Author: Stefanie Malinoski

Spring 2024 UConn ECE Classics Workshop

Posted on June 5, 2024June 10, 2024 by Stefanie Malinoski

On Wednesday, June 5th, UConn Early College Experience hosted a professional development workshop for approximately 20 certified ECE Classics teachers, under the guidance of Professor Sara Johnson, our ECE Faculty Coordinator for Classics.

Following a collegial conversation and opening remarks from Professor Johnson, the group delved into a discussion concerning the current climate surrounding UConn Classics courses at the university.

Later participants engaged in an insightful exploration of "Cloud Cuckoo Land" by Anthony Doerr, a text distributed to all attendees prior to the workshop which fostered an enriching dialogue among the group.

UConn Classics courses offered through Early College Experience.

Spring 2024 UConn ECE Art Workshop

Posted on June 4, 2024 by Stefanie Malinoski

On Tuesday, June 4^th UConn Early College Experience, and the UConn ECE Faculty Coordinator from Art, Professor Emerita of Illustration, Department of Art & Art History, Cora Lynn Deibler met with a group of 16 UConn ECE certified Art Instructors for a professional development workshop.

After welcoming comments from Prof. Deibler, the teachers joined for a roundtable discussion regarding the fundamentals of drawing. They acknowledged the fundamentals of drawing can initially be "boring" for today's young student artists as their usual visual world is fast, colorful, and immediate. While educators recognize the value of foundational work, they also know they are competing with TikTok, anime, and drawing apps. They shared strategies and insights into captivating Drawing I students, discussing impactful assignments and classroom activities that yielded enthusiastic responses from their students.

Later in the day, the group was privileged to gain insights from Professor Deibler and guest speakers Kathryn Myers, Professor of Art at UConn, and Jeanne Ciravolo, a distinguished faculty member of UConn's Department of Art and Art History, who also serves as the Director of the Alexey von Schlippe Gallery. Together, they explored portfolio preparation and admission criteria, providing valuable guidance to support students contemplating applications to collegiate-level art programs.

UConn Art courses offered through ECE

Spring 2024 UConn ECE Statistics Workshop

Posted on May 21, 2024 by Stefanie Malinoski

On Monday, May 20^th UConn Early College Experience, and the UConn ECE Faculty Coordinator from Statistics, Prof. Nalini Ravishanker met with a group of 44 UConn ECE certified Statistics teachers for their annual professional development workshop. The day included a presentation by James O’Donnell, Prof. Marine Sciences Department, UConn, and Director of Connecticut Institute for Resilience & Climate Adaptation (CIRCA): “Analyzing Coastal Flooding in CT and Climate Resilience”. Prof. O’Donnell spoke about the impacts of sea level rise, and more technically about the changing risk of flooding at the shoreline.

Later Elizabeth Schifano, Prof. and UG Program Director, Statistics spoke about data science programs at UConn. After a short break, the group reconvened to discuss a variety of topics including:

Homework assigning and grading at UConn (Amie O’Brien).
Mixture of traditional lecture & working problems in class vs. doing more hands-on investigations and labs, experiments where students use inference procedures (Amy Bigelow).
Switching from traditional textbook problems to one more involved free response problem set each week (Amy Bigelow).
Combined AP/ECE classes - finishing the entire curriculum by the beginning of May (before AP exam), what do the ECE students do in May-June? (Marcjanna Lungarini).

UConn Statistics courses offered through ECE.

Spring 2024 UConn ECE Latino and Latin American Studies Workshop

Posted on May 20, 2024May 28, 2024 by Stefanie Malinoski

On Monday, May 20th. UConn Early College Experience, and the UConn ECE Faculty Coordinator from Latino and Latin American Studies, Prof. Anne Gebelein, met with a group of 20 UConn ECE certified LLAS 1190: Introduction to Latin America and the Caribbean Instructors for a professional development workshop on the Hartford campus. The day included a presentation and discussion with special guest Lorenzo Martinez Ruiz about challenges to indigenous sovereignty in Nicaragua.

