Inspiring Learning Award 2021-22 Recipient

I work with students who are preparing to be elementary teachers. I have the opportunity to teach and mentor students both on campus during coursework and as they complete various field experiences in local schools. My goal is to help students be prepared with the knowledge, skills, and dispositions needed to be a caring, competent teachers. I believe it is vital that in my work and mentoring I also model these same characteristics, including keeping students and their needs at the center of what we do.

The top ways I involve students revolve around trying to assist them individually and collectively in ways that will help them be successful throughout the program and in the classroom. This means identifying various student needs and then working to be supportive. I involve students in authentic experiential learning starting from early campus assignments designed to inspire their future teaching practice, all the way through their culminating field experience where they are teaching in the classroom.

In the McKay School inspired learning focuses on areas that include (among other things) being intentional, nurturing, student- and gospel-centered, and impactful. I think these factors are key to creating inspiring learning environments and experiences and are what I seek to accomplish.

I think everyone knows that experiential/inspiring learning has a high impact and is valued by students. What I wish more people knew was that we can achieve experiential and inspiring learning through experiences that may seem "small and simple" but that actually have a high impact on students' future success. Identifying the "nuts and bolts" students encounter when the rubber hits the road then designing experiential learning opportunities to set them up for later success is what this is all about.