EDUCATION Connection
SPRING 2015
Nominate Outstanding Curry Alumni Do you know an alum whose lifetime career achievements deserve recognition?
• Distinguished Alum • Outstanding Middle School Teacher • Outstanding Superintendent • Outstanding Human Services Professional (i.e., speech-language pathologist, school counselor, school psychologist, or athletic trainer) Nomination period runs from May 5 to June 19. Get more information and submit a nomination at curry.virginia.edu/ foundation/awards
EDUCATION CONNECTION is edited by Lynn Bell, Director of Alumni Relations, and published by the Curry School of Education, P.O. Box 400268, Charlottesville, VA 22904. Email: lynnbell@virginia.edu curry.virginia.edu/education-connection
P H OTO R O S A M I E L S C H
In 2015 the Curry School Foundation is seeking nominations for outstanding alumni awards in the following categories:
Emerging Bilinguals The Curry School provides resources to help K-12 schools serve English language learners
T
he Curry School has become an even more valuable resource for K-12 schools addressing exploding populations of English language learners (ELLs) since adding Amanda Kibler to the teacher education faculty. Kibler’s research explores the language and literacy development of multilingual adolescents. In the past five years since arriving at Curry, Kibler has studied home language and literacy practices of Spanish-speaking Latino preschoolers and their parents, multilingual adolescents’ longitudinal writing development, and peer interaction and social networks in linguistically diverse middle school classrooms. “Unfortunately, ELL youth are often viewed through a deficit lens, only in terms of their limited proficiency in English,” Kibler said. Yet, they have a lot to offer. “They come with very rich cultural and linguistic resources, and as many other people have noted, monolinguals can be seen as the ones who are limited, because they know only English,” Kibler said. “In this way, the conversation is shifting to think about ELLs as ‘emergent bilinguals.’” As she studies effective language learning in the context of mainstream classes that support the learning of both the curriculum content and English, she is also learning how teachers can create a better environment—one recognizing that linguistic diversity in a classroom is a benefit for all students. It is becoming clear through the research literature, she said, that to become skilled English speakers, ELL students must authentically engage with other English speakers in multiple settings. Merely sitting in a class with experienced English speakers is not enough. Teachers can help by carefully structuring interactions, because not all conversations with peers are the same. —continued on page 3
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CLASS NOTES
1980s & 1990s
Amy Angelo (M.T. ’97 Spec Ed) … resides in
Submit your class note at curry.virginia.edu/classnotes/submit
Erika Glavan Caruso (M.T. ’05 Elem Ed)
Arlington, Va. “I have invested in a start-up company called Mutatio Formulae LLC...” Lisa Pericola Case (B.S. ’82 Spec Ed).... is a resource teacher at St. John the Baptist School.
and her husband Thomas welcomed their first child, Charlotte Jane, in April 2014... Jacqueline Li Cheung (M.T. ’05 Elem Ed) and her husband Thomas have a son, Braylon Kai. They reside in Fairfax, Va.
Year Award, Georgia Association for Gifted Children... Kristi Flack (M.Ed. ’94 Elem Ed) works as an instructional coach with Virginia’s VISTA Grant...
scholarship from the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese – Virginia Chapter…
April Keck DeGennaro, Ph.D. (M.T. ’89 Elem Ed) received the 2015 Gifted Program Teacher of the
Youtha Hardman-Cromwell (Ed.S. ’85 C&I)
served as interim associate dean of Community Life at Wesley Theological Seminary last year.
Jennifer (Lilliston) Hindman (M.T. ’95 Elem Ed) wrote Effective Teacher Interviews (ASCD, 2014). Kimberlye Joyce (M.Ed. ’95 AV C&I) is HR
Manager, Curriculum, at Cherry Bekaert, LLP, headquartered in Richmond, Va…. Linda Hogan (M.Ed. ’88 English Ed) works in the communications office at Woodberry Forest School in Virginia... Kelly Kwolek (M.Ed. ’93 Spec Ed) teaches seventh-grade English at Warrenton Middle School, in Warrenton, Va….
Heidi Anne Mesmer, Ph.D. (M.Ed. ’92 Elem Ed) was the featured speaker at the 2014 George Graham Lecture in Reading at U.Va....
