Olivia Singer, 22, of South Windsor, is a master’s student in the Elementary Education Integrated Bachelor’s/Master’s Program at the University of Connecticut in the Neag School of Education. Originally published in the Hartford Courant.

Each year, the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress holds a reading and writing contest known as Letters About Literature for students in grades 4-12. Students are asked to read a book, poem, or speech and write a letter to that author (living or dead) about how the text affected them personally. Letters are judged on the state and national levels. Tens of thousands of students from across the country enter Letters About Literature each year.

Engagement is the bedrock of all meaningful connection. It is the foundation of how you build a relationship, (i.e., think about when you get “engaged” to the person you want to commit the rest of your life to), and yet we don’t have a common definition that guides us regarding what engagement actually means.

In 2016, the Wallace Foundation announced a four-year initiative to overhaul the way university preparation programs trained principals to meet school districts’ needs and reflect what research says is needed for effective school leadership.

The University of Connecticut is serving as one of the lead institutions on a $32.6 million U.S. Department of Education grant supporting schools and districts throughout the nation to implement empirically based practices to increase student success.

This major federal investment represents five additional years of funding for the National Technical Assistance Center on Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS), which just celebrated its 20th year.

This week, we’re taking the show on the road, taping in front of a Homecoming Weekend crowd estimated to be the largest ever assembled to listen to an episode of this podcast. Prof. Margaret Rubega (@ProfRubega) talks about what it’s like to be the official state bird expert, Baseball Coach Jim Penders recalls the time he threw an award into the sea, and we look back on homecomings past, complete with smocks.

On the surface, this student is picture-perfect: Straight A’s, president of a club, athlete, 100 volunteer hours, works three jobs and fundraiser for numerous causes.

This was me.

James Kaufman classified creativity in four distinct ways: mini-c (personal insights), little-c (everyday creativity), pro-c (expert level) and big-c (creative genius). He said the kind of creativity exhibited by students with ADHD is often undervalued because it encourages others to be open to newness, which is scary for those who are accustomed to rhythm and order.

Norwich Tech has named Patricia King its new principal. King has worked in Connecticut school systems for more than 20 years as a teacher, department head, assistant principal, and principal. She served for 18 years as a high school Career Technical Education teacher and department head. She holds a sixth-year diploma in Educational Administration from the University of Connecticut.

Despite the growing numbers of English-language learners in U.S. schools, their representation in gifted and talented programs continues to lag behind not only their native English-speaking peers, but also other underserved populations, including black and Hispanic students and children from low-income families.

The root of the problem is the procedures and policies that most schools use to identify gifted students beacuse they frequently overlook academically talented English-learners, a report from the National Center for Research on Gifted Education found.