Articles
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Spotlight: Becky Streff (NE '18)
March 14, 2019With new students each year, changing curriculum and standards, and jobs that require 21st-century skills, Becky Streff (NE ’18) sees professional development and sharing best practices as an essential part of being an educator: “I need to change my practices to help prepare students for their futures.”
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Spotlight: Brittany Larson (ND '18)
March 14, 2019Every day, Brittany Larson (ND ’18) tells her first-graders that they are loved, smart and capable: “My greatest accomplishments are the lasting relationships I create with my students.”
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Spotlight: Stephanie Whetstone (LA '18)
March 14, 2019Fifth-grade math and science teacher Stephanie Whetstone (LA ’18) worked in journalism, marketing and public relations before pursuing a career in education: “I enjoyed the work, but something was missing. I wanted to truly make a difference.”
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Spotlight: Michael Zaba (CT '18)
March 14, 2019Art teacher Michael Zaba (CT ’18) goes to great lengths to tie the creative projects in his classroom to everything else his students are learning: “I love making interdisciplinary connections.”
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Spotlight: Nichole Anderson (CA '18)
March 13, 2019As a specialist, computer lab teacher Nichole Anderson (CA ’18) misses having one group of children to focus on all day. But sometimes, more is better: “I get to see so many kids and make them happy.”
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Spotlight: Sara King (HI '18)
March 13, 2019Sara King (HI ’18) shares with students her holistic, whole-child view of success: “It’s about who you are as a human being and what kind of impact you make on our world and others.”
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Spotlight: Angie Beavin (KY '18)
March 13, 2019When new students join her fifth-grade class, Angie Beavin (KY ’18) tells them about her own fifth-grade teacher, who went the extra mile to help her adjust to a new school in the middle of the year: “I want them to know I will help them through this change. I want them to feel at home.”
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Spotlight: Brian Quinn (MD '18)
March 12, 2019Brian Quinn (MD ’18) takes every opportunity to join his students on the basketball court, football field or baseball diamond. “You can teach children a lot while playing,” he says. “They don’t even realize they are learning at the same time.”
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Spotlight: Krystal Contreras (TX '18)
March 12, 2019In writing “boot camps,” Krystal Contreras (TX '18)’s fourth-graders fix injured “soldiers” (sentences) with punctuation and recite march-style chants about the writing process. “Learning to write is like going to the Army,” Krystal tells her students. “We are going to exercise our brains to get them into shape.”
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Spotlight: Sarah Compton (WI '18)
March 11, 2019Sarah Compton (WI ’18) values the weekly professional development time she and her colleagues have built into their schedules: “I walk away feeling that I can immediately improve my classroom instruction as a result.”