Michigan Education Magazine Fall 2018

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Cover: Middle school student Ivy Ball participates in a meditation exercise led by alumna Anique Pegeron (AM ’16).

Photo by Rachel Woolf.

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Meet Professor Leslie Rupert Herrenkohl

Contributing writer Chris Tiffany

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Inclusive Campuses

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The Mindful Student

We invite you to join the conversation by submitting ideas for future issues, letters to the editor, and class notes. soe.umich.edu/magazine

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It Takes a Village… and a Bold Team to Create that Village

Stay connected!

Web: soe.umich.edu Facebook: facebook.com/UM.SOE Twitter: twitter.com/UMichEducation

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Bosch and the SOE Partner to Train BE3ST STEM Educators

Office of Communications 610 East University Avenue Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1259 soe.communications@umich.edu

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New Paths, New Students, New Outcomes

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Motivated to Learn

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SOE Happenings Class Notes Victors for Michigan Campaign The Back Page: Survey Says...

Design Savitski Design, Ann Arbor Hammond Design, Ann Arbor

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Lead writer Brenna Dugan

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Giving Educators the Tools to Meet the Emotional Needs of Learners

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Editor Danielle Dimcheff

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Detroit: Home to an Innovative Teaching Residency Program

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Through three newly launched initiatives, we are investigating how educators can support student learning and socialemotional wellness in the face of stress and trauma. These efforts include a trauma-informed practice certificate, a project to create positive learning environments in high school math education, and a course on the challenges faced and managed by homeless students.

Dean Elizabeth Birr Moje

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Elizabeth Birr Moje Dean, George Herbert Mead Collegiate Professor, and Arthur F. Thurnau Professor

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I am delighted to introduce the newest addition to our stellar faculty, Dr. Leslie Rupert Herrenkohl, through a short Q&A. Although much of her research is conducted in the context of science learning, Professor Herrenkohl is a developmental psychologist whose work happens to fit perfectly with the thematic focus of this magazine issue.

She examines social and emotional dimensions of learning through the design of innovative learning environments.

We are thrilled to have her join our community.

Our work does not stop with the faculty, staff, and current students of our School of Education. We also learn from the work of two alumni who dedicate themselves to holistic approaches to learning. Luke Wilcox, who just concluded his duties as Michigan Teacher of the Year, is back in his East Kentwood High School math classroom. He shares his findings about understanding and supporting student engagement in learning. Alumna Anique Pegeron invites us to her mindfulness camp, where she trains young people to develop life skills through meditation and prepare their minds for learning.

As always, we are proud to bring you stories of recent gifts that fuel our work, extend our reach, and support our extraordinary students. The Victors for Michigan Campaign, which launched in 2013, will conclude in several short weeks. As we celebrate the impact of gifts, we will continue to map out our institutional vision and priorities because we are far from satisfied with the state of our world. We will continue to seek investments because we know that education is critical to the realization of a just and equitable society.

Finally, it is with great joy that I announce in this issue that the urban teaching school that was introduced in the Spring 2018 issue has found its home in partnership with the Detroit Public Schools Community District, and it is strengthened by an outstanding group of partners. With the formal announcement about this innovative approach to teacher preparation, I have been overwhelmed by the supportive voices of our alumni, Detroit community members, national leaders in education, and the media.

Thank you. Your early encouragement means a great deal to me as we launch what I believe will be a standard-setting model for teacher education on one of the most unique and collaborative preschool-through-college campuses in the world.

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2 n this issue of Michigan Education, we explore learning and educational environments with respect to the social and emotional well-being of students. As educators, we attend to the motivation, engagement, and emotional growth of our students. It requires great skill, which can be strengthened through attention to carefully conducted research and the preparation of excellent practitioners who keep the whole learner in focus.

Through three newly launched initiatives, we are investigating how educators can support student learning and social-emotional wellness in the face of stress and trauma. These efforts include a trauma-informed practice certificate, a project to create positive learning environments in high school math education, and a course on the challenges faced and managed by homeless students. The two-fold aim of each project is to present practitioners with tools to be transformative educators and to contribute to the scholarship in these areas.

Several graduate students in our Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education share their research on common student identities that they observe to be neglected or misunderstood at higher education institutions. Two students are researching different aspects of spirituality in college students’ lives, and one is studying the experiences of students with disabilities. Their work takes up issues of stigma and isolation, and helps us as higher education administrators to question the norms of our institutions and improve the climate for all students.

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Above top Students with the Detroit Hispanic Development Corporation worked with a team from the SOE and the College of Engineering to study their community’s use of Dean Savage Memorial Park. Through surveys and customized devices that measure activity in a given area, Detroit’s young residents observed their own neighborhoods and recommended improvements. The Sensors in a Shoebox project is co-led by Dean Moje and engineering professor Jerome Lynch.

Top The SOE partnered with education nonprofit Creative Change to offer a two-day master class for educators about curricula that guide students to solve authentic problems while simultaneously meeting content standards.

The class, led by Susan Santone, was designed to help teachers understand sustainability and social justice to incorporate these topics into their teaching.

The project-based methods presented were aimed at teaching students about societal interconnectivity and supporting the growth of healthy communities, democratic societies, and social justice.

Bottom The SOE and the School of Social Work co-hosted a community conversation at the Ford Piquette Avenue Plant in Detroit. In the restored building that once produced Model T cars, speakers talked about creating high impact partnerships to benefit Detroit’s children at school and in the communities.

Bottom SOE staff are organizing community volunteer opportunities for faculty, staff, and students. This summer, groups of SOE volunteers donated their time at Glacier Hills senior residence, Food Gatherers, Ozone House, and Ann Arbor Parks and Recreation.

Top The U-M Alumni Club of Grand Rapids and Dean Moje hosted a community conversation about how the SOE can help shape civically engaged children and youth for Michigan. Pictured with Moje from left to right are Kristin Mayer (ABEd ’05, Teach Cert ’05), Luke Wilcox (BSEd ’01, Teach Cert ’01), Alex Giarmo (ABEd ’14, Teach Cert ’14), and Sarah Stecher (AB ’17, Teach Cert ’17).

Middle and bottom Interns in the Secondary Master of Arts with Teacher Certification program accompanied students in the Summer Learning Institute on field trips to Tantre Farm, a local working farm, and to the U-M Cardiovascular Center.

Top The Office of Student Affairs kicked off the new academic year with an All-school Social at Pizza House. New and returning students from all programs had the opportunity to meet each other and connect with faculty and staff.

Middle and bottom At the SOE Community Convocation in September, all were invited to discuss the goals that the school will pursue collectively this academic year. Discussion topics included changing the local and national narrative on education, promoting diversity and equity, and recruiting diverse students to the field of education.

Detroit: Home to an Innovative Teaching Residency Program U-M partners with a wide array of organizations and institutions to develop robust educational programs in a Detroit community

—Rip Rapson, President, The Kresge Foundation

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xcitement and hope were palpable on September 13 as reporters and TV crews joined community members and friends of partner organizations who had gathered for a big announcement on the Marygrove College campus in northwest Detroit. Clues had been emerging in the two weeks prior to the event, as public board meetings of the Detroit Public Schools Community District (DPSCD) included discussions about a potential new school in the district. Seated on the stage were leaders from DPSCD, The Kresge Foundation, the city of Detroit, Marygrove College, Marygrove Conservancy, Starfish Family Services, and the University of Michigan.

One by one, the speakers introduced new elements of a preschool through college community partnership—one of the first in the nation—that will be housed on the spacious Marygrove campus. A $50 million investment to build a new state-of-the-art early childhood education center, and to renovate a K-12 school building by The Kresge Foundation places education at the center of community revitalization efforts in the Livernois-McNichols district in Detroit.

In addition to a preschool, community services, and new public schools for grades K-12, the campus will be the site of the SOE’s new Teaching School, featuring a teaching residency program. As Dean Elizabeth Birr Moje stated, “Together we will build a respectful, sustainable, and ever-growing partnership driven by neighborhood and community needs. We will achieve DPSCD’s vision to create exceptional learning experiences for Detroit youth.

We will work together to teach children using evidence-based and state standardsaligned instructional practices carried out by exceptional teachers and leaders. And we will build a school and a city staffed with teachers who are prepared to serve their students in any and every learning environment.”

U-M President Mark Schlissel added, “Modeled after the concept of a teaching hospital, student teachers and teachers-inresidence will practice their profession while learning the theories and pedagogical skills that are essential to the effective practice of teaching. There’s a symmetry in this because the University of Michigan was the first uni-

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The first phase of the campus will include a ninth grade pilot program to open in 2019, followed by the opening of the early childhood education center and kindergarten in fall 2020. Successive grades will be added each year, and by no later than 2029, all grades will be offered, alongside undergraduate and graduate studies and professional development courses and certifications.

At full capacity, the new early childhood education center (operated by Starfish, with curricula developed by SOE Professor Nell K. Duke) and the primary and secondary schools (operated by DPSCD in collaboration with the SOE) is projected to serve more than 1,000 Detroit children and their families, primarily focused on the surrounding neighborhoods in the LivernoisMcNichols district.

DPSCD and the SOE are jointly developing the K-12 curriculum for the schools. Placebased and project-based curricula will support the school’s aspiration to produce “leaders engineering change.” “The P-20 model is directly tied to our five-year vision for the Detroit Public Schools Community District,” said Nikolai Vitti, DPSCD Superintendent. “The

magnitude of this partnership is priceless in that it will impact teacher training and create high-quality programs for students at every level of their educational career.”

“We are all stepping into an innovative space, and the potential is hard to overstate,” said Moje.

Mike Duggan, Mayor of Detroit, praised the partnership for providing outstanding educational options for Detroit families: “Not long ago, we were faced with the prospect of this incredible campus going dark, which would have been a terrible setback to the revitalization that is taking place in this area of our city,” said Duggan. “Instead, today we are celebrating a new beginning and bright future at Marygrove, thanks to The Kresge Foundation, DPSCD, the University of Michigan, and all the partners in this effort. We owe them all a great deal of appreciation for recognizing the importance this campus has to our city and to the community.” ■

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Left to right: University of Michigan President Dr. Mark Schlissel, IHM President Sr. Jane Herb, Starfish CEO Ann Kalass, Dean of the University of Michigan School of Education Dr. Elizabeth Moje, Marygrove College President Dr. Elizabeth Burns, The Kresge Foundation President and CEO Rip Rapson

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Starfish Family Services

versity to own and operate its own teaching hospital. Now we’re the first, in partnership with the Detroit Public Schools, to operate a teaching school.”

