Giving Educators the Edge

Students need access to networking opportunities as well as opportunities to develop as scholars.

Each year, Dr. Trina Vallone ’98, associate professor of education, offers these opportunities to pre-service teachers by inviting students in her reading course to present at the Illinois Reading Conference in Springfield, Illinois.

We each … brought different strengths to the project.“
–Professor Lenarz

This year, Vallone and Kelly Lenarz ’99, assistant professor of education, partnered with students Corinne Beezhold ’13 of Demotte, Indiana, and Kaylee Wilson ’13 of New Lenox, Illinois, to present on the topic of “academic language,” an emphasis in the newly-adopted Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for grades K-12 and for pre-service.

“I appreciated the collaboration between Dr. Vallone and I and the teacher candidates,” said Lenarz. “We each have different experiences with and expertise in using the Common Core and academic language and brought different strengths to the project.”