Michelle Picard (M.Ed. ’94, Ed.D. ’09 Reading).... is the supervisor for English/language arts in Arlington County Public Schools in Virginia.
Annette Martin Porter (B.S. ’78, M.Ed. ’82 Spec Ed)… is amazed at what retirement allows time to enjoy.... She sings with the Reston Chorale... Gina Stetter (M.Ed. ’96 Spec Ed) is Director of Special Education, Shenandoah Co. Public Schools…
Deborah Stroman (B.S. ’82 Soc Studies Ed) is Director of Sport Entrepreneurship and Community Engagement at the University of North Carolina…
Angelique (Tritaris) Wynkoop (M.T. 96 Spec Ed) is a curriculum specialist in the Office of Special Education, Culpeper, Va....
2000s
Jennifer Bacon (M.Ed. ’04 Spec Ed) and her
husband have lived in Costa Rica for almost a year and are expecting their first child... Dana Bono (M.T. ’03 Special Ed) and husband Dan welcomed son Spencer John “Jack” in February 2013. Jack joined big sister Blair, who is in kindergarten. Jill Culpepper Branch (M.T. ’06 Engl Ed) and her husband Matthew have two sons, Christian James and Colin Matthew., and reside in Chesapeake, Va. Sheri Caligan (M.T. ’00 Elem Ed) earned National Board of Professional Teaching Standards Certification as an Early Childhood Generalist. 2
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Elizabeth Clune-Kneuer (M.Ed. ’04 Ed Pol Studies) co-wrote an article for NASPA... Sherrie Colby (M.T. ’06 For Lang Ed) received a Jennifer A. Schumacher Conway (M.Ed. ’02 Ed Pol Studies).... is a chief of staff at the New York City Department of Education...
Virginia Epstein (M.Ed. ’05 C&I) is excited to be
teaching fashion illustration at John Tyler Community College’s Fool for Art Festival on April 18...
Kristi Rayburn Farouki (M.T. ’01 Elem Ed)
and her husband Karim have three children, Serene, Samy, and Maya Siena. They reside in Leesburg, Va. Adrienne Gauthier (M.Ed. ’03 AV C&I) is an instructional designer at Dartmouth… Christine Hamm (M.T. ’01 Spec Ed) is working as an assistive technology specialist for Wake County Public School System…
Sarah Hagan Hudspeth (M.T. ’08 For Lang Ed) teaches middle school math at The Hill Center ... in Durham, N.C….
Jenny Johnson (M.T. ‘02 Engl Ed), a lecturer at
the University of Pittsburgh, is one of ten writers who has received a prestigious 2015 Whiting Award… Alexandria Kappel (M.Ed. ’02 Spec Ed)… is an assistant professor of special education at Indiana University of Pennsylvania... Abby Swanson Kazley (M.T. ’01 Spec Ed) is an associate professor ... at the Medical University of South Carolina.
Natalie (Delaney) Lago (M.T. ’09 Engl Ed)
and her husband David welcomed their daughter Delaney Carolina into the world in December 2014. Megan McNulty (M.T. ’00 Spec Ed) ... moved to Los Angeles and quickly started to accrue network, cable and pilot credits… Richard D. Moore (M.T. ’06 Spec Ed) .... resides in Columbia, S.C., where he is a high school special education teacher. Laura Nelson Oetgen (M.T. ’07 Elem Ed) is an elementary school teacher in Charlottesville... Briana Lappan Trone (M.T. ’07 Elem Ed) is an elementary school teacher in Fairfax, Va.... Anne Personett (M.T. ’01 Spec Ed) and her husband Benjamin have three children, Barrett, William and Emery.... They live in Atlanta, Ga. Gary Pillow (Ed.S. ’09 Reading) is presidentelect of the Educational Audiology Association and will assume the presidential role in January 2016…
Margaret (Matia) Rankovic (M.Ed. ’05 Ed Research) and Boban Rankovic live in Miami Beach, Fla., and have two children, Marko and Filip. Thomas Rhodes (M.Ed. ’03 Sci Ed) “My wife and I welcomed two wonderful twin boys, Matthew and Jonah, to our family on January 8, 2014!” Sara Rich (M.T. ’07 Soc Studies Ed) ... is now the Associate Director for Teacher Training at Bridge International Academies…
Katie (LaPointe) Robison (M.T. ’01 Soc Stud Ed) recently went back to teaching…. at Franklin Sherman Elementary School in McLean, Va…
Abigail Robson (M.T. ’09 Soc Stud Ed) teach-
es AP Comparative Politics and AP World History at William Campbell Combined School in Gladys, Va.... Ian Scheu (M.Ed. ’02 Ed Psych) has joined the California Lutheran University faculty in the Graduate School of Education...