After being part of the school community for one to two years as teaching interns, newly certified teachers will work alongside veteran educators in the primary and secondary schools for three additional years to continue their training while also helping newer student teachers learn the profession. The SOE will continue to support these resident teachers’ development at no cost to the residents. At the conclusion of the residency, professionally certified teachers will be prepared to teach and lead in any school. Their level of preparation will make them more likely to stay in the teaching profession. This model is one that other universities can also enact in the service of professionalizing teaching.

Other U-M schools and colleges will join the collaboration to offer wrap-around services that support both children and their teachers. Early partners include the College of Engineering, Stephen M. Ross School of Business, A. Alfred Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, School of Social Work, School of Nursing, and School of Dentistry. “We are all stepping into an innovative space, and the potential is hard to overstate,” said Moje.

Ryan Southen Photography for The Kresge Foundation

“Today is about new possibilities.

As the facilitator of a partnership that has been two years in the making, The Kresge Foundation is thrilled that we can finally share the full details with you.

Detroit’s future now includes a cradle-to-career campus that brings an integrated, coordinated approach to educating students from early childhood to kindergarten through high school and beyond. Today we also bear witness to a new level of engagement in Detroit by one of the world’s premier institutions of higher education, and in the city where it was founded over 200 years ago.”

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Ryan Southen Photography for The Kresge Foundation

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Giving Educators the Tools to Meet the Emotional Needs of Learners

Engaging high school students in place-based mathematics At Byram Hills High School in New York, the culture of rigor is both laudable and concerning, according to Principal Christopher Walsh. Academic success is part of its legacy, where 68 percent of its graduates attend the top 11 percent of colleges nationwide. Still, the principal reports that students sometimes skip school on an exam day in order to find more time to study or to compete for grades. With these matters in mind, school administrators have turned to mathematics leaders in Educational Studies to brainstorm ways to better support students’ social and emotional needs.

This partnership emerged with the help of an alumnus and donor whose children attend Byram Hills. He worried about the high levels of stress that students experience in school. He joined efforts with the school’s principal to create an academic environment that foregrounds learning, rather than testing. While there have already been school-wide interventions at Byram to help train school counselors and social workers

for helping students cope with stress, the teachers at Byram are also eager to be part of the solution for creating a more supportive environment for addressing students’ personal and academic needs. As a starting point for boosting their current student support efforts, Byram Hills has chosen to pilot new instructional strategies in their mathematics classes. In partnership with the SOE, the mathematics teachers at Byram have elected to focus on building place-based units of instruction in order to improve students’ perceptions of mathematics and themselves.

Amanda Milewski, SOE Assistant Research Scientist and Project Investigator for the partnership project, explains that “the mathematics teachers at Byram Hills were very good at preparing students for success on high stakes measures and being competitive for college entrance, but felt they needed to shift the focus of their instruction to help students see mathematics as interesting and relevant for their personal lives.” To get at the heart of the students’ challenges, the newly formed team decided to use place-based learning methods to give students more autonomy in their learning and motivate students to engage in their work. Their first step was to visit a model school for these practices, so they traveled to the Island School in the Bahamas for some professional development. At the Island School, the SOE team facilitated an immersive form of professional development that gave Byram Hills teachers an opportunity to experience a place-based unit of instruction.

A place-based approach invites students to connect learning with their own lives as situated in local, national, and global communities, pressing learners to ask worthwhile, personally relevant questions about the world around them in order to gain understanding as well as a sense of responsibility

and caring for their communities. Ultimately, place-based learning aims to turn a student’s focus from gaining knowledge for personal benefit toward gaining understanding about the world in order to take up roles fostering the communities in which he or she belongs.

During their professional development sessions, Byram Hills mathematics teachers worked with SOE researchers on these approaches. Lisa Pellegrino, the mathematics department head at Byram Hills, explains how her own experiences as a learner in the immersive professional development experience helped her to realize the significance of place-based learning for her students: “What stood out for me is just the type of creativity that can be sparked from being in a new place. I think it’s really important to get out of the building and interact with other people and go different places. Those are the memories that create an opening in your brain for things to stick to. That, I think, is very important.” Teacher Christopher Lewick added, “We can learn anywhere, so we have to get outside and start relating this math to the places that we are in, instead of bringing those places into our classroom, because it will strengthen the kids’ understanding and their enthusiasm.”

Throughout the summer, the teachers began designing place-based units relevant to their own community. This fall, they are scheduled to pilot units focused on local, national, and global issues. Locally, students will be using trigonometry and statistics to model some of the underlying causes for persistent drainage issues on the Byram Hills campus. On a national level, students will be learning about the mathematics of sampling to understand the enduring political issues related to gerrymandering. Finally, on a

global scale, students will be learning about the mathematical models that underlie GPS technology, such as Google Maps, for locating where in the world one is at a given moment.

By the end of the fall term, the Byram Hills teachers will have completed the planning of three place-based lessons that will serve as real-life applications of mathematics.

Milewski says, “In these units, students have the opportunities to think about questions that are bigger than what they can find in a textbook and opportunities to do mathematics in ways that both leverage and inform their experiences of being in the world.”

Trauma-informed practice A few years ago, Shari Saunders, Associate Dean for Undergraduate and Teacher Education, started noticing that the interns she taught were approaching her more often about classroom experiences related to traumatic events. They began to ask questions about how they should respond to situations they were facing (e.g., students affected by suicide, death or incarceration of loved ones, homelessness, and a range of mental health conditions). Saunders explains, “I wanted to be able to respond to their concerns, so I started learning more about trauma and mental health.” After meeting a dean of an alternative school who had a critical mass of students who had experienced or were experiencing traumatic situations, they made a commitment to figure out a way to collaborate to address the issue in her school, while building teaching interns’ capacity to do this work. They recognized that addressing trauma effectively in school contexts required collaboration with other professionals and sought out faculty from the School of Social Work.

“Trauma is not a poverty issue or an urban issue and isn’t always an individual issue,”

Saunders notes. There is a category known as cumulative trauma, which includes racism and poverty. “In this case,” says Saunders, “we are talking about larger social systems.

Trauma can affect everyone and have a negative impact on health and well-being. When you talk about these issues, you’re really talking about current and future impact.”

No matter what type of trauma they experience, children who are negatively impacted by trauma can become vulnerable to stress and have difficulty expressing and controlling their emotions. In fact, trauma can actually change the way a child’s brain works and affect academic performance, behavior, and relationships. The side effects of trauma, like stress and anxiety, can lead to challenges for students throughout a school day, and they may not know how to ask for support or accept it. Some students push people away or feel that others are destined to perceive them as “bad kids.” In schools, most teachers are likely to interact with one or more students who have experienced some form of trauma. Teachers need to learn how to support their students and engage in practices in their classrooms in a way that dovetails with the efforts of other school professionals (e.g., counselors, social workers, nurses) in a wrap-around fashion.

In addition to Saunders’ earlier work as part of a Third Century Initiative Discovery Grant, in which she collaborated with a School of Social Work colleague and the dean and staff of an alternative school to teach education and social work students about traumainformed practice, the SOE is dedicated to enlarging its programmatic efforts in this field.

For teachers, a trauma-informed approach can help them to respond in humane and supportive ways to student behaviors and replace potentially negative interactions with positive, meaningful ones. At the center of this

care is the teacher’s sensitivity to a student’s adverse experiences in the past or present. For example, teachers can ask “What happened to you?” rather than “What is wrong with you?”

Or, they can say “What’s right with you?” to communicate that people are more than their trauma experiences. In short, they can switch from being a reactive disciplinarian to a proactive student advocate when they view behavior through a trauma-informed lens.

The SOE, in collaboration with the School of Social Work and the School of Nursing, will be offering a new trauma-informed certificate in 2019, and it will be available to nursing students as well as education and social work majors. “We thought, if we are all working with young people, we might be seeing some common behaviors with an experience of trauma underlying them, and we could collectively bring multiple areas of expertise to bear on effectively meeting the needs of these students. We hope to get more U-M students to see these signs and learn how to respond to them in a way that is healing and not harming,” explains Saunders.

Students in this forthcoming certificate program will gain a better understanding of trauma, trauma-informed practice, and ways in which to build a stronger, more resilient community. They’ll also understand the importance of self-care, which includes mindfulness. Says Saunders, “we will continue to expand this project. We received a Gilbert Whittaker Fund grant from the Center for Research on Learning and Teaching that allows us to start with graduate programs in the three schools, and then we will open this training to undergraduate students in our programs and currently practicing professionals. The training will focus on trauma basics, trauma-informed practice, and creating and sustaining trauma-informed systems.”

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high school student can’t focus on his math homework because it doesn’t feel relevant to him, and he is nervous about an upcoming exam. An elementary student is acting out after an argument took place in her home the previous night. A seventh grader hasn’t slept in his own bed for weeks, and his uniform pants are missing.

Across the SOE, faculty and staff are researching and teaching scenarios like these because they represent real challenges to student learning. When educators approach their students with an awareness of the challenges they face inside and outside of school, they are better prepared to meet the emotional needs of their students with skill and compassion.

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Byram Hills Teacher Christopher Lewick uses a sextant to take a sighting of the sun. The use of the instrument was part of an immersive professional development experience in which teachers were tasked with figuring out “Where in the world are we?” in terms of longitude and latitude using concepts from spherical trigonometry.

Meet Professor Leslie Rupert Herrenkohl

“In the future, our students will be doctors, physicists, administrators, and will work in countless other professions. If our course teaches them to bring humility and respect to all of their situations, that would be an honor…. Our students learn that homelessness is not just something that happens when people don’t work hard. They learn how to push back against this narrative to see homelessness as a systemic issue.”

These words from Simona Goldin, Director of Instructional Design for TeachingWorks and SOE lecturer, explain the goals set forth

by EDUC 218. This course, titled Homelessness in Schools and Society, focuses on the issues of homelessness and its connection to schooling. It is co-designed by Goldin and Professor Debi Khasnabis who teach the course alternating years.

Goldin and Khasnabis designed their course in collaboration with Avalon Housing and Ann Arbor Public Schools. Their goal is to offer students a real-world education on homelessness and its connection to student learning and school contexts. Students in this course study and experience the ways in which Avalon Housing serves and supports children and communities. They also spend time in the elementary schools attended by children who live in Avalon’s housing, Eberwhite Elementary School, and Ann Arbor STEAM. Goldin explains, “Students in this course develop understandings of the links between non-profit work and work taking place in schools, as it relates to the needs of the homeless population.”

