Education Connection 2016 by Curry School of Education

EDUCATION Connection

SPRING 2016

Top Rankings Again! The Curry School climbed into the 21st slot in the U.S. News & World Report 2017 Best Graduate Schools rankings. Among our programs, Special Education jumped two spots to 5th place. The Secondary Education program maintained its spot at 7th place, while the Elementary Education moved up to the 10th place. Education Policy came in at the 14th best in the country, with Curriculum and Instruction ranked 17th. “The rise in rankings of the Curry School, as well as several of our programs, is further evidence of our commitment to hire top faculty, attract exceptional graduate students and secure increasing amounts of sponsored research funding that supports the innovative work happening here,” said Curry School Dean Robert Pianta.

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 #UVACurry

MINDFULNESS

Addressing teacher wellbeing

B Y P R O F E S S O R PAT R I C I A “ T I S H ” J E N N I N G S

uring my years as a teacher, I found that mindfulness practice helped me manage my classroom. When I was practicing regularly, I found that I could handle challenging behaviors with more composure. I took student behaviors less personally and could more often respond thoughtfully, rather than react unconsciously to stressful classroom situations. As a result, I found I could more effectively orchestrate the social and emotional dynamics of my classroom in a way that promoted optimal learning. When I joined the faculty of a teacher education program and spent 15 years supervising student teachers and teaching classroom management I began to realize how much my mindfulness practice was really helping me. Every week I spent hours observing student teachers and their supervisors, and I noticed how their stress and emotional reactivity interfered with their classroom management. However, at the time, I wasn’t sure how to teach others mindfulness and it was long before we had such a large body of evidence of the positive effects of mindfulness. Today, a growing body of research is demonstrating that mindfulness-based interventions improve a variety of dimensions of wellbeing among adults, including reduced stress, improved resilience to stress, and improved emotion regulation. For the past decade, I have devoted my research to studying teacher stress and applying mindfulness-based approaches to reducing teacher stress with the aim of improving teaching and student learning. Today, many teachers are not well prepared for the social and emotional demands of the classroom. Increasing numbers of children are coming to school with unmet needs. Children at risk of psychological and behavioral problems often pose challenges for unprepared teachers. These students have more difficulty attending to learning activities, sitting —continued on page 2 E D U C AT I O N C O N N E C T I O N • S P R I N G 2 0 1 6

—MINDFULNESS continued from page 1

still, and getting along with their peers. They can disrupt lessons by creating chaos in the classroom, something many of us dread and try to avoid at all costs. Under these stressful conditions, teachers can become more likely to burn out and leave the profession at a time when, more than ever, we a need workforce of calm, supportive and understanding teachers. Indeed, recent statistics are alarming. Nearly 50% of new teachers leave the profession within their first five years of teaching costing school districts in the tens of millions to replace them.

The good news is that research is beginning to show that mindfulness-based approaches can help teachers manage the stresses of the classroom. I wrote Mindfulness for Teachers (Norton, 2015), which reflects the culmination of my 30+ years of experience as an educator and mindfulness practitioner, to help teachers cultivate the skills they need to promote a calm, relaxed, but enlivened learning environment that can prepare children for the future by fostering creativity, innovation, collaboration, and cooperation. This sort of classroom requires a teacher who is fully aware and present as she or

CURRY GOES TO WASHINGTON

CLASS NOTES continued from back page

Professors Patrick Tolan and Nancy Deutsch were among researchers from around the country who were invited to the White House to attend the First Lady’s summit, Beating the Odds: Successful Strategies from Schools & Youth Agencies that Build Ladders of Opportunity. The March 17 event was part of Michelle Obama’s Reach Higher initiative and convened researchers, foundations, educators, and past youth program participants to discuss how youth organizations can best support youth from lower incomes and disadvantaged communities to access and succeed in higher education, and it highlighted a positive youth development approach. “It was powerful to see so many mentoring researchers present and to hear the consistent theme of supportive adults as a key across the various speakers,” said Deutsch. The challenges identified included how to create links between different youth-serving systems, as well as scaling up successful programs and initiatives, she said. “There was a wonderful energy in the room,” she added. “It was a room of people who truly see youth as assets to society and who are dedicated to expanding the supports we provide youth both in and out of school. It was also a unique opportunity for people who are all passionate about this work but come from different sectors of the field to share knowledge and make connections.”