Lorenzo Martinez Ruiz is an indigenous leader of the Rama-Kriol peoples in southeastern Nicaragua, Lorenzo Martinez Ruiz, who helped unpack the two biggest issues for indigenous today: sovereignty and land rights. Lorenzo has been an activist for indigenous rights, whose community was involved in an InterAmerican Court case in which the Nicaraguan government was required to give the indigenous of the zone land titles. However, the government has ignored the many illegal settlers that have been encroaching and clearcutting the land to create cattle ranches; the indigenous have been documenting these breaches to prepare for a future return to the courts. In the meantime, Nicaraguan politician, Daniel Ortega banned Lorenzo from the country and stripped him of his citizenship. Lorenzo currently resides in Manchester, CT and he has applied for asylum.

After lunch the group discussed teaching indigenous studies today and later ECE Instructor Elise Weisenbach (Branford High School) led a discussion on college teaching challenges in the high school setting.

UConn LLAS courses offered through ECE.

Spring 2024 UConn ECE EDLR1162 and EDCI Workshop

Posted on May 17, 2024May 28, 2024 by Stefanie Malinoski

On Friday, May 17^th UConn Early College Experience, and the UConn ECE Faculty Coordinators from Education, Dr’s DeRosa and Levine met with a group of 20 UConn ECE certified Educational Leadership and Educational Curriculum and Instruction teachers for a joint professional development workshop.

After welcoming remarks from leadership in Neag, the teachers took time to introduce themselves and discussed Making College Level Reading Accessible. Later they broke into small groups to discuss problems of practice.

UConn Education courses offered through ECE.

Spring 2024 UConn ECE U.S. History Workshop

Posted on May 13, 2024May 13, 2024 by Stefanie Malinoski

On Monday, May 13^th UConn Early College Experience, and the UConn ECE Faculty Coordinator from U.S. History, Prof. Matt McKenzie met with a group of 50 UConn ECE certified U.S. History Instructors for a professional development workshop.

After welcoming comments from Prof. Mckenzie the teachers took time to introduce themselves and listened to Prof. McKenzie’s talk titled “Using Experience as an Archive for Historical Research: Methods and Examples".

After a short break the group broke into a large discussion about the differences between AP and UConn courses through ECE and what kinds of support and resources they would like more of to help promote UConn courses in their high schools.

UConn U.S. History courses offered through ECE

Spring 2024 UConn ECE HDFS Workshop

Posted on May 7, 2024 by Stefanie Malinoski

On Tuesday, May 7^th UConn Early College Experience, and the UConn ECE Faculty Coordinator from Human Development and Family Sciences, Shannon Weaver met with a group of 32 UConn ECE certified HDFS Instructors for a professional development workshop.

The day began with introductions and welcoming remarks and ECE program updates. Later, Dr. Weaver spoke about “The New Reality of Aging: Impact on Families” and the teachers broke into small groups to discuss course objectives for Later Adulthood

After a short break there was an open instructor forum and more group conversations and later a student showcase. The group broke for lunch and later heard from Student Success and Engagement Librarian, Ery Caswell, who provided teachers with an overview of resources available to instructors and students. The teachers also reviewed Microsoft Teams & HuskyCT.

UConn HDFS courses offered through ECE

Spring 2024 UConn ECE Biology Workshop

Posted on April 30, 2024May 1, 2024 by Stefanie Malinoski

On Tuesday, April 30^th UConn Early College Experience, and the UConn ECE Faculty Coordinator from Biology, Dr. Tom Abbott met with a group of 34 UConn ECE certified Biology Instructors for their annual professional development workshop.

After opening remarks the teachers embarked on a campus trail walk led by Dr. Abbott. The theme for the day was “In the “Heat” of the Moment, Forests Move Center Stage” and the group took a campus field walk through small forest stands. After the walk, teachers reconvened for lunch and additional conversation about their UConn BIOL 1107 and 1108 courses with Dr. Abbott.

UConn Biology courses offered through ECE

Spring 2024 UConn ECE English Conference

Posted on April 26, 2024 by Stefanie Malinoski

On Friday, April 26^th UConn Early College Experience, and the UConn ECE Faculty Coordinator from English, Prof. Scott Campbell and Graduate Assistant Adam McLain met with a group of almost 80 UConn ECE certified English Instructors for an in person professional development workshop on UConn’s Hartford campus.

The theme for the Spring 2024 conference was “Inquiring About Writing: Syllabi and Texts in the ECE English High School Classroom”. The conference brought together ECE English teachers to reflect on how to improve syllabi, use different texts with teaching, and implement first-year writing in high school classrooms for the next school year.