As co-designers of the course, Goldin’s experience working with homeless people in New York City complements Khasnabis’s experience as a public school teacher. Both

instructors want to demonstrate to their students that the needs of homeless people are interdisciplinary. “We want to bring in students from all across campus because this is interdisciplinary work, but additionally, the public issue of homelessness needs to be solved by people from all backgrounds,” explains Khasnabis. “We also wanted our students to see the great potential to traverse the space between social work and teaching.”

The pair has chosen to take a projectbased learning approach to their course. This allows students to go beyond reading about the effects of poverty and racism to seeing them first hand, and then actively working to support more equitable outcomes. Students select and research their own culminating class projects, empowering them to address authentic problems faced by people experiencing homelessness. Experts in the community come to the classroom to engage students in grappling with a range of issues, and then in offering feedback on their proposed solutions to the problems they address. The problems range in topic, including domestic violence, the school-to-prison pipeline, and the potential for after school programming to support students experiencing homelessness. Says Khasnabis, “It’s been exciting to see the ways in which their imaginations can be nimble in creating solutions. Our experts meet the students early in the semester, but when they come back at the end of the semester and hear the student presentations, the students speak to them with new understanding of concepts and the ability to interact with them on a serious level.”

Their approach also emphasizes traumainformed practices. “As our students are working on their projects, they also come to realize that most children have dealt with adverse childhood experiences,” says Goldin.

“It’s important for them to see just how common these are instead of looking at any of these experiences as a deficit. We want teachers to do this good work with homeless and formerly homeless children, but with all children as well. These skills cut across all children. If you believe in the brilliance of all children, then trauma-informed care is one important tool with which to unlock that brilliance.”

Just as their students eventually realize that their learning will continue beyond EDUC 218, Goldin and Khasnabis know that improving the education of homeless children is a long-term learning process.

Khasnabis explains, “We feel so fortunate to be working on this goal with such valuable partners—Avalon Housing, Eberwhite, and A2STEAM. Each of our partners brings valuable knowledge to the table in service of homeless children, and we all learn from each other.” Khasnabis and Goldin voice appreciation for all they have learned and for the opportunity to be engaged in such important work in the company of such committed partners. They also commit to being of service to their partners by offering professional development at the school sites about the experience of homelessness and how teachers can be a resource for children facing homelessness. Khasnabis shares, “We want to do right by the generosity that our partners have shown us. It’s a gift to be able to be around that kind of energy, and we want to do all we can to reciprocate.” ■

Q: In your book How Students Come to Be, Know, and Do: A Case for a Broad View of Learning, you argue that attention to the social and emotional aspects of learning is crucial to understanding learning. We are exploring that theme in various ways through this issue of Michigan Education magazine. Can you share what your research has revealed on the topic?

LRH: For that book, I went back to earlier data I had collected for my dissertation in order to study the cognitive, social, and emotional development of students in a school science context. I was interested in better understanding the construction of classroom communities that support social and emotional safety while encouraging intellectual risk-taking. We found that as students learn in this relationally–centered, rigorous and supportive climate, they come to see themselves as new kinds

LRH: Science always interested me personally as a student. My high school chemistry teacher would have been so happy to see me become a chemist. But, I became a developmental psychologist.

Children are naturally interested in asking questions about the world and science is a way for them to explore their interests. It is fascinating to watch students develop as thinkers through science learning.

Also, as a graduate student, there are more opportunities to work on STEM projects. I am also very interested in the arts but there are not as many opportunities to do work in that area. In my scholarship and teaching, I continue to find ways to integrate the arts to support science understanding.

Q: What courses or topics will you be teaching at the SOE in the coming year?

These issues are a part of addressing educational equity. It requires skilled teaching and courage to create the conditions for a lively and supportive social, emotional, and intellectual context for learning. I really appreciate the new trauma certificate that Shari Saunders is launching within the SOE as a result. This isn’t work that you can do when you only consider the cognitive dimensions of learning.

Q: As a scholar and researcher, you have been involved in many partnerships. In your experience, what are the features of productive and respectful collaborations?

LRH: When you come together around common work, you need to have a clear focus, shared values, and an openness to learning about other perspectives that people bring to the work. It expands your own view of the work and helps you move forward together.

When you work with communities, the work must take up the interests and desires of the community.

You aren’t arriving to do a service. You work shoulderto-shoulder. That is how we engaged with our partners for the STUDIO: Build Our World project. Families

LRH: I am teaching a course titled Learning About How People Learn. It is a master’s level survey course about learning theory. First, we explore what ideas we each bring to class. It’s an investigation into our own learning. Then we’ll think about the ways in which learning theorists have organized explanations of how people learn. Then we’ll study contemporary issues in learning by thinking about how researchers and practitioners are using and transforming theories of learning through their work. We are having amazing conversations in this class so far and I am excited for them to continue.

I am also hoping to teach my Vygostsky course, which was very popular at UW. My approach is inspired by art and design and studio pedagogy, as it is engaged in those fields. I would love to teach it to SOE students.

5. Do you bring any favorite hobbies with you to Michigan?

LRH: Yoga, reading, and knitting. My grandmother taught me how to knit and I picked it up again while I was at UW. A group of my colleagues gathered to knit together and I hope to find a community of knitters here at the SOE. We’re also an outdoors family. We like to hike and walk. Our kids love to play tennis so I end up watching a lot of tennis. We’re excited to be in Ann Arbor. ■

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Q: Much of your research has been conducted in science classrooms. What is it that interests you about science education?

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wanted their youths to have more information about applying to and entering U.S. colleges. Our community partner then included more college preparatory information and activities in their youth leadership program and we joined them to work specifically on college preparation for STEM learning.

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Undergraduate course connects homelessness, community, and schooling

of people. This, in turn, presses them to think more deeply, work harder, collaborate further in an effort to solve a problem or offer an argument using evidence. Learning from this perspective is not only about developing conceptual understanding. It is about transformation in a broader way.

In addition to their personal ways of thinking, children and youth bring cultural practices and ideas from their communities to their learning. These are incredibly important resources. Kids come to school having had certain experiences and we don’t want them to check them at the door. The question is how do we create education contexts that recognize, honor, and recruit these experiences for learning?

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rofessor Leslie Rupert Herrenkohl joined the Educational Studies faculty this fall. While her most recent faculty position was at the University of Washington College of Education, she credits the SOE with launching her early career.

After completing her doctorate, Herrenkohl joined the SOE as a James S. McDonnell Postdoctoral Fellow, working alongside Professor Annemarie Sullivan Palincsar. She says of her new (and, in some cases, former) colleagues, “I am excited to return to a group of tremendously innovative faculty.”

Herrenkohl’s research unites three primary areas of study. She researches the conceptual, social, and cultural dimensions of science learning.

She seeks to understand learning as a holistic process of developing people while expanding their knowledge and skills. She bridges research and practice through partnerships in formal and informal settings.

For the past four years, Herrenkohl managed an NSF-supported project in partnership with a multiservice community-based organization in Seattle. This project—called STUDIO: Build Our World—pairs University of Washington undergraduates with low-income and immigrant youth. The undergraduates serve as “near peer” mentors, supporting mentees’ journeys to college. To learn more about her role in this project, watch the video at education.uw.edu/campaign/studio.

Though Herrenkohl’s research projects initially focused on elementary and middle school-aged children, STUDIO has expanded the scope of her work to include high school students and undergraduates. She is excited to learn more from the outstanding higher education faculty at the SOE and partner with her new colleagues to develop programs that make STEM learning more equitable for all students.

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CSHPE student scholars investigate college environments through the lens of identity

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ach fall, students arrive on campus in preparation for the new school year.

They unload tightly packed cars full of boxes, suitcases, pillows, and backpacks. This is not all they carry with them, though. They belong to families, cultures, and religions.

They have beliefs, challenges, and perspectives informed by their lived experiences. Students in the Higher Education program investigate how identities shape college students’ academic experiences, and how institutions can better serve all students by recognizing the role that these identities play in students’ lives.

Christina Morton studies spirituality in the lives of Black women in STEM

“Sometimes research is actually me-search,” jokes doctoral student Christina Morton, who came to the SOE with an interest in studying the spirituality of Black women in STEM fields. As a Black woman with an undergraduate degree in engineering, she was interested in exploring how spiritualty could play a role in students’ resilience and persistence in STEM. She also hopes to challenge the perceived dichotomy between spiritualty and the sciences. Through her work, she would like to offer a counter-narrative to “the common

misconception that college students separate their spirituality from academic work in the same way that public institutions try to separate faith from the academy.”

In STEM fields, especially, the persistence of these views among academics and practitioners means that there has been very little research on the connection between spirituality and science. This is the precise arena in which Morton plans to focus her work. “So far, the argument that I am leaning toward is that for Black women of faith, their spirituality affects how they understand and see the world. Their perspective doesn’t just disappear when they enter a classroom, so I want to start a conversation about how their faith and their engineering scholarship are interconnected.”

Morton defines spirituality as a belief in transcendent forces paired with one’s pursuit of life meaning and purpose. She also notes the importance of connection and community with others as another key aspect of spirituality. Part of her research involves determining how others define spirituality.

Morton says, “I hope to get some insight into people’s personal experiences, but I know from my own experience that you can walk into a space as a Black woman in STEM and feel

automatically different. You’re searching for someone you can relate to or who is welcoming. When you don’t find that, it’s disheartening and frustrating because you wonder why.

And depending on how many times you have felt that, and if you have nothing to counterbalance that, you start to ask yourself if you should be there or if you believe in yourself.

Then you have to combat that inner dialogue, the doubts about your skills or your abilities to fit in, while simultaneously wondering what everyone else is thinking about you.”

Scenarios like these can cause feelings of isolation and self-doubt, which could result in people leaving their programs. Morton says, “It can really take an emotional and psychological toll on you to constantly battle with these feelings. It’s tough. It’s sometimes hard to stay motivated. You want to learn, and you know that you can, but you start to ask yourself if you really want to go through with it. With my spirituality, though, I was able to tell myself that this was a temporary challenge. I could keep my eye on who I was and who I wanted to be.”

For these reasons, Morton’s goal for her research is that it leads to hope. She seeks to demonstrate the ways in which understand-

Jeff Edelstein expands disability awareness on campus Master’s student Jeff Edelstein is committed to studying diversity initiates. Upon arriving at U-M, Edelstein learned that 48 percent of students who took the university’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) climate survey reported feeling discrimination due to a disability. “I was very surprised, but also eager to learn more about education and diversity efforts taking place across our campus,” said Edelstein. Shortly after, he registered for a Disability Studies course and entered a Rackham Case Competition where he and a classmate proposed the creation of a new disability center. Their goal was to tie disability to the college mission, so he and his classmate Luke Kudryashov started the group Disability Culture at U-M (DC@UM).