SPRING 2014 • HUMAN SER VICES

Cyndee Perdue Moore (M.Ed. ’02 C&I) ...is

the regional vice president of operations for American National University in Indiana and Virginia, and for National College in Tennessee. Kathleen O’Brien (M.T. ’08 English Ed) is a comedian and writer based in Los Angeles. A former high school teacher, she recently released her debut comedy album, The Important Thing Is That I’m Pretty, under the name Kat Radley...

Lizzie Ferreri Petticrew (M.T. ’07 English Ed) and her husband Wes welcomed a daughter, Josephine Virginia, on Feb. 22, 2015. The family lives in Portland, Ore. Peyten Williams (M.T. ’06 English Ed) and her husband Stan welcomed their second child, Catherine Cabyle, in December 2015. Peyten currently teaches at The Westminster Schools in Atlanta.

2010s

Millie Alspaugh (M.Ed. ‘14 Ed Psych: Appl Dev Science) owns Summit Behavior Therapy in

Virginia Beach, which uses the principles of applied behavior analysis to provide individualized, data-driven therapy to individuals with autism.

Jennifer (Lofgren) Brener (M.T. ’10 Soc Studies Ed) ...is a middle school dean in Loudoun County Public Schools.

Ariel Cornett (M.T. ’13 Elem Ed) was featured

in an NBC-29 TV news story for her use of yoga in her third-grade classroom at Cale Elementary in Charlottesville. Heather Denardo (M.T. ’15 Spec Ed) teaches early childhood special education with Manassas City Public schools and loves it! ...

he teaches and interacts with students, parents, and colleagues, and this book provides teachers with the tools to achieve this. At the Curry School, I’m incorporating this knowledge and skill building into the classroom management course I now teach here, using Mindfulness for Teachers to supplement a regular textbook. It’s been so rewarding to have the opportunity to teach classroom management again, this time with a better understanding about how to prepare our students for the social and emotional challenges they will face after they graduate.

Margaret Heubeck (M.Ed. ’13 C&I) runs the

largest online, student-only, secure national mock election for the Youth Leadership Initiative at the UVA Center for Politics...

CAPT Yoon Dunham (M.Ed. ’15 Ed Psych: Appl Dev Science) is an instructor in the Dept. of Behavioral Sciences & Leadership at West Point. Elizabeth O’Meara (M.T. ’14 Elem Ed) “I was honored and humbled to receive the Teacher of the Year award at my school in Chesterfield County for this upcoming year...”

Kristin Schutz (M.Ed. ’15 Ed Psych: Appl Dev Science) was featured in an NBC-29 TV news story on March 9 about her nonprofit, Yoga4School.

Richard Tankard (M.T. ’13 Soc Studies Ed) is a Spanish instructor at Fishburne Military School in Waynesboro, Va.

Tamara Wilkerson (M.T. ‘12 Foreign Lang Ed) is executive director of African American Teaching

Fellows of Charlottesville-Albemarle. She is also pursuing a doctorate in leadership. Kelly-Ann Williams (M.T. ’13 Elem Ed) teaches first grade in Fairfax County, Va. ... Bera Yaeger (M.T. ’11 Spec Ed) “This is my fifth year working as an Early Childhood Special Education teacher and I love it! I feel the professors at Curry did an amazing job preparing me for this journey. Thank you all!

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

Expand Your Identity B Y N ATA S H A H E N Y

ecently, I opened my door to a knock and was delighted to see the grinning face of Katherine, a Curry School

“AS I LISTENED TO HER, I HEARD THE VOICE OF A COURAGEOUS, INNOVATIVE, AND REFLECTIVE TEACHER.”