Sessions included:

"Barbie, Literary Theory, and Art" Course Unit Discussion

Advisory Board Member Kevin Barbero provided an example of a course arc focused around Barbie, literary theory, and art, showcasing his assignments and syllabus architecture for this unit. Teachers engaged in a workshop discussion about course inquiry and teaching units in the ECE English high school classroom with Kevin's example as the jumping off point.

Wadsworth Atheneum: Engaging with Inquiry, Identity, and Writing

Arri Weeks took a group to the Wadsworth Museum in downtown Hartford. The group thought about inquiry, texts, identity, and writing as it relates to an exhibit in the museum.

New(er) Teacher Intensive Workshop

Kyle Candia-Bovi and Alexa Kydd works with new(er) ECE English teachers thinking about the yearlong ENGL 1004 or 1007 classroom in the high school setting. They provided examples from their syllabi about how to turn the usually semester-long ENGL 1007 into a yearlong course.

Group Working Room

Emily Genser and Ramona Puchalski-Piretti hosted a session for those looking to have some quiet time to work on course materials in an hour-long guided working session.

"The Good Place, Literary Theory, and Philosophy" Course Unit Discussion

Kristen Rotherham provided an example of a course arc focused on The Good Place, literary theory, and philosophy, showcasing her assignments and syllabus architecture for this unit. Teachers engaged in a workshop discussion about course inquiry and teaching units in the ECE English high school classroom with Kristen's example as the jumping off point.

UConn English courses offered through ECE

Spring 2024 UConn ECE Italian Workshop

Posted on April 4, 2024April 5, 2024 by Stefanie Malinoski

On Thursday, April 4^th UConn Early College Experience, and the UConn ECE Faculty Coordinator from Italian, Prof. Tina Chiapetta Miller met with a group of 10 UConn ECE certified Italian Instructors for their annual professional development workshop.

After opening remarks and an announcement of the multimedia content winners, the group heard from, UConn current PhD candidate, Danielle Pieratti on “"Traduttore / Traditore? Translation Pedagogies for ECE Italian".

Danielle Pieratti is an educator, poet, translator, and PhD candidate at the University of Connecticut. She has taught in secondary and post-secondary settings for more than twenty years. She is the author most recently of Approximate Body (Carnegie Mellon University Press 2023), and her first book, Fugitives (Lost Horse Press 2016), won the 2017 Connecticut Book Award for poetry. Transparencies, her translated volume of works by Italian poet Maria Borio, was released by World Poetry Books in 2022. She currently serves as poetry editor for the international literary journal Asymptote, and her latest manuscript is a collection of hybrid works inspired by translations of Dante's Purgatorio.

*Image is San Girolamo nello studio, c. 1475, di Antonello da Messina (1430-1479)

UConn Italian courses offered through ECE

Spring 2024 UConn ECE Library Media Specialists Training

Posted on March 26, 2024 by Stefanie Malinoski

On Wednesday, March 26th, UConn Early College Experience, and the UConn ECE Liaisons from the Babbidge Library met with participating ECE library media specialists for a professional development training. The group met virtually and heard from content specialists from the library.

After a brief welcome with ECE Staff and Kate Fuller, from the library, the group heard from different library staff members:

Laura Smith : Finding Primary Sources.

Terry Palacios : StAIying Informed: Quick Overview of Generative AI, Pitfalls of AI, and Exploring AI Tools

Rob Walsh Fundamentals of Strategic Searching

Greg Colati CT Digital Archives (CTDA)

Materials from the training are available to for reference at: https://guides.lib.uconn.edu/ECE.

Spring 2024 UConn ECE Spanish Workshop

Posted on March 25, 2024 by Stefanie Malinoski

On Monday, March 25^th UConn Early College Experience, and the UConn ECE Faculty Coordinators from Spanish,Profs. Gustavo Nanclares and Eduardo Urios-Aparisi met with a group of more than 60 UConn ECE certified Spanish Instructors for their annual professional development workshop.

Prof. Maria Acosta Cruz, Professor of Spanish in the Language, Literature & Culture Dept, Clark University shared her presentation "Ecocrítica, cultura y nación: La cultura puertorriqueña a través de cinco siglos" ("Ecocriticism, Culture, and Nation: Puerto Rican Culture Through Five Centuries") with the teachers. After lunch the instructors engaged in a group activity sharing their creativity and resources with one another.

UConn Spanish courses offered through ECE.