Edelstein explains that disabilities can impact all aspects of a student’s life, including his or her social interactions as well as overall wellness. Some students are also burdened with the decision about whether or not to share their disability with others. “I’ve heard students say things like, ‘when I got here, I stopped using accommodations because I don’t want it to appear that I’m getting an unfair benefit.’ There is also a question of social stigma, but people should understand that accommodations are not special privileges but a civil right,” he says.

DC@UM’s near-term goals include raising the status of disability studies, including possibly creating a disability studies minor and

“Disabling or excluding environments can exacerbate the comorbidities of people with disabilities.”

Edelstein’s approach to disabilities on campus is multi-faceted because students’ needs are varied according to their disability.

Environments can be disabling to people in different ways. Just as poorly functioning elevators can cause problems for people in wheelchairs, the bright or stark environment of a classroom can cause stress and anxiety for people on the autism spectrum. “Disabling or excluding environments can exacerbate the comorbidities of people with disabilities,” says Edelstein, “which include anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideations.” This fact adds additional layers of consideration when an institution is looking to improve student experience.

He adds that students who are able to access organization meetings, athletic games, meals, and sensory-safe spaces are going to feel more welcome overall.

“I work as a connector for disability-related groups that are often functioning autonomously,” he summarizes. “And I want to help advocates and colleagues find each other.

Ultimately, what matters, though, is that U-M students with disabilities do not feel like they are alone if they don’t want to be.”

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As young adults arrive at our nation’s public universities each year, many face a significant life change. For many students, this transition includes reflecting on their own spiritual and religious views and practices.

Doctoral student Jessica Joslin says, “College is a common time for students to question what their faith means to them and if they want to continue the patterns their families and communities set when it comes to eating kosher, attending mass, praying, and so on.”

Public universities do not hold any religious affiliation, yet many religious students call their campuses home. Therefore, well-meaning universities that welcome thinking about a range of identities can incidentally leave students’ religious and spiritual identities out of the conversation.

This lack of engagement with religion and spirituality, explains Joslin, causes a very central aspect of these students’ lives to be overlooked. “The students I interviewed emphasized that faith helped them to get through problems and give them the resilience to persist. I saw this for all of the students I interviewed, but it was especially true for women and students of color. These folks go to religion for a source of support and describe their identities as people of color as inextricable from their religious and spiritual identities.”

For these groups, faith is an important source of resilience. It also affects the decisions they make throughout a given day. Joslin found that a student’s religious identity and community affected his or her choices about where to live, eat, and even where to sit in the library or in a lecture hall. As a student’s religion is inextricable from their other daily interactions, it also impacted how they engaged with course material and related to their peers. “One thing that shows through my work and the broader literature is that religion is a source of great support and joy for many students, and it helps them negotiate discrimination alongside the other challenges of college life. As universities like U-M seek to become leaders in thinking about identity and the student experience, religion should be an important component of that discussion.” ■

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Jessica Joslin researches student spirituality in public institutions

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Inclusive Campuses

graduate certificate. Another project involves mapping physical disability access in buildings across campus. Mapping can help to elevate the importance of access, but it also quantifies inequity in terms of time spent on getting from one place to another. Edelstein has also spoken with student government officers about making student organizations accessible to more students. As a whole, DC@ UM wants to ensure that people with disabilities are the ones who are leading disability work. “Campus leaders with disabilities know a lot about what is important with the needs of the disabled and they can serve as an authentic voice,” he says. “I want to hold myself accountable for doing work that benefits people with disabilities while also supporting the disabled leadership.”

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ing spirituality can be powerful and helpful.

“Student spirituality is an asset, a pivotal resource,” says Morton. “If instructors can better understand these students and the resources they rely on in order to be successful, they may be less likely to dismiss the importance of spirituality in their students’ lives.”

As she begins her initial interviews, Morton is “eager to discover the ways in which spiritual Black women in engineering rely on their worldview and community to help them disrupt common and oppressive perceptions in their work and study environments.” With so much possibility on the horizon, she can only come to a single conclusion at this point: “We will see.”

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Alumna Anique Pegeron teaches mindfulness as the foundation for learning

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nder the shade of a large tree in County Farm Park, Anique Pegeron (AM ’16) rings a bronze singing bowl to signal the beginning of a new meditation.

Middle school students sit around her with their eyes closed. “Listen to the sounds you hear,” she says, “and if your mind wanders, bring it back to listening. Pay attention to the sounds around you with curiosity and mindfulness.”

Leading sessions like these, for all ages, is how Pegeron connects learning with mental and emotional wellness. She is especially dedicated to this work after realizing that it had been missing from her own childhood. Her personal discovery unfolded over a period of seven years spent overseas. During that time, she guided teen expeditions in France, taught English in

Ecuador, studied yoga in India, and worked for Save the Children in Australia.

As she helped others, she grew more certain that she wanted to continue spending her life helping others, but was unsure about her exact path until the pieces came together on a hike in Australia. “It took me being on the other side of the world, literally, to discover what I truly

wanted to do, which was to teach mindfulness,” she explains.

As she learned more about mindfulness, she realized that if she knew more about mindfulness as a child, she would have been better able to manage her emotions and less prone to overthinking. “The foundational years of childhood set the stage for so much. To me, emotional education is the missing piece,” she says. “It’s the how that kids are missing from traditional learning in schools,” she continues. “Students may know that they need to pay attention, and they may be strong academically, but they don’t really learn how to bring themselves back to a state of present-moment attention when they need to, or how to be more patient and respectful of others.”

Pegeron returned home and pursued the Teaching and Learning strand of the Educational Studies master’s program. There, she forged her

Anique Pegeron teaches mindfulness, meditation, yoga, and summer camps for children. She can be reached through her website, mindful-world.com.

She works as part of Grove Emotional Health Collaborative in Ann Arbor. Learn more at groveemotionalhealth.com.

A present mind is ready to learn “I see mindfulness as foundational.

If you’re paying attention and being present, you are more able to learn.

This is what empowers people to pay attention, and it also boosts their physical, mental, and emotional health.

All three of these need to be in place in order to lay a foundation for learning.

If kids aren’t well, their time spent on classwork, which has lengthened over the years, is not benefiting them.”

Success starts here “No matter what their level of privilege is, students are all dealing with stress or trauma, and that’s a huge block to their learning. Fortunately, society is starting to catch up and see how foundational mindfulness is to living one’s best life and being successful. And really, if you’re not happy, calm, and well, then how much does success matter?

Mindfulness practices can become the first step toward becoming successful.”

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“When a student is under stress, the student is not in a good situation to learn. We have a world full of stressors that activate our primal fight or flight system, causing the parts of the brain for learning or memory to shut down.

Our ancestors literally didn’t need those parts of their brains to function while they were dealing with real dangers, like saber-toothed tigers. This same reaction still happens today, and kids can’t learn as well because of the ways that stress causes their bodies to go into survival mode. This stress is bad for their bodies and well-being too. The way to bring kids down to a rest and restore mode is mindfulness. The key is for students to take the practices they learn in camp and apply them to their daily lives.”

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Pulling kids out of primitive stress reactions

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Mindful Student

own path as a student with an undergraduate degree in psychology. She felt fortunate to gain a strong educational foundation alongside the cognate courses that helped her to create the degree she wanted to earn. What she appreciated the most about the SOE was that “the professors were great teachers who were dedicated to educating their students.”

She also immersed herself in her subject matter by earning a certification in kids’ yoga, completing a year-long mindfulness certification program (among other mindfulness trainings), and taking intensive meditation courses in Colorado. “Kids can pick up on the artifice of teachers who are not aware or are acting from a place of anxiety,” she explains, “so my practice is very important. I strive to be consistent and deepen my work as I go. This work also gives me the time to feel fully grateful to serve people in this role. That’s another thing that I learned from mindfulness that I didn’t learn as much when I was a child: gratitude.”

Pegeron noticed that children were far less resistant to mindfulness than she originally expected. It was adults who were skeptical, saying that a child’s attention span is too short to absorb her lessons. In actuality, she was impressed by how well children engaged with her teachings and how much they wanted to share them with family members. “That’s just how mindfulness works,” she says. “It can be shared with anyone, and anyone can do it. What you focus on changes the way your brain functions. Not only does it help you with the ups and downs, but it also shows you how to get joy out of using your awareness and being present when you are with others.”

Being aware and present within a community is exactly what Pegeron models in her summer camps, where they regularly close out sessions with a shared meditation and reflection on their experiences. At the park, her campers end their own meditation with a reflection and raise their heads. Pegeron asks them how they felt about the exercise. Jack, a seventh grader, looks directly at her and says, “phenomenal.” ■

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and students to resources in real time.

In this instance, the Knowledge Village website supports educational professionals to search for and connect with knowledgeable and experienced experts who are willing to interact with students via video chat.

Since winning their competition, the Knowledge Village team has met with local business advisors and filed paperwork to create a limited liability company, or LLC. Most of their prize money and their efforts are directed toward web development.

The team has been meeting with local web developers to determine the best way to create an online environment for interaction between students and experts in real time.

Team leader Gabe DellaVecchia explains that his idea for Knowledge Village came from his experience as a classroom teacher.

Each of his students were studying an object in outer space, so he arranged for all 25 of them to email an expert on their topic.

Approximately 12 students received responses, and one expert even asked a student to suggest a name for a new moon he had recently discovered orbiting Neptune.

“These experiences felt useful and cool,” said DellaVecchia, “but 13 students didn’t get responses, and I wanted to get a better rate of return. I knew I was on the right track, though.”

His next step, for another lesson, was to ask a journalist friend to hold an interactive video chat with his whole class. This session

was more impactful, since the video format allowed the students and the journalist to converse directly with one another. “And I also realized that this format helps children gain access to all of the career options they have open to them,” he said. “So, now that we are working on Knowledge Village, students might live in a place that has no paleontologist and still be able to connect to one in Berkeley. We can level the playing field when it comes to the access of knowledge.”

The team has started testing their project in elementary schools first, since children’s education is their passion. They hope that experts might be more willing to participate if they know that it could benefit young children. They also plan to use the piloting period to collect feedback and calibrate their processes in order to gather compelling stories that might appeal to an investor later on. “The ideal future for Knowledge Village,” says DellaVecchia, “is that it will be large and robust enough to support American and international schools, using several languages.” He adds, “We really want to create a village of knowledge where people can share what they know. A lot of social networking doesn’t fill its true promise.

