“This graduation celebration is fitting because of the COVID-19 pandemic, as this is the way we started ScHOLA2RS House – a lot of uncertainty, some anxiety, fear of the unknown. Yet many of us were courageous to face this uncertainty, as we knew a blessing would come on the other side. That blessing has manifested today, the first ScHOLA2Rs House freshman cohort to graduate,” said Erik Hines, the first faculty director and former Neag School professor.
Welcome back to another edition of Starkville! Jayson and Doug invite in MLB Network do-it-all and broadcasting icon, Bob Costas, to today’s show!
With school closures announced across the country, Neag School faculty, alumni, and students share resources and expertise on teaching, learning, homeschooling, and parenting during the pandemic.
“We all are learning to adapt, but, this is not what we asked for, and we do not plan to continue when it is no longer required,” writes Tamika La Salle, an associate professor of school psychology at the University of Connecticut’s Neag School of Education and a research scientist at its Center for Behavioral Educational Research.
Congratulations to our Neag School alumni, faculty, staff, and students on their continued accomplishments inside and outside the classroom.
Neag School students completing the UConn Administrator Preparation Program (UCAPP) this spring presented their change projects — the program’s signature capstone assignment, in which students identify a need or opportunity for school improvement and work toward positive change — during the 6th Annual Change Project Day.
“Rather than supporting students with my practical expertise, I have to narrow my own curriculum to address students’ anxiety regarding edTPA and answer logistical questions regarding the requirements and expectations, much of which they are not finding helpful to their practice,” Violet Jiménez Sims, an assistant clinical professor at the University of Connecticut’s Neag School of Education, wrote in an op-ed.
“For parents trying to help their kids with homework in this new era of online learning, solving math problems may be among your more worrisome tasks,” says Tutita Casa, an associate professor of curriculum and instruction at the Neag School of Education. “There are, perhaps, two equations that many parents can agree on: Home ≠ school, and parents ≠ teachers.”
WNPR – audio 5:53 (Jennie Weiner is interviewed about the challenges of parenting and working online during the pandemic)
The University had originally planned to conduct remote learning for two weeks following spring break, but growing health concerns led to a fully online transition for the Spring 2020 semester. UConn faculty members, some of whom had never administered remote courses before, had to transition their coursework quickly to align with the new remote teaching style. Neag School alumna Karen Skudlarek ’88 (BUS), ’16 MA and her colleagues at CETL have been instrumental in the process.