Spring 2024 UConn ECE Allied Health Workshop

Posted on March 12, 2024 by Stefanie Malinoski

On Thursday, March 12^th UConn Early College Experience, and the UConn ECE Faculty Coordinator from Allied Health, Dr. Bruce Blanchard met with a group of more than 30 UConn ECE certified Allied Health Instructors for a virtual professional development workshop.

The group introduced themselves and took time to speak about each course: AH 1100: Introduction to Allied Health Professions, AH 2001: Medical Terminology and AH 4092: EMT Training Veteran Instructors shared insight with some of the newly certified ECE AH Instructors as well. Time was spent sharing course resources and discussing possible improvements to the courses.

UConn Allied Health courses offered through ECE.

Spring 2024 UConn ECE German Workshop

Posted on March 8, 2024 by Stefanie Malinoski

Spring 2024 UConn ECE Educational Psychology Workshop

Posted on March 6, 2024March 8, 2024 by Stefanie Malinoski

On Wednesday, March 6^th UConn Early College Experience, and the UConn ECE Faculty Coordinator from Educational Psychology, Prof. Joseph Madaus met with a group of 6 UConn ECE certified EPSY (Special Education) Instructors for a professional development workshop.

Instructors heard from author Terry Trueman, who spoke about his life and course text “Stuck in Neutral”. The book is about a teenage boy named Shawn who has cerebral palsy. Unable to communicate with the outside world and feeling trapped in his body, "Stuck in Neutral" explores Shawn's complicated relationship with his father.

After hearing from Terry the Instructors had a spirited discussion sharing ideas and resources that people are using in their courses.

UConn Education courses offered through ECE.

Spring 2024 UConn ECE French Workshop

Posted on March 1, 2024March 1, 2024 by Stefanie Malinoski

On Friday, March 1st UConn Early College Experience, and the UConn ECE Faculty Coordinator from French, Florence Marsal met with a group of 30 UConn ECE certified French Instructors for a professional development workshop.

Joëlle Vitiello, Professor of French and Francophone Studies, Macalester College shared her presentation “Enseigner les trésors d'Haïti” (Teaching the Treasures of Haiti).

Later Mary Catherine Decoteau, Career Consultant from UConn’s Career Services spoke to teachers about enhancing and highlighting career competencies in ECE French classes. Completing the morning, ECE Instructor from Avon High School Geneviève Brand discussed “L'eau dans la littérature”(Water in Literature). All Instructors who registered also received a free e-copy of "Laquelle de nous était Eurydice".

UConn FREN courses offered through ECE.

Spring 2024 UConn ECE Political Science Workshop

Posted on February 28, 2024March 1, 2024 by Stefanie Malinoski

On Wednesday, February 28^th UConn Early College Experience, and the UConn ECE Faculty Coordinators from Political Science, Oksan Bayulgen and Evan Perkoski met with a group of 14 UConn ECE certified Political Science Instructors for a professional development workshop.

Instructors heard from a panel of two political science professor and two undergraduate students who are active in student organizations on how to address electoral issues and partisanship in political science courses and how to encourage in student civic engagement. After a short break, Sandra Sirota (Director of Human Rights and Close to Home program) shared her talk "The importance of civic action in order to strengthen democracy and respect for human rights in our Connecticut communities and beyond."

UConn POLS courses offered through ECE.

Spring 2024 UConn ECE Earth Science Workshop

Posted on February 26, 2024March 1, 2024 by Stefanie Malinoski

On Monday, February 26^th UConn Early College Experience, and the UConn ECE Faculty Coordinator from Earth Science Prof. Thorson met with a group of three UConn ECE certified Earth Science Instructors for a professional development workshop. Instructors discussed Using Stone Walls for Teaching Earth Science ECE Courses.

Historic fieldstone walls are usually within easy reach of most schools and can be used for field trips or local visits enhancing ERTH 1051: Earth's Dynamic Environment and 1000E: The Human Epoch courses. The workshop provided instructors with a summary of the history of the general phenomenon and a description of the commonalities and differences of stone walls. The days discussion provided teachers with ways to enhance their teaching of ERTH 1051 and ERTH 1000E.

For more about stone walls and Thor's research please see "New England Stone Walls Deserve a Science of Their Own" from a recent UConn Today post and his work with theUConn's Stone Wall Initiative.