This is a real social network.” ■ Visit knowledgevillage.org as the site develops.

If you would like to be featured as a guest speaker, or you would like to use Knowledge Village in your classroom, please contact Gabe DellaVecchia at gabe@knowledgevillage.org.

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n 2017, the SOE developed a partnership with the Bosch Community Fund to support and improve K-12 STEM education. The partnership was designed to enhance and expand the Bosch Engineering, Energy, Environment, Science, and Technology (BE3ST) Grant Program—a unique funding mechanism that provides direct grants to STEM educators and allows them to develop and implement creative and engaging classroom projects. One of the key goals of the BE3ST Grant Program is to create a national network of educators that can share resources and ideas and collaborate in meaningful ways across district, regional, and state lines.

Over the past year, the SOE and Bosch have been laying the groundwork for creating a new model to promote STEM education.

Kathleen Owsley, President of the Bosch Community Fund, noted that “by piloting new grant program procedures, systems, and resources as well as launching an annual conference for participants, the BE3ST Grant Program is sparking creative engagement with science for thousands of students while building skills, subject matter expertise, and professional networks for their teachers.”

Overseen by the SOE’s Center for Education Design, Evaluation, and Research (CEDER), the partnership is focused on connecting with and learning from past grantees, establishing administrative and evaluation systems to implement the BE3ST Grant Program on a national scale, and creating a professional development and information sharing model for grantees. This effort, funded by the Bosch Community Fund, also established the Bosch Doctoral Fellowship in STEM Education, a position that is dedicated to supporting and expanding the work of the BE3ST Grant Program.

The Program’s inaugural conference, entitled “STEM & Design Thinking for a Sustainable Future,” took place on June 8 and 9 and convened participating teachers from throughout the Detroit metro area and Dorchester County, South Carolina. The conference provided programming, projects, and professional development experiences focused on implementing engineering design cycles in order to engage students and advance the learning of core science and math concepts.

The conference featured a keynote presentation by Pashon Murray, co-founder of Detroit Dirt, a nonprofit that uses organic waste recovery and reuse to increase awareness and lead to a more sustainable community.

Detroit Dirt’s mission is to create a zero-waste mindset throughout communities and drive forward a low-carbon economy. Ms. Murray’s enthusiastic presentation explored the importance of STEM education, engineering, and design to sustainable practices.

The conference also included a panel discussion on the integration of problem solving and design thinking in STEM learning.

Panelists included Kevin O’Keefe, Regional President of Automotive Steering for Bosch in North America; Kristin Fontichiaro, Clinical Associate Professor of Information at U-M’s School of Information; and Josh Nichols, a STEM educator with Stockbridge Community Schools. The panel was moderated by Tim McKay, Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Physics, Astronomy, Education at U-M, and Director of the Digital Innovation Greenhouse.

The panel discussion focused on learning progressions and the challenges and opportunities of integrating engineering education into current science curricula.

Over the course of both days, conference attendees had the opportunity to participate in hands-on activities that illustrated the engineering design process as well as attend

a variety of professional development sessions led by U-M faculty on topics including educational innovation and improvement, promoting equitable science instruction, and integrating technology into learning.

This inaugural conference allowed the CEDER team to gather input and data from past grant recipients on the types of events, professional development, and networking opportunities they would like to see moving forward. This information will be used to develop the next round of programming.

Future conferences will serve a dual purpose— both as settings where past recipients share their knowledge, resources, and experiences with others, and where potential applicants can come to learn from colleagues and be introduced to the program.

“By connecting the sharing and dissemination of ‘lessons learned’ from past recipients to professional learning opportunities for both grantees and potential applicants, a broader network of teachers sharing ideas and collaborating can be developed,” Darin Stockdill, CEDER’s Instructional and Program Design Coordinator, explained.

“This will better leverage the success experienced by individual teachers and spread the impact of the overall program to a larger audience and make a bigger, long-term difference in classrooms.” ■

“By piloting new grant program procedures, systems, and resources . . . the BE3ST Grant Program is sparking creative engagement with science for thousands of students while building skills, subject matter expertise, and professional networks for their teachers.” — Kathleen Owsley

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ou’re a history teacher in a rural school district. You’ve prepared a two-week curriculum on ancient Greece that includes translations of 2,500-year-old texts, images of Minoan art, and a documentary about the Punic Wars.

Most of your students have never traveled more than a couple of hours from their hometown and the closest art or history museum is a seven-hour drive. But what if your students could talk to an archeologist who had spent the last three years unearthing an ancient city near Delphi?

What if, the following day, in physics class, they could speak with a scientist who worked on the Large Hadron Collider? And the week after that they interviewed an author in their English class?

Access to knowledge would be more equitable. Lessons would be more interactive and memorable. Careers that students had never considered would be within reach. This was the reasoning behind Knowledge Village, the 2017 winner of the Innovation in Action competition in education.

The annual U-M Innovation in Action competition encourages students from across campus to design innovative solutions to worldwide challenges. Student teams participate in a series of workshops over five months, which prepare them with skills in design thinking, prototyping, market analysis, and pitching proposals.

Each spring, the teams compete in a pitch presentation to judges and an audience of U-M community members from all schools and colleges on campus. Winning teams receive cash prizes to help them develop their projects.

During the 2016-2017 academic year, Knowledge Village won the first place honor for designing a web community that makes experts available to students worldwide.

The team consists of students in education, business, and information. Members Sidharath Chhatani, Gabriel DellaVecchia, Makie DellaVecchia, and Kathleen Easley proposed the creation of a website that leverages concepts of the sharing economy and social networks to connect teachers

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Checking in with the 2017 Innovation in Action winners

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Bosch and the SOE Partner to Train BE3ST STEM Educators

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It Takes a Village… and a Bold Team to Create that Village

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Education for Empowerment Minor “Undergraduates on this campus mentor and coach youth in summer camps, museums, music, and sports, and they regularly work as advocates for improving education conditions for people of all ages. They recognize, however, that there is much more to learn about how to create powerful educational opportunities that allow children and youth to develop their full potential and contribute to social justice,” says Dean Moje. The Education for Empowerment minor offers U-M undergraduates the opportunity to explore the critical role of education in building the capacity to advance democracy and justice in society.

The minor requires a minimum of 15 credit hours, including a foundation course, three elective courses, an internship, and a capstone course. Students may select from various pathways, including Children and Youth in Context: Culture, Communities, and Education; Advancing Equity through Education Policy; and Education in a Global Context. Students may also propose an individualized pathway of their own design with the approval of a minor advisor. Whichever pathway students pursue, they will explore the same core questions regarding the relationship between education and power, and the ways in which education can be leveraged in the struggle for freedom.

Associate Dean for Undergraduate and Teacher Education Shari Saunders led the development of the minor with the support of SOE faculty and staff.

Saunders says, “The curriculum is designed to give students the ability to explore topics of interest to them, while also providing a cohesive learning experience. Meanwhile, the internship component gives them practical experience, in the U.S. or abroad, with youth or policy-related issues.”

Web soe.umich.edu/minor Email SOE.Minor@umich.edu

International Baccalaureate Teaching Certificate

Expansion of the English as a Second Language Endorsement

Over 70,000 educators work in International Baccalaureate (IB) programmes worldwide and these teaching opportunities are increasing as the number of schools offering the IB curriculum grows.

For 50 years, IB programmes have placed particular emphasis on intercultural understanding and respect; encouraging students to think critically and challenge assumptions; and developing multilingual students.

Almost 10% of American public school students are English language learners. The ESL Teaching Endorsement, which was formerly only available to students in the Elementary Master of Arts with Certification program, is now an option for all elementary and secondary teaching interns.

The SOE launched an IB teaching certificate this fall for undergraduate and graduate students completing secondary teacher certification. The International Baccalaureate Organization authorized the SOE to offer the certificate at both the Middle Years Programme and Diploma Programme levels.

Professor Maria Coolican led the development of the IB certificate program, which is composed of three online modules and several in-person meetings, and culminates with students producing a capstone portfolio that showcases their IB teaching skills. Coolican has partnered with local IB schools, including Ann Arbor Public Schools, Washtenaw International High School, and the International Academy to develop the curriculum. With 93 IB programmes in Michigan, expanded partnerships are on the horizon.

Email Maria Coolican at mariajc@umich.edu

Approved by the State of Michigan, the ESL Endorsement program is a 20-credit, six-course sequence that includes a field placement. While the program is particularly relevant to interns who plan to seek ESL teaching positions, teach in a linguistically diverse setting, or teach internationally, the program provides teachers of any subject with knowledge, experience, and resources to serve all children well.

Interns learn how to design culturally responsive instruction, encouraging full participation of youth and their families in the school community. They plan, enact, and assess language and content instruction to provide equitable access to learning.

Interns who elect to add the ESL Endorsement are also poised to become advocates for culturally and linguistically diverse students by serving as a resource to their colleagues and in their communities.

Email Catherine Reischl creischl@umich.edu or Debi Khasnabis debik@umich.edu

During the program, candidates are placed by their employers in the content area for which they are seeking endorsements while participating in M-ARC. Participants begin teaching under interim certificates in their new content areas immediately upon entrance to the program.

Students have opportunities to learn practices of research design, data collection, and data analysis

Most classes meet in the evenings on the U-M Dearborn campus. M-ARC is a non-credit bearing continuing education offering. There is also an opportunity for participants in this program to apply to master’s programs at the SOE. Those who enroll in a master’s program receive graduate credit for a portion of M-ARC coursework.

Email edstudiesma.info@umich.edu

Web m-arc.soe.umich.edu

Master of Arts in Program Evaluation and Improvement Research The contemporary policy context places new demands on educational practitioners and reformers to use research to evaluate and improve the quality of education. Research is needed to provide convincing evidence of positive impacts on students’ educational outcomes and to support the design and continuous improvement of educational programs and policies.

Consequently, there is a growing demand for education professionals with research expertise to support evaluation of educational opportunities and outcomes and continuous learning and improvement in educational systems.

The newly redesigned Program Evaluation and Improvement Research thread of the Educational Studies master’s program gives students the tools to answer questions about what works, when, for whom, and under what conditions to ultimately work in partnership with education systems to create meaningful change. These include tools that illuminate and address inequities in students’ opportunities to learn and that draw on resources of diverse communities of stakeholders.

that span quantitative and qualitative methodologies; to conduct literature reviews; to conduct consultations with education professionals; and to write reports to meet the information needs of various audiences.

