Professional Growth
Cultivating New Approaches
to Teaching and Learning B y A m a n d a R i tc h i e
The AIU launched its second iteration of the transformED Teacher Innovation Fellowship this past spring. The initiative serves as an incubator for new approaches to teaching and learning by bringing together teachers with a shared interest in advancing instructional innovation.
“ Special education teachers are rarely the first selected to attend innovation-focused professional development. And yet, special education at its core embodies innovation—leveraging cuttingedge technologies and emerging research in the brain sciences. For that reason, transformED designs trainings that intentionally highlight the intersection of special education and innovation.”
Fellows are each awarded a $1,500 mini-grant to purchase technology, maker materials and other resources to support innovative teaching approaches that they design and pilot within their own classrooms, with funding provided through the support of the Grable and Henry L. Hillman foundations. Collaborating peer-to-peer at in-person sessions, they share progress and talk through challenges throughout the fellowship.
This year’s class of fellows included two cohorts with a total of 36 K-12 teachers from across the region, including a cohort of special education teachers who
were recruited in partnership with the AIU’s Training and Consultation team, which provides p rofessional development for educators who serve students with special needs. Tyler Samstag, the AIU’s director of Instructional Innovation and program director for transformED, initiated the formation of that cohort as a proactive measure to increase participation among special education teachers.
The fellows assembled at the AIU in May to share how they integrated instructional innovation into their classrooms at the first-ever transformED Teacher Innovation Fellowship Showcase. Tyler Samstag
Each teacher shared their insights on how they implemented creative, future-ready learning opportunities for their students over the course of the fellowship. Read on to learn about two projects from the special education cohort. “It’s not often that special education t eachers get the collaboration and support from enrichment facilitators,” said Elizabeth Barnes, standing alongside Hampton High School enrichment facilitator Melissa Survinski, Ph.D., at their transformED Fellowship Showcase table. Barnes, who teaches special education at Hampton High School, teamed up with Dr. Survinski to reimagine the School Jobs class for special education students.
Elizabeth Barnes (second from right), special education teacher at Hampton High School, advocates for enrichment for all students, not just the top performers. Photo: Zachary D’Amico
“We all worked together,” Barnes said. “It’s something that we wanted to do because it’s what we believe about education for kids. I think that’s a really powerful statement about collaboration and partnerships – and enriching all of our students – not just the top performers.” Through the fellowship, they became more future-focused. “We saw the future of
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