UConn ERTH courses offered through ECE.

Spring 2024 UConn ECE Environmental Science Workshop

Posted on February 22, 2024 by Stefanie Malinoski

On Thursday, February 22nd UConn Early College Experience, and the UConn ECE Faculty Coordinator from NRE Dr. Morty Ortega met with a group of 32 UConn ECE certified NRE 1000E Instructors for a professional development workshop. Instructors went on "A journey through Ecotoxicology" with Anika Agrawal, Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, UConn.

Anika Agrawal (she/they) is a third year PhD Candidate in Natural Resources and the Environment at the University of Connecticut. Prior to this she received a B.S. in Environmental Toxicology from UC Davis, and an M.S. in Marine Biology from Texas A&M at Galveston. Anika is currently studying mercury in oysters in the Long Island Sound. They are passionate about contaminants in coastal ecosystems and finding ways to make science more inclusive and fun in the classroom.

UConn NRE courses offered through ECE.

Spring 2024 UConn ECE Digital Media & Design Workshop

Posted on January 19, 2024 by Stefanie Malinoski

On Friday, January 19^th UConn Early College Experience, and the UConn ECE Faculty Coordinator from DMD Assistant Professor in Residence, Ken Thompson met with a group of six UConn ECE certified DMD Instructors for their annual professional development workshop. Instructors learned about creativity in the classroom and examined current pedagogical methods and evaluation tools for creativity. Group discussion and tip-sharing were invaluable to the Instructors as they continue to enable students to think creatively in their classrooms. Instructors also used their creativity skills as they workshopped a card game of their own. This workshop was an abridged version of an industry-standard game design practice, and then they critiqued their games using Mechanics, Dynamics, and Aesthetics.

The Digital Media field requires consistent technological funding for computers, cameras, and other materials. The Instructors ended the day focusing on technology, STEAM, and opportunities to showcase student video games, films, and artwork in statewide festivals and competitions.

UConn Digital Media & Design courses offered through ECE.

Fall 2023 UConn ECE Math Workshop

Posted on December 19, 2023 by Stefanie Malinoski

On Tuesday, December 19^th UConn Early College Experience, and the UConn ECE Faculty Coordinators from Math, Profs. Rizzie and Jaramillo met with certified ECE Math Instructors for their annual professional development workshop. Prof. Rizzie shared an overview and updates with the group about the ECE Math program and then participants split into smaller breakout groups to discuss Math 1030Q and 1131Q and 1132Q. After a short break the group discussed the addition of Math 1070Q for 2024-2025 and the continuation of the MATH 2110Q pilot.

UConn Math courses offered through ECE.

Fall 2023 UConn ECE Chinese Workshop

Posted on December 1, 2023December 19, 2023 by Stefanie Malinoski

On Friday, December 1^st, UConn Early College Experience, and the UConn ECE Faculty Coordinator from Chinese, Dr. George Yang met with certified ECE Chinese Instructors for their annual professional development workshop. Dr. Yang spoke to the group updates to the current CHIN 1114 course and plans for adding UConn’s CHIN 3210 and 3211 to UConn ECE’s course offerings in the near future. ECE Instructor Feng Xia from Amity High School discussed Chinese program development, and later the Instructors heard from Prof. Yu Wu, Associate Professor of Chinese from University of Rhode Island on Proficiency Oriented L2 Chinese: Assessment: Objectives, Instruction, and Assessment.

UConn Chinese courses offered through ECE.

Fall 2023 UConn ECE Chemistry Workshop

Posted on November 16, 2023 by Stefanie Malinoski

On Thursday, November 16^th, UConn Early College Experience, and the UConn ECE Faculty Coordinator Chemistry, Dr. Fatma Selampinar met with certified ECE Chemistry Instructors for their annual professional development workshop. After a brief welcome and introductions Assistant Professor and Lawrence E. Posner and Amy E. Newburger Fellow, Dr. Kerry Gilmore spoke to the group about his research on Green Chemistry. For more information about Dr. Gilmore and his lab see: https://gilmore.lab.uconn.edu/.

UConn Chemistry courses offered through ECE.

Fall 2023 UConn ECE Music Workshop

Posted on November 16, 2023November 16, 2023 by Stefanie Malinoski

On Thursday, November 16^th, UConn Early College Experience, and the UConn ECE Faculty Coordinator for Music, Shannon McAlister met with