Blended Master of Arts in Educational Studies This fall, the first cohort of students in the new Blended Master of Arts in Educational Studies program came to campus. These students successfully completed the online MicroMasters certificate in Leading Educational Innovation and Improvement before joining the SOE community to pursue a master’s in Educational Leadership and Policy, New Media and New Literacies, Teaching and Learning, or Program Evaluation and Improvement Research.

The program prepares students to collaborate on diverse teams of educational professionals and to transform education within new domains of practice.

Students experience an interdisciplinary, boundaryspanning program that brings together teachers, educational leaders, reformers, and others to develop shared capabilities for practice.

This new model of graduate education allows students the ability to complete the campus-based portion of the Educational Studies master’s degree in less time. Full-time students can complete the program in two semesters. Part-time students can complete the program in three semesters.

Alumni of the teacher education program or the new education minor are eligible for preferred applicant status. As a preferred applicant to the master’s programs, the application fee and GRE requirement may be waived.

Email edstudiesma.info@umich.edu

In partnership with Teach Away, a provider of online professional development courses for teachers, the SOE developed an online course to train educators in disciplinary literacy instructional practices.

Disciplinary literacy instruction—teaching students to become proficient thinkers, readers, and writers in different academic disciplines—has been shown to support students’ literacy achievement and increase their access to deeper content knowledge.

Leveraging the expertise of Dean Elizabeth Birr Moje and Dr. Darin Stockdill, Instructional and Program Design Coordinator, Center for Education Design, Evaluation, and Research (CEDER), teachers around the world will have access to the tools, knowledge, and strategies needed to successfully develop students’ reading and writing capabilities in different disciplines.

While the course is geared toward secondary school teachers, any educator will find value in the course’s methods for improving student learning. Course participants receive a professional certificate upon course completion and may earn continuing education credits.

Web soe.umich.edu/disciplinary-literacy

Coming in Winter 2019

Certificate in Trauma Informed Practice Read more in the story “Giving Educators the Tools to Meet the Emotional Needs of Learners” starting on page 8 ■

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Why and how do historians read and write, and what exactly do they read and write? What about biologists, or mathematicians, or architects? How do scholars and experts in specific disciplines develop and communicate knowledge, and how do we best prepare young people to learn and participate in these academic disciplines? These are just some of the questions taken up by a new online course on disciplinary literacy instruction developed at the SOE.

The Michigan Alternate Route to Certification (M-ARC) additional endorsement pathway allows practicing teachers who currently hold standard certification in the State of Michigan to add endorsements to their certification while remaining in the classroom.

Teachers in M-ARC receive ongoing, content-specific training and development from U-M teacher educators for three years.

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Disciplinary Literacy Online Course

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Students at all levels on and off campus are taking part in new academic offerings recently launched by the SOE. These programs broaden the reach of the school, create new avenues into the field of education, develop knowledge in growing areas, and prepare students for successful careers. Each of these new opportunities was also developed to advance diversity, inclusion, justice, and equity in ambitious and innovative ways.

Michigan Alternate Route to Certification (M-ARC) Additional Endorsement

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Top 5 Strategies for Motivating Students

Promote growth mindset over fixed mindset.

If we are going to truly inspire and motivate all of our students, we should know each of them on a personal level. We need to know their interests and hobbies, who they hang out with, their family situations, and what gets them excited. Each student is going to require different motivational strategies, and we have to know them to be able to predict what strategies might work.

development with new ideas, and together they come to new learnings. This gradual release of responsibility from teacher to student encourages deeper understanding of lesson rather than rote memorization; thus, the students are participants in their own learning, rather than witnesses to the instructor’s knowledge.

Be inspirational.

Student work should be proudly displayed throughout the classroom. This sends a message to students that they are active participants in creating the knowledge in the classroom. The teacher is not the sole holder of knowledge. Additionally, teachers can use language that promotes a community of learners—including the teacher—rather than a room full of individual learners. Using the words “we” and “our” rather than “I” and “you” has a significant impact on classroom culture, and how students function as interdependent learners.

Inspirational teachers represent success to their students. Teacher success might be: completing a 10K race, owning a small business, or receiving a teaching award. We each have successes to share.

Through our triumphs, students can learn what success looks like and go after it. Once our students decide that they want success, they pay close attention to the behaviors and choices, and even sacrifices, that led us to our success. These behaviors include hard work, willingness to struggle, and the ability to learn from our mistakes. Students internalize our behaviors and strategies as a way to accomplish their own goals.

We give them an opportunity to do so in our everyday routines, assignments and encounters with them.

Most adults can recall a specific teacher from their childhood who had a lasting impact. These are the teachers who have inspired, challenged, and motivated students enough to be memorable years later.

What makes these teachers inspirational?

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Teachers spend years of hard work and thousands of dollars to become experts in their content areas, with degrees and teaching certification to prove it.

We develop curriculum maps and teaching calendars to be sure to cover the appropriate standards. We endure hours of professional development so that we are well versed in all the current educational pedagogy. We collaborate with colleagues so that we are all using best practices in the classroom.

We develop assessments for students so that we can track their progress. When all this doesn’t work, we have intentional interventions aimed at getting students back on track.

In her book, Mindset, Carol Dweck argues that students have an underlying belief about learning: either a fixed mindset or a growth mindset. A fixed mindset belief suggests that people are born with or without certain abilities and talents, and that abilities cannot be changed. Fixed mindset learners try to prove themselves and will often shy away from challenges because they do not want to appear to be struggling.

A growth mindset learner, on the other hand, believes that abilities and talents can be cultivated and improved through hard work. Growth mindset students enjoy a challenge and see struggles and failures as necessary parts of growth. Learners with a growth mindset are certainly more motivated to work hard.

And students are still failing.

How do we foster a growth mindset in the classroom?

The problem is that many students are not motivated to learn. Even with the perfect lesson plan in place, an unmotivated student will not learn. Some teachers claim that motivating students is not their job. It is a teacher’s job to know the content and to teach it well; the student must take responsibility for his or her learning and find his or her own motivation.

This old-fashioned idea is what limits many teachers to being average. A great teacher recognizes that student motivation is necessary for success in learning and that teachers are in the perfect position to improve student motivation. Here are some strategies that can be used in the classroom to help motivate students.

One of the most powerful elements of feedback for our learners is to praise them for their efforts and hard work. “I can tell that you have been practicing your reading,” or “The practice is paying off on your times tables,” tells learners that they have the power to improve their academic success. That said, we must stop praising ability: “Wow, you are such a smart math student,” or “You are such an incredible reader.” Praise for abilities over efforts reinforces the fixed mindset that students have the ability or they don’t and no amount of hard work on the learner’s part can change the outcome. We are all learners, and should be encouraged as such.

Throughout a learning cycle, teachers assess student progress by incorporating formative and summative assessments. The purpose of formative assessment is to pinpoint the learning needed for ultimate success on a later summative assessment. Formative assessment informs teachers and students about student and classroom needs for improvement so both can act accordingly to improve performance on the final assessment. Some formative assessments are: a thumbs up/thumbs down check for understanding, a quiz in small groups, or an exit slip at the end of a lesson. What is important is that students get timely and descriptive feedback from the assessment so that they can move forward in their learning. This cycle of learning will improve results on a later summative assessment.

As teachers, we can model the growth mindset.

Have courage! Ask students for feedback about your teaching and be willing to make necessary changes.

Be dedicated! Work hard for students and share how hard work and dedication translates to success and growth. This feedback shows that we, too, are learners.

It also invites our students to continue on the learning journey alongside us. Students are always willing to work hard for a teacher that is reciprocating that hard work.

In order to begin that “knowing,” try allowing for five minutes where students may share “Good News.”

For example, student A shares, “I am a new uncle!

My sister had a new baby boy this weekend!” This is an opportunity for us to learn about our students as people and to let them know that we care about them individually. This also provides an avenue for teachers to share some details about their lives outside of school. When teachers are willing to share personally and become vulnerable, students are more likely to do the same. When learners see one another as whole people, they are more willing to take risks, and ask the questions they need to ask in order to obtain success.

We all learn differently. In each classroom, several types of learners exist: visual, tactile, verbal, and more reserved. We can see it as our responsibility to discover this by knowing them and endeavor to teach them accordingly. This work results in our ability to know our students, which leads to a more cohesive, open learning community.

Grow a community of learners in your classroom.

Students need a classroom environment that is safe, where they are willing to take risks and struggle.

To achieve this goal, the students and teacher must work together towards common collective goals.

Students must be willing to work with and assist other students in class. Struggle should be acceptable and encouraged as a part of the learning process.

Traditional teaching consists of teachers lecturing and learners taking notes, followed by the learners doing independent work to check for understanding.

Transforming this outdated model to include more time where students are talking to students brings about true community. Collaborative group work should be the activity between the teacher lecture and the independent work. This is the time when students can digest information and ask questions collectively. Learners participate in what could be considered the “problem solving” phase of their

Establish high expectations and establish clear goals.

Setting high expectations and supporting students as they struggle allows learners to rise to meet those expectations. When expectations are transparent, students know where their learning is headed and are motivated to get there because it seems possible: the path is visible. Working towards daily, weekly, and yearly goals gives students a purpose and a meaning for the hard work that they do.

Daily learning goals (learning targets, or “I can” statements) should be posted, visible, and referenced on a daily basis. Establishing the “goal of the day” at the start of the lesson gives students a purpose for their learning. Students can also formatively assess themselves at the end of each lesson by checking to be sure they have met the learning goals.

Maintaining high expectations for academics is tantamount to learning, but high standards for behavior, academic language, group work, and even the length and format of individual work is also necessary for deep learning. We cannot assume that students know these expectations. They must

be clearly outlined. If we expect students to interact in a certain way together, we need to teach them how, and hold them accountable. If we want an assignment displayed in a certain format, we need to model it and expect it. Once the routines to support expectations are established and clear to the learning community, learning becomes the most important action in the classroom.

Luke Wilcox (BSEd ’01, Teach Cert ’01) is a math teacher and leader at East Kentwood High School. He has served as a department chairperson, academic support coach, and point person for Rising Teacher Leaders.

In addition to receiving recognition as Michigan’s Teacher of the Year, he was also awarded the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching.

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standardized testing, school choice, and school shootings. Throughout the year, he also spoke at summits where educators gathered to discuss improvements to Michigan’s education across the board, calling on legislators to specify their plans to improve education statewide.