B Y TO N YA R . M O O N

P H OTO C R E D I T

alumna. Now in the final months of her first year, she caught me up on her teaching experiences. After graduating she, like many recent graduates, moved away from home and UVA to begin her adventure in an unknown place – near a Ute Indian reservation. Her students live in poverty unlike anything she has ever experienced. Many of them have grown up with cultural experiences she can only – and must – learn about in a job more multi-faceted and complex than any job description of teacher could possibly capture. As I listened to her, I heard the voice of a courageous, innovative, and reflective teacher. When the door closed behind our visit, I paused to consider how she might sustain those qualities, avoid the restrictive ruts created by the press of institutional demands and become the strong leader needed in such settings. Vitality and efficacy in teaching require initiative and imagination. After a few years in the classroom, you may find you have burning questions that go unanswered, lack an essential skill, crave collaboration or just need a new challenge. My solution: Expand your teacher identity to include learner, researcher, writer – or all three! As your identity expands to these new roles, you’ll feel renewed and your effectiveness as a leader in education will develop as well. Teacher as Learner. By now you have realized that just being certified doesn’t mean you are effective with all student populations. Consider taking classes outside your comfort zone, adding an ESL or gifted endorsement to your

COMMON MYTHS IN GIFTED ED

Natasha Heny is an assistant professor in our English Education program.

current license, or finding an advanced literacy or IT course to challenge yourself. Seek out opportunities for meaningful growth in places such as Curry’s Professional Learner site (curry. virginia.edu/gateway/professional-learner). Teacher as Researcher. If you have a question or problem, teacher inquiry (aka teacher research or action research) offers a way to explore it and effect change right in your own classroom. Join a research community, apply for grants to fund classroom-based research, and publish your findings in professional journals. The American Educational Research Association’s Teacher as Researcher special interest group (www.aera.net/SIG126/ TeacherasResearcherSIG126) and the National Writing Project’s Resources for Teacher Inquiry (go to www.nwp.org and search on “Teacher Research/Inquiry”) offer excellent resources for teacher researchers. Teacher as Writer. Educators are discovering that social media and blogging are effective ways to share ideas. Consider keeping a blog on one or more aspects of your practice on which you want to reflect regularly, or co-write a blog with a teaching partner. Write about your practice for a journal in your discipline. Strengthen your writing practices, as well as those of your students, through professional development offered by the National Writing Project (go to www.nwp.org and click on “About”). No matter your content area or writing ability, you will learn ways to empower student writers to become effective communicators in today’s digital, connected world.

For almost 50 years the American educational system has struggled to define giftedness. Even now, there is no universally agreed-upon definition of what it means to be gifted. Despite some guidance under U.S. federal law, there are no standard criteria for giftedness, so the definition and the process of identification are left completely up to the individual states and districts. Of the almost 3.2 million gifted students in the U.S., 60 percent of them are white, with the remaining 40 percent represented by the following races and groups: American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian, Hispanic or Latino, Black or African-American, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, two or more races, students with disabilities, and English language learners. Several reasons contribute to gifted programs’ skewed population, but ultimately there appears to be one major factor: the achievement gap. African-Americans and Latinos are severely underrepresented among the top 1 percent, 5 percent and 10 percent on achievement measures, a common assessment type for gifted identification. Here are four myths about giftedness educators should be aware of: • Gifted kids are the smartest kids in class. • All gifted kids show up to school gifted. • Giftedness cannot be developed. A student is either gifted or not. • All gifted students exhibit the same characteristics. • All gifted kids need the same kind of classroom experience. Read more about these giftedness myths online at curry.virginia.edu/ education-connection

HUMAN SER VICES • SPRING 2014

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CLASS NOTES

Submit your class note at curry.virginia.edu/classnotes/submit

1980s

1990s

Lynne Beegle-Gebhard (B.S. ’87 Elem Ed)

Stewart Bouton (M.Ed. ’96 Spec Ed) is in his

has married her degree in education with her equestrian career and opened her own equestrian center, Brookhill Farm Inc. in Charlottesville, Va. … Lisa Cooney (M.Ed. ’88 AV C&I) “... 28 years after graduating, I am still working as an instructional systems designer. ...Through developing a course on it, I learned Agile and am now using Scrum, Kanban, Lean, and Agile daily in my ISD work for a Federal agency. It works wonders!” Nancy Cox (B.S. ’86 Elem Ed) is in the process of becoming a certified coach in Gallup’s Talent Assessment tool, Strengthsfinder... Jeanne Koba (M.Ed. ’87 Spec Ed) was selected by Roosevelt School District #66 in Phoenix, Ariz., as the interim superintendent in June 2015 and then appointed as the superintendent in January 2016...

