A social studies teacher with more than two decades of experience at Southington High School has been named the district’s Teacher of the Year for 2019-2020. Heather Allenback has been teaching in Southington since 1995, and attributes her love of social studies to being part of a military family with a vast appreciation for history.

George Sugai says it’s important to note that seclusion and restraint shouldn’t be used as the sole intervention for students with challenging behavior. Instead, he encourages teachers to seek more therapeutic responses to students, such as having conversations about why they behaved in certain ways.

The sound of ukuleles may be resonating across Guilford this summer. Sarah Ryan has found a note that sounds sweet to many throughout the Guilford Lakes elementary school.

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 can absolutely teach the majority of children—something like 96% or 97%—to read with the right instruction. But we can’t end the sentence there. It’s really ‘with the right instruction for them,’” says Rachael Gabriel, associate professor of literacy education.

James Kaufman said studies do suggest some kind of link between mental illness and “genius-level” creativity. He said that is balanced by many studies that show there is no cause and effect relationship: “Creativity doesn’t lead to mental illness, and mental illness doesn’t lead to creativity,” he said.

But he worries that perception may too often be accepted as fact, which might lead someone to put off treatment, or stop taking medication, for example, out of the mistaken belief that it could stifle creativity.

As social scientists who study coaching and leadership in sport, we’re starting to see a double standard at play – one that holds female coaches to a different standard than their male counterparts.