Nationally, he worked alongside other teacher leaders to address the U.S. Secretary of Education. When discussing public education with Secretary DeVos, he said, “If you properly fund schools, you have kids who are poor, who come from single-parent families, and they have access to the best curriculum and the best teachers; that’s what public education is all about. That’s why we created public education, so that every family and every kid has the opportunity to be successful.”

Now that a new school year is underway, Wilcox is back in his math classroom at East Kentwood High School, near Grand Rapids.

He continues his outreach on his blog, found at lukewilcox.org.

Here, he shares strategies for motivating students.

Develop meaningful and respectful relationships with your students.

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lumnus Luke Wilcox spent a year traveling around the state as part of his honorary duties as Michigan’s 2017–18 Teacher of the Year. He delivered conference presentations, attended State Board of Education meetings, and spoke to the media about current educational topics such as

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Alumnus and Michigan Teacher of the Year Luke Wilcox returns to the classroom and shares his perspective on student motivation

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Motivated to Learn

Victors for Michigan Campaign Ending in 2018

Melon Dash (MS ’80) teaches mindfulness to adults with a fear of water who want to learn to swim.

Her technique produces a specialized learning that takes place when someone overcomes a lifelong fear of swimming.

She founded the non-profit company Miracle Swimming for Adults in Sarasota, which is the most advanced instruction agency for adult non-swimmers in the U.S. The organization’s website is miracleswimming.org.

Anne-Lise F. Halvorsen (AM ’02, PhD ’06) co-authored Reasoning with Democratic Values 2.0: Ethical Issues in American History with former SOE professor David E. Harris and Paul F. Dain. Published in June 2018, it is a supplementary textbook for students of U.S. history. With two student volumes and an instructor’s manual, the 39 chapters in the books comprise a unique approach to infusing the study of American history with ethical deliberation by students. They have developed a website to support the use of the books: rdv2.org.

Lauren McArthur Harris (PhD ’08) co-edited the book The Wiley International Handbook of History Teaching and Learning with Scott Metzger. Published in June 2018, the book contains contributions from more than 40 scholars from seven countries and covers major themes and issues shaping history education today. The book explores the growth that the field has experienced in the past three decades, and offers observations on challenges and opportunities for the future. The contributors represent a wide range of pioneering, established, and promising new scholars with diverse perspectives on history education.

She is Associate Professor of History Education at Arizona State University.

James Thornton’s (AM ’67, EdS ’69, PhD ’72) paper titled “Reminiscing on Learning and Teaching: I Believe…” was published in the International Journal of Reminiscence and Life Review in the fall of 2018. Thornton served as a professor of adult education at the University of British Columbia from 1969–1992. His work can be found at reminiscenceandlifereview.org/online-journal.

Emma Jones Zone (AB ’00, TeachCert ’00) was named Senior Vice President of Academic Operations and Innovation at Faculty Guild, a new organization focused on making purposeful teaching a central part of the student success discussion within higher education. Zone previously served as Vice Provost of Colorado Technical University, and has taught at the secondary, community college, and university levels.

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n alumna recently shared that she wishes she could give more to the SOE, but she is helping put her granddaughter through college so that she can graduate debt-free. What an amazing gift! The gift of education is one of the most important gifts one can give.

I wish everyone had a grandparent, or other benefactor, who could guarantee a debt-free education. That’s where our generous donors come in.

We are nearing the conclusion of the Victors for Michigan campaign, an ambitious endeavor by the university to raise $4 billion. Of this total, the SOE committed to raising $60 million. The 5,311 donors who have supported the SOE since the launch of this campaign in 2013 are the benefactors that allow us to assist students with pressing financial needs so they can complete their degrees. They also allow us to support

facilities enhancements so that our building is not just historic, but state-of-the art. They allow us to augment the resources and experiences we can offer students, such as career assistance and study trips. And they fund critical education research and engagement in communities.

As we approach a successful end to our campaign, I say thank you to our donors who are collectively filling in the financial gaps to get us and our students from where we are to where we want to be. You are Victors for Education and, in my opinion, there is no better victor to be.

It’s not too late to give a gift in this campaign. Visit soe.umich.edu/giving or call 734-763-4880 to learn more.

Krissa Rumsey Director of Development and Alumni Relations

ELMAC Scholarship in Memory of Eugene Scott Thompson Spreads his Message to Be Kind, Be Honest, and Make Wise Choices “Dear Mr. Thompson, You taught me how to do so many math skills like multiplication and division.

I’ll never forget them. I miss you as a teacher, a friend, and a role model.” Arranged in portfolios and on display boards, dozens of student letters recall Eugene Scott Thompson’s fun classroom projects, sense of humor, singing voice, and ability to bring the best out of his students.

Scott’s family, friends, and colleagues remember him exactly as the children at Burns Park Elementary School do: funny, compassionate, skilled, intelligent, dedicated, and kind. “Mr. Thompson was a gifted teacher who taught us to see the many opportunities for learning and friendship which are all around us.

We remember Scott’s encouragement to ‘Be Kind, Be Honest, and Make Wise Choices’ as guiding principles for our life together as a learning community,” says Chuck Hatt, principal of Burns Eugene Scott Thompson Park Elementary.

Scott was a gifted singer with a basso profundo range.

His vocal talent gave him the option of spending his career traveling the world as a performer, but his family says that he cared about relationships far too much to live without strong roots in a community.

He found teaching—a career shared by many in his family—and attended the Elementary Master of Arts with Certification (ELMAC) program. Scott’s parents, Erik and Cordelia Lokensgard, recall that he was dedicated to altering his teaching techniques to reach students who struggled in school. He allowed no student to fall behind. Scott’s sister Alexa believes that Scott’s own curiosity and desire to understand topics from every angle contributed to his teaching ability.

Katie Robertson—one of Scott’s instructors in the ELMAC program and later his collaborator on developing a culture of creativity in the classroom— says, “Scott was passionate about the importance of creativity in his students’ lives and thrived as an educator when he was engaging his students in project-based learning opportunities and design thinking challenges.” For his work, Scott was posthumously honored with the Chairman’s Award given by the Michigan Design Council.

A constant stream of children, parents, friends, fellow teachers, and his beloved family filled Scott’s hospice room as they thanked him for all he had given them.

On April 20, 2018, Scott died following a battle with cancer, surrounded by his family. At Scott’s memorial service, his colleague Sandy Kreger read statements from his students thanking their teacher for building their confidence, shaping their character, and encouraging their academic curiosity.

Scott’s family asked that gifts in his honor benefit the Elementary Master of Arts with Certification program that launched his career. Those gifts created the Eugene Scott Thompson Memorial Scholarship to prepare new teachers who will carry on his work.

When asked which of Scott’s qualities they hope that scholarship recipients will inherit and take with them into the classroom, his family goes back to the attributes that made Scott’s teaching exceptional.

His father answers, “his ability to reach every child and help them find their confidence.” His mother hopes it will be “his gentle and caring nature.” His sister Alexa says, “the way he spoke to children with respect.”

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Robert O. Sornson (BGS ’71, TeachCert ’71, AM ’74) wrote Brainless Sameness: The Demise of One-SizeFits-All Instruction and the Rise of Competency Based Learning. This book offers a careful look at how we came to have our traditional education system, and how it met the needs of a different time. In it, Sornson considers the system’s design of the curriculum-driven one-size-fits-all educational model, why it no longer meets our needs, and how to devise a system that delivers a better future for children and educators.

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Tiffany Browne (MA ’17) started her professional career as an academic advisor in the LSA Newnan Academic Advising Center at U-M. She is involved in many office committees including Communications, Social, and the LSA Digital Place Voice of Student Project.

Tiffany is also looking forward to being involved in higher education professional organizations including NASPA, ACPA, NACADA, and MIACADA. She has loved seeing her CSHPE cohort mates flourish in their careers nationwide and uses the skills developed in her courses and internships daily, working with nearly 400 undergraduate students. While LSA is her home now, she’ll never forget her SOE roots and is happy to be within walking distance of 610 E. University Ave.

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If you wish to contribute to one of these new funds, please find the funds listed on

Victors for Michigan Campaign

The Percy Bates Scholarship

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An educational psychologist, Professor Bates became an SOE faculty member in 1965, and he served as assistant dean, chairperson of the Special Education Program, and division director for Curriculum, Teaching, and Psychological Studies. Later, he served as deputy assistant secretary of special education for the U.S. Department of Education. He was also a chairperson of the Higher Education Commission of the National Alliance of Black School Educators.

During his career, Bates worked with dozens of school districts, assisting them with assessing educational programs as well as dealing with equity, gender, and desegregation issues that teachers and administrators encounter on a day-to-day basis.

“I was interested in teaching students who did not have the advantages that other students had,” he says.

After serving for 20 years as Michigan’s faculty representative and another 25 as a university professor and administrator, Bates was inducted into the John McLendon Minority Athletics Administrators Hall of Fame. As a faculty representative, Bates played a significant role in Michigan’s athletic department.

NCAA faculty representatives oversee student-athlete welfare, certify eligibility, and ensure the proper balance between athletics and academics.

Percy Bates

U-M alumnus Eric Mayes is among the hundreds of student-athletes that benefited from Bates’s counsel.

“Percy was instrumental in providing guidance and advice on how to

As Bates reveals, “The notion is primarily to make sure that student-athletes really get the kind of education that a university can provide in exchange for our use of their athletic ability. It’s really a trade-off and, in my view, a contract with the student-athlete.” A high school track and football player, Bates discovered his role with studentathletes after coaching his son in Ann Arbor junior football and recreational basketball.

Former mentee Warde Manuel, Donald R. Shepherd Director of Athletics, says, “Without Percy’s mentorship and guidance early in my career, I would not be the Athletic Director at Michigan.” He adds, “Percy gave me a solid understanding of what was important as an intercollegiate athletic administrator: having a primary focus on the academic achievement of the student-athletes, ensuring their ability to compete for championships in their sport, and helping them grow as young people.”

Manuel and his wife made a gift to this fund to ensure that many more students could benefit from Bates’s life-long investment in the field of education.

The Percy Bates Scholarship will support U-M athletes who pursue a degree in education, with a preference for those who have a special interest in working with students with disabilities.

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leader, scholar, and mentor in the SOE since 1975, Professor Emerita Janet Lawrence served as Associate Dean from 1990 to 1995 and Director of the Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education (CSHPE) from 1996 to 2000.

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navigate higher education at that time,” he says. Mayes explains that he made a gift to this endowment “because it’s important to provide young people with caring and knowledgeable adults who can guide them as they navigate higher education.”

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One of Bates’s colleagues from the Department of Education, Jeanette Lim Esbrook, recognizes Bates’s work to support an equality center for various social, cultural, economic, racial, ability, and linguistic groups.

