A Newsletter for UMW Faculty and Staff
Assistant Professor of Special Education Kevin Good
College of Education Director of Clinical Experiences and Partnerships Kristina Peck and Assistant Professor of Special Education Kevin Good talked to With Good Reason radio for a recent segment called “Food for Thought.” On the show, Peck and Good spoke about how they helped design UMW’s STREAM Initiative, with a hub that boasts a makerspace and an imaginarium, to inspire teachers and spark students’ passion. Listen to the show.
College of Education Associate Dean for Clinical Experiences and Partnerships Kristina Peck
UMW’s College of Education Director for Clinical Practice and Partnerships Kristina Peck was recently awarded a 2020-2021 Virginia Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (VACTE) Student Impact Award. In her application for VACTE Initial Licensure Scholarship, Glynnis Farleigh ’20 wrote:
“While Mrs. Kristina Peck has only served as the College of Education’s Director of Clinical Experiences for a portion of my time at UMW, I believe that she fully deserves to be honored for her dedication to the students, staff, and faculty of UMW’s COE. Mrs. Peck has been my instructor for both of my Masters seminars during my fifth year. Here, she has demonstrated intense organization, high standards, and high expectations for myself and my peers as preservice teachers. As a former math teacher and Google Educator Instructor, Mrs. Peck held small-group training sessions for myself and a select group of peers so that we could become Google Educators ourselves. Mrs. Peck has never failed to answer the number of challenging and complex administrative questions that we as students may have and is always supportive to students.
Mrs. Peck demonstrates high standards when modeling the mechanics of teaching – an aspect that is often less discussed as it is less often the subject of intense research, but an aspect that is critical to the smooth, daily functioning of a classroom. This type of daily dedication is critical to the smooth running of a classroom. Mrs. Peck consistently models excellent classroom management, administration, and organization in a way that I hope to mimic in my own classroom and accepts nothing less than the highest standard of performance from us as UMW students. I feel proud to be a graduate of UMW’s Masters of Education program due to Mrs. Peck’s example and support. While I will be beginning my first year as a teacher in my own classroom this August, I will be inspired by Mrs. Peck’s commitment to organization and high standards for years to come.”
VACTE Scholarship Committee Chair Ellen Drogin Rodgers wrote: “It is clear, based on Glynnis’s recommendation that [Peck is] an extraordinary teacher and mentor who has influenced teacher candidates, and in turn, the communities they will serve.”
After doing their best to teach remotely for three months due to the global pandemic, Virginia’s K-12 teachers got word in June that they likely would return to teaching this fall – and at least some of it would be online. The sudden switch in spring had been hard enough; few of the state’s teachers had been trained in remote education or in keeping off-site students engaged.
They needed help. That’s when the University of Mary Washington’s College of Education (COE) stepped up. In collaboration with Continuing and Professional Studies (CPS) at UMW, a Summer Virtual Teaching Series quickly emerged.
“It has been an exciting opportunity to share the experience and knowledge of the College of Education faculty with local schoolteachers,” said Kristina Peck, UMW’s Director of Clinical Experiences.
In just four weeks, based on local educators’ input, UMW prepared six one-credit professional-development courses providing best practices in online instruction. Despite the tight schedule, UMW didn’t sacrifice quality, said Kimberly Young, CPS executive director. The classes had to meet the same standards as other COE courses. Read more.
The College of Education will host our new STREAM Conference on Saturday, October 26, 2019 from 9 to 1 p.m. STREAM education takes STEM and expands it to include reading and the arts because we know those are other important ways to teach 21st century skills to our students. We are currently putting out a call for proposals for our conference. We are looking for faculty, teachers, administrators, coaches, librarians…anyone who has innovative and engaging ideas they want to share with other educators in the area that use STREAM education to promote 21st century skills in the classroom. Ideas for sessions include using augmented and virtual reality, 3D printing, and the design process to enhance teaching and learning in schools.
There will be 3 different types of sessions for which we need presenters:
Please share with educators who you believe would be great potential presenters. We are looking for presenters from all different subjects and grade levels. They can go to https://sites.google.com/view/coestreamconference/home for more information and to fill out the call-for-presenters form. We will be taking proposals until September 20, 2019. Presenters will be notified by September 27, 2019 if their proposal was accepted for this year’s conference.
Please contact Kristina Peck, Director of Clinical Experiences, at (540) 654-1351 or kpeck@umw.edu if you have any questions.