Mark Andrew Sokolowski (M.T. ’07 Sci Ed) is a high school science teacher and Courtney Jo Andes Sokolowski (M.T. ’07 Elem Ed) is a
third-grade teacher, both in Falls Church, Va.... Soumya Sathya (M.Ed. ’06 C&I) and Sarath Ravella have two children, Khush and Asha Sathya The family resides in Fairfax, Va. Andy Spatz (M.T. ’06 Sci Ed) appeared on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire hosted by Terry Crews and walked away with $58,600 in prize money... Marie White (M.T. ’08 Spec Ed) earned National Board certification in Exceptional Needs Specialist/ Early Childhood through Young Adulthood.
2010s
Julie Bell (M.T. ’13 Soc Stud Ed) teaches at
Washington-Lee High School in Arlington, Va.... La-Neka Brown (M.Ed ’10 Reading) was the first recipient of the Dr. Judy Flythe Teacher Leader Award, Center of Teacher Leadership, VCU. Janice Chong (M.T. ’10 Elem Ed) … founded Teaching Garage, Inc., an education venture…
Catherine M. Marchetti (M.T. ‘11 Spec Ed)
was named Richmond’s 2014 Teacher of the Year... Jon Springer (M.T. ’11 Elem Ed) writes about emerging markets in Asia for Forbes online and sometimes in the Forbes Asia magazine… Shannon Stevens (Ed.S. ’13 C&I) teaches seventh-grade English in Prince George County...
Terrell Lamont Strayhorn (M.Ed. ‘00 Ed Policy) was promoted to full professor ... at Ohio State University...
Read more. Many class notes were abbreviated due to space limitations. You can read the full versions, including photos and fond memories, at curry.virginia.edu/education-connection
Expanding the Teacher Ed Reach B Y A D R I A H O F FM A N ( M . E D. ‘ 0 5 S O C F D N S ) , F I E L D P L A C E M E N T C O O R D I N ATO R
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ur teacher education program has longstanding partnerships with schools and divisions in Central Virginia. Our location provides the unique opportunity for practicum and student teaching placements in rural, suburban, and small urban school contexts within 30 miles of Grounds. However, many Curry teacher candidates plan to seek employment in larger metropolitan areas in which the linguistic, socioeconomic, and cultural diversity differs widely from the communities closer to Charlottesville. Evidence indicates that teacher retention and effectiveness improve when the student teaching experience matches the school community in which teacher candidates ultimately work. To best prepare future teachers, we have developed placement partnerships in metropolitan communities across Virginia.
—Emerging Bilinguals, continued from page 1 “Scaffolding and modeling are so important in creating environments in which student talk supports both content and language development,” Kibler said. Although Virginia has no specific course requirements for preparing teachers to integrate ELL students into the classroom, the need for these skills continues to grow. Virginia was among the top ten states experiencing the highest ELL population growth in the decade from 2000 to 2010. To serve this need the Curry School offers a set of online courses for licensed teachers that fulfills Virginia’s requirements for an ESL endorsement. The courses are grounded in the latest research—some were developed by Kibler, herself—and they are taught by Curry School faculty and alumni adjuncts. Class sizes are limited to 20-25 students to cultivate a
We work with our school division partners to match teacher candidates with highly effective mentor teachers in high needs schools or critical shortage teaching endorsement areas identified by the Virginia Department of Education. We are thrilled to announce that in the past two years, we developed formal partnership agreements with the following school divisions: • Alexandria City Public Schools • Falls Church City Public Schools • Richmond City Public Schools • Newport News Public Schools Curry teacher candidates have proved themselves as effective teachers in these diverse communities and have received employment offers. This coming fall, we’re adding a new partner: Henrico County Public Schools. The Curry School values these partnerships, as they signify our commitment to serving the diverse schools and students that comprise our Curry Community and to public education across Virginia.
familiar community of professional learners, who often hail from all across Virginia and have experience with ELL students from a range of geographic origins. “The courses are very flexible,” said Natasha Heny (Ph.D. ’13 English Ed), assistant professor and coordinator of our online ELL program. “They are offered at multiple times throughout the year, and there is no set sequence, so teachers can create their own path.” The Curry School also offers a discounted tuition rate for practicing preK-12 teachers. Read more about the Curry School’s online courses (curry.virginia.edu/onlineELL) and about Kibler’s research (curry.virginia.edu/about/ directory/amanda-k.-kibler)
Faculty Spotlight
Vivian Wong Assistant Professor Education Policy; Research, Statistics & Evaluation Wong teaches in our masters degree program, and her research focuses on evaluating interventions in early childhood and K-12 systems. As a methodologist, her expertise is in improving the design, implementation and analysis of randomized experiments, regression-discontinuity, interrupted time series, and matching designs in field settings. She recently received a $10,000 grant from the Curry School Dean’s Research & Development Fund for a study called Improving Best Practice in Non-Experimental Evaluations.
Curry’s First Online Degree
This fall the Curry School will offer a Master of Education degree in Curriculum and Instruction entirely online, which will be a first for us. The degree is designed for licensed teachers who want to make a difference in the classroom or other educational settings by developing more effective instructional practices and better curriculum development strategies. Learn more at curry.virginia.edu/online
Kids’ Physical Health/ Well-Being Resource
An invitational conference at the Curry School in late 2013 brought together researchers from across the nation and resulted in a booklet of resources for educators and parents called Physical Health & Well-Being for Youth. Download the digital version at http://tinyurl. com/youth-nex-book
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Teaching beyond Schools
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any Curry School alumni no longer work in schools or may have never worked in schools but are doing rewarding work in other professions. A few of them checked in with us this spring:
Jessica (Garrison) Chung (M.T. ‘05 English Ed)
Alex Bagden (M.T. ’04 Science Ed)
Director of Talent Acquisition and Development Generation Ready When my husband’s job moved us out of New York City in the middle of a school year, I had to leave the middle school classroom I loved. I had been doing part-time consulting with Generation Ready, helping teachers leverage the technology their schools already had for better learning, and took the opportunity to consult full time. After a short stint as a full-time consultant, I was promoted to lead recruiter and trainer of the consulting corps at Generation Ready. I’ve discovered that I love teaching adults almost as much as I love working with middle schoolers. Designing, implementing and delivering development for our consultants, who are all experienced educators themselves, is an invigorating challenge.
Founder/CEO Rooster Grin Media I run a small company that focuses on building websites for small and medium sized businesses. Our focus is on the dental and medical industries and building websites for doctors. I like being my own boss. I also like the satisfaction of building a successful company. A lot of my job is teaching. I have to teach new employees the skills they need to be successful and teach my clients about the different services we offer. Most are not very technology savvy, so it is helpful to be able to explain complex issues in an easy-tounderstand manner.
Suzi Pomerantz (M.T. ’91)
CEO and Executive Coach Innovative Leadership International LLC I’ve always been passionate about leadership and helping people. I was attracted to this work because of the creative and strategic opportunities to make a big difference in organizations and the world by adding value for those who influence and impact the world in a big way. I love the meaningful impact, maximum job security and flexibility, and the chance to really make a difference with people who have a lot of influence. Executive coaching leverages many skills inherent in education: listening, connecting the dots, creating experiences where others can see situations in new ways, guiding people to generate their own new insights and strategic thinking, and bringing external resources and knowledge to bear when relevant. 4
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Whitney Watson (M.T. ‘05 English Ed) Mortgage Consultant First Heritage Mortgage My mom was a Realtor, so I’ve always been interested in real estate. I ultimately made the switch from teaching to lending for the commission-based pay structure and flexible schedule. Mortgage lending is a tough job these days with all of the new regulations. As a former teacher, I love the ability to (1) educate my borrowers on the pre-approval and underwriting process (2) present my clients with multiple financial options and help them select the best fit, and (3) meet with clients face to face and identify problems before they occur. My education degree was critical to my teaching success, which is the portion of my career of which I am most proud. It has also provided me with the research foundation of many of the learning practices I use to this day. Read more of their responses at curry.virginia.edu/education-connection