“The University of Michigan has always been a leader in diversity,” she says, “and Percy is one of the leaders.

His guidance led to the successful graduation of many students and he increased the role of diversity across U-M. He was also the senior leader among all 10 of the equality centers we had at the time, nationwide.” Lim was the inaugural donor who solidified the creation of this fund, saying that she gave a gift out of her “respect and admiration for what he has achieved.”

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Lawrence’s research contributed to diverse topics in the field of higher education. Early in her career, through grants made by the Michigan Department of Education and the Department of Labor, she designed and evaluated adult literacy programs. However, for most of her career, Lawrence’s primary line of research focused on college faculty. She became known for her work on faculty worklives, their motivations, and their career patterns.

Ann Austin (AM ’82, PhD ’84), Associate Dean for Research at Michigan State University, says of Lawrence, “Jan brought both her professional strengths and interests and her personal warmth and verve for life to her interactions with students and colleagues. Her scholarly curiosity enabled her to support the work of many students and took her into scholarly work and adventures around the world. Her interest in a wide array of issues, her sense of humor, and her caring for others enabled her to be both a friend and a colleague to many people.

With her retirement, she’s leaving a special place in the hearts and minds of many people.”

With funding from the U.S. Department of State, Lawrence contributed expertise in other countries where higher education transformation was underway.

Through professional development programs for university administrators in central Asia and research on the democratization of higher education in Kyrgyzstan, Lawrence’s scholarship reached well beyond borders and led to fascinating opportunities for CSHPE students.

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hen Professor Emeritus Percy Bates retired from the SOE last year, he left as significant a legacy in athletics as he did in education. A former athlete himself— playing football and running track for Hamtramck High School in his youth—he was the U-M faculty athletics representative for 22 years.

The Janet H. Lawrence Endowed Fund for Global Engagement

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Two New Endowments Honor the Contributions of Retired SOE Faculty

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the enclosed envelope or contact the SOE Office of Development at 734.763.4880.

Janet Lawrence

Amy Conger (PhD ’05), Associate Vice Provost and Director of Global Engagement at U-M says, “Jan always approached international work as a partner and a collaborator. She was mindful of the potential negative consequences of treating international partners simply as ‘research subjects.’

Her dedication to building long-term relationships with mutual benefit resulted in valuable learning opportunities for CSHPE students and research projects that informed higher education in other countries as well as the U.S.” Lawrence initiated study trips fostering international exchanges. The initial study trip to China was followed by a visit to Norway to study European Higher Education, then to Chile, England, and South Africa. Students voted to visit Chile due to their interest in social change movements. “Students who participated in these trips said they stand out as one of the most important experiences they had at the university,”

explains Lawrence. “Given that equity, access, and multicultural perspectives cut through much of our coursework, students gain essential insights into the cultural embeddedness of these concepts. I hope the trips will continue.”

Because of Professor Lawrence’s influence in the area of international education, the endowment created in her honor will be used to encourage international initiatives. The Janet H. Lawrence Endowed Fund for Global Engagement supports student participation in international study trips, student research projects related to international issues, hosting international educators at U-M, and other programming designed to introduce CSHPE students to the world of international higher education.

Greg Barrett (PhD ’02), who spearheaded the initiative to establish this fund, reflects on Professor Lawrence’s impact: “Jan has been actively involved

in international education issues— teaching the comparative course, bringing delegations of scholars and administrators to learn about U.S. higher education, and leading CSHPE study trips to places abroad to consider and contrast education in different settings. Because of Jan’s regard for the transformative nature of experiential learning, both at home and abroad, and her influence in this area at the CSHPE, a fund created in her honor will provide support for continued opportunities for students in this space.”

Victors for Michigan Campaign

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Regina and Ronald McNeil Merge their Commitment to SOE and Detroit Schools to Become the First Donors to Support the Teaching School

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egina (ABEd ’73, Cert ’73) and Ronald McNeil’s passions are centered on education, philanthropy, and business.

Regina is an SOE alumna who taught high school mathematics and worked as a school psychologist in the Detroit Public Schools. She holds an MA from Wayne State University and a PhD from the University of Minnesota. She now lends her expertise as a member of Dean Elizabeth Birr Moje’s Advisory Committee.

education and beyond. In addition to financial

After brief tenures with the Detroit Police Department and Campbell Ewald Advertising Agency, Ronald worked for, and retired from, Allstate Insurance Company after 31+ years of distinguished service.

During his tenure with Allstate, he was elected to four Senior Management Team positions and was also Chairman of two Allstate subsidiaries and President of three Allstate companies. The HistoryMakers recognizes him as an African American history maker in the insurance industry. In addition to serving on Dean Gallimore’s College of Engineering Council for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Ronald is CEO of Great Ball of Light—an energy start-up company.

donated the inaugural gift supporting the develop-

The McNeils co-founded The Ronald D. & Regina C. McNeil Foundation, Inc. in 2002. Through its flagship McNeil Scholar Programs, The Foundation supports its scholars throughout their undergraduate

consisted of your classmates, the families you went

assistance, The Foundation lends its counsel and support in areas including internships, academic and financial planning, life skills, and career assessment.

Since its inception, The Foundation has established three LEAD endowments and three university endowments including the Regina Clark McNeil Endowed Fund to support African-American students dedicated to teaching mathematics or science in secondary classrooms. The Foundation recently ment of the SOE’s Teaching School in Detroit.

Growing up in Detroit, Ronald and Regina were both deeply influenced by their fathers, who led intellectually rich lives and encouraged each of them to embrace every educational opportunity.

Young Ronald and Regina understood their fathers’ understated expectations of excellence and the importance of establishing and maintaining a high moral compass. They were grateful for their families, as well as the sense of community they experienced.

Regina explains, “We attended our neighborhood Detroit public schools, where your community to church with, the policemen who kept you safe.

Everyone was supportive and affirming whether it was your English teacher or the Choir Director.

Resources were also far more plentiful then. My elementary school provided nursing and social services and included a swimming pool and separate rooms for science, home economics, shop, and music. It was open in the summer for city-sponsored, adult-supervised recreation. Resources made a difference but so did the community. If we needed something the system couldn’t provide, the community stepped up. I was happy; I was affirmed.”

Both Ronald and Regina believe that the Teaching School will reintroduce the community model. The planned wrap-around services, the preschoolthrough-college educational opportunities, and the centralized location of all resources hearken back

Regina and Ronald McNeil

to the environment in which they were nurtured. Additionally, they are

committed to Dean Moje’s visionary model for preparing outstanding educators and leaders.

Regina recalls being a young teacher who was lucky to find support and mentorship early in her career: “Having a good mentor shouldn’t be luck. Here we have a Teaching School where this happens by design. Teaching is an extremely difficult job. It takes time to learn how to teach and how to do it well and you need support. Both Ronald and I believe that the Teaching School model will play an important role in reestablishing public respect for the profession of teaching. There is honor in being an educator and teachers should be celebrated for who they are and what they do.”

The McNeils’ commitment to the Teaching School builds on their dedication to expanding educational opportunities in Detroit. Under his leadership as League Chair, Ronald spearheaded the rebirth of the Detroit Urban Debate League. He is quick to add that during his tenure, the vast majority of the judges and volunteer support staff came from U-M. He reasons that “the aspects of debate foster critical thinking and research skills and poise; there isn’t a better way to learn these developmental tools. Debate is just a home run. U-M’s support of the Debate League is just another example of the university’s longstanding and unselfish commitment to the city of Detroit and the Detroit schools.”

Ronald continues to serve as Chair Emeritus.

The McNeils have merged their support of the SOE and the Detroit schools by investing in the efforts of the Teaching School. “From all of the years that we have worked in education, we are convinced that U-M, with all its knowledge and research—added to the vision and expertise that Dean Moje and her team bring—will lead to students who are well-educated and nurtured personally and professionally. They will be happy; they will be affirmed. We look forward to seeing that.”

Regina adds, “Dean Moje is the right person for this mission. Few things are easy in Detroit, but the Dean will get this done and we have her back all the way.”

Survey says…

In an effort to combat the national trend of declining enrollment in teacher education programs, and with the goal of increasing the diversity of the teacher population, the SOE and Michigan Creative launched a project to gain insights about the Teacher Education students who are attending or recently graduated from U-M.

Why did you pursue teaching?

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

A previous teacher inspired me I am interested in working with youth I have a concern for public education I have an interest in social justice I had a volunterr experience working with youth I have subject-area interest A friend or family member is/was a teacher Someone told me I would be a good teacher A previous course inspired me Other

What kind of student would thrive at the SOE?

What attributes did you look for when choosing a program?

“Students who will thrive at the SOE are idealistic in their understanding of what an excellent and transformative educator will be, while being realistic and reflective about personal goals and success.”

How important is it to you that a school or program:

“A student pursuing education as a means of disrupting inequity in today’s world is someone who would thrive in the SOE’s programs.”

“Students who will thrive at the SOE will be hard-working deep thinkers who are ready to persevere and push themselves.”

“A student who is passionate about education regardless of setbacks within the field of education.”

Rated on a scale of 0 to 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Has high-quality faculty

6.64

Is supportive

6.59

Offers good job prospects

6.42

Is equitable

Is inclusive

6.27

6.21

Is affordable 6.15 Is reputable

5.95

Is innovative

5.83

Is diverse

5.82

Focuses on social justice

5.73

Is challenging

5.64

Offers a unique curriculum

5.42

Has a global focus

5.24

Is prestigious

5.17

Is traditional

3.03

University of Michigan Regents Michael J. Behm, Grand Blanc Mark J. Bernstein, Ann Arbor Shauna Ryder Diggs, Grosse Pointe Denise Ilitch, Bingham Farms Andrea Fischer Newman, Ann Arbor Andrew C. Richner, Grosse Pointe Park Ron Weiser, Ann Arbor Katherine E. White, Ann Arbor Mark S. Schlissel (ex officio) The University of Michigan, as an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer, complies with all applicable federal and state laws regarding nondiscrimination and affirmative action. The University of Michigan is committed to a policy of equal opportunity for all persons and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, marital status, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, disability, religion, height, weight, or veteran status in employment, educational programs and activities, and admissions. Inquiries or complaints may be addressed to the Senior Director for Institutional Equity, and Title IX/ Section 504/ADA Coordinator, Office of Institutional Equity, 2072 Administrative Services Building, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1432, 734-763-0235, TTY 734-647-1388. For other University of Michigan information call 734-764-1817.

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