When Paul Funk assumes the top job at Dennis-Yarmouth Regional High School next month, he’ll have nearly two decades of classroom experience to guide him. “I think it’s absolutely crucial for an administrator to understand the ins and outs of the educational process at the classroom level,” said Funk, who taught science for 18 years before transitioning to administration. “I really believe that the gains that are made, are made at the classroom level with the teachers.”
“You’re going to end up with these [less diverse] enclaves,” reflects University of Connecticut professor of educational leadership and law Preston Green on what happens when parents choose. “Because with people, like will always go to like.”
UConn Today (Neag School alumna and associate athletic director for the UConn National ‘C’ Club, Jamelle Elliott, is featured)
Beyond her advocacy efforts, Lynne Henwood’s body of work includes designing a teaching unit, based on the Autonomous Learner Model, empowering fifth grade students to utilize 21st century skills such as choice, collaboration, creativity, critical thinking, and technology. She was honored in 2018 as Teacher of the Year for the New Jersey Association of Gifted Children, where she now serves as president.
“We really need to think systematically about how to permit charter schools to exist in a way that won’t deleteriously impact school districts,” Preston Green says. “So understand that when I’m calling for a moratorium, I’m not calling for a backdoor closure but, rather, really thinking deliberately about how they can exist and be situated in a way that their inefficiencies are lessened.”
Congratulations to our Neag School alumni, faculty, staff, and students on their continued accomplishments inside and outside the classroom. If you have an accolade to share, we want to hear from you! Please send any news items and story ideas to neag-communications@uconn.edu.
Neag School alumni Jamie S. Baker ’03 (ED), ’04 MA, and Ronall L. Cannada ’05 (ED), ’06 MA visited the UConn Storrs campus this past spring to attend the inaugural 2019 Black History Month Networking Night, held to connect students from UConn’s ScHOLA2RS House, led by the Neag School’s Erik Hines, with alumni and friends of the University. They each reflect here on the impact of the event, as well as on their careers in education since graduating from the Neag School.
“I fully expect that over the next few years, Ivy will become not only a beloved teacher, but also a leader in the schools where she teaches and in the broader educational field,” says Horan’s faculty advisor and Neag School Prof. Dorothea Anagnostopoulos. “She will be a force to reckon with as she works to improve schools for and with her students and their communities.”
James Kaufman, a professor at the Neag School of Education, theorizes that creativity is both a widespread phenomenon and critical to human development. Rather than reserving the term “creative” for the favored few who produce globally acclaimed works of art or world-changing discoveries, he said, creativity is a label just as easily applied to the prosaic activities of everyday life — learning, problem-solving or making a junior high art project.
“Of course games and other forms of playful learning have a place in classrooms! Board games, card games, video games, role-playing game, simulations, even Kahoot!™ quizzes with leaderboards and badges—they can all contribute to student engagement, motivation, and the creation of an interactive situated-learning environment,” says Young.