Charles (Chap) Percival (M.Ed. ’88 AV C&I)

retired June 2015 from 41 years as a classroom teacher. He published Go See The Eclipse and Take a Kid With You (Bee Ridge Press, 2015)...

Cathy Waggener Peterson Smith (B.S. ’86 Elem Ed) was recently married to Mr. David M. Smith. Mrs. Smith is a middle school gifted resource teacher with Virginia Beach City Public Schools and is a past recipient of the Curry Foundation Middle School Teacher of the Year Award, Virginia Association for the Gifted Teacher of the Year for Region II, and the VFW National Citizenship Education Award– Virginia Middle School Teacher of the Year...

S P R I N G 2 0 1 6 • E D U C AT I O N C O N N E C T I O N

15th year with Charlotte County Public Schools, 10 of those as the TV production teacher and Vocational Department Head at Port Charlotte High School... Amy Cohen (M.T. ’97 Spec Ed) teaches special education at the high school level in Arlington, Va. ... Karla Kirtley (M.Ed. ’94 AV C&I) was awarded the 2016 Golden Apple for Meriwether Lewis Elementary School in Albemarle County, Va. ... Suzi Pomerantz (M.T. 91) published Seal the Deal: The Essential Mindsets for Growing Your Professional Services Business (CreateSpace), which demystifies how successful coaches and consultants make money while making a difference...

2000s

Jennifer N. Bacon, Ph.D. (M.Ed. ’04 Spec Ed) is a consultant providing holistic educational services for self-empowerment, creative expression and goal completion...

Melissa DeMott Branch (M.T. ’08 Foreign Lang Ed) and Jeremy Edwards Branch (Col ’07)

welcomed Henry Emerson Branch into this world on March 15, 2015. He joins big brother, Jeremiah Edwards. The family resides in Richmond, Va.

Heather Jones Bumgarner (M.T. ’01 Elem Ed) recently earned a doctorate in education with

a focus on instructional leadership from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond... Casey Chalk (M.T. ’07 Soc Studies Ed) and his wife, Claire, welcomed a son, Thomas Peter, on Aug.

24, 2015. Thomas joins big sister Annemarie Frances, 2. The family lives in Bangkok. Derek Furr, Ph.D. (M.Ed. ’02 Reading) was recently appointed director of the Master of Arts in Teaching Program at Bard College in New York. Has been a professor in the MAT program since its inception in 2004.

Mary Alexander Gordon (M.T. ‘10 Elem Ed) and Derek Bradley Murray (M.T. ’10 Spec Ed) were married at the UVA Chapel on Nov. 7, 2015.

The couple lives in Northern Virginia, where Ms. Murray teaches in Alexandria and Mr. Murray teaches in Vienna. Emily Hodge (M.T. ’06 English Ed) earned a doctorate from the department of education policy studies in the Pennsylvania State University College of Education... She is now an assistant professor of educational leadership at Montclair State University in Montclair, N.J. Jennifer Horne (M.T. ’08 English Ed) ...teaches English at Charlottesville High School. She pitched her ideas about de-tracked, unleveled classes at TEDx Charlottesville on open mic night last September.

Alison Sheble Jones (M.T. ’04 Elem Ed)

and her husband Christopher welcomed a daughter, Hartley Anne, on Aug. 13, 2015. The family lives in Arlington, Va. Allison Marchetti (M.T. ’08 English Ed) and Rebekah O’Dell (M.T. ’05 English Ed) published Writing with Mentors: How to Reach Every Writer in the Room Using Current, Engaging Mentor Texts (2015, Heinemann)...

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