor high school groups
Members of the NIU College of Education’s still-young chapter of Educators Rising are devoted to furthering their preparation, enhancing their marketability – and, they hope, making meaningful connections with those students who will follow in their footsteps. “When we began Educators Rising,
Read moreHere We Grow: Elementary Education
One year after Sally Blake arrived to lead the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, she joined in the August 2019 “grand opening” celebration of a new partnership with Elgin Community College to offer NIU’s B.S.Ed. in Elementary Education there. And she’s still
Read moreClinical supervisor Megan Gerken finds bright workarounds for COVID’s puzzles
Megan Gerken had Monday, March 16, circled on her calendar. That was the day the clinical supervisor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction expected to welcome representatives from Deans for Impact, who were coming to observe a pilot round of their
Read moreCollege launches Educators Rising, members find development, support
Abigail Wright honestly can’t remember wanting to become anything but a teacher. “My mom has videos and picture of me playing school when I was in preschool, and all of my friends had to be the students. I was always the teacher,”
Read moreTeacher-licensure candidates thrive, grow amid COVID-impacted clinicals
For future teachers, the professional semesters of their higher education provide the classroom immersion and real-life, hands-on experience that apply the icing to the cake. During the COVID-19 pandemic, however, most schools simply aren’t operating as usual. Some are all face-to-face, some
Read morePerfect! COE licensure-candidates post 100% pass rate on edTPA despite waiver
Chris Gomes submitted his edTPA Feb. 23, two months before the Illinois State Board of Education decided this spring to waive that requirement for COVID-19. Passage of the edTPA, which measures a teacher-candidate’s competence in planning, instruction and assessment, is usually necessary
Read moreOnline teacher-prep resources available to model best practices during COVID-19
As students of all levels return to class this fall while the COVID-19 pandemic rages on, the format for delivery varies from town to town, district to district and school to school. Some are online only. Some are strictly face-to-face. Some are
Read moreAce! College of Ed licensure students nail 100 percent passage on Spring 2019 edTPA
Anna Morrison loves interactions with children. “Being around them brings a lot of joy into my life – just with certain things kids say, and the way they act, they’re a lot of fun,” says Morrison, a May 2019 graduate of the
Read moreNIU Early Childhood Education program earns renewed Gateways credential nod
NIU’s Department of Special and Early Education (SEED) has earned another five years of approval from the Illinois Network of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies as a Gateways to Opportunity Entitled Institution. The designation allows NIU’s Early Childhood Education majors the
Read moreCollege of Education maintains nearly perfect edTPA pass rates
When Sarah Paver began her student-teaching class last August, the graduate student in Physical Education quickly became concerned. “I was very nervous when the edTPA came up,” says Paver, who graduated in December. “A lot of my classmates had said that they
Read moreCollege of Ed continues to post nearly perfect edTPA pass rates
Nicollette Wlodek knew that the video camera was rolling, but she didn’t mind. Wlodek, an Elementary Education major from NIU, stood confidently before a classroom of Huntley School District fifth-graders to teach a literacy lesson on comparing and contrasting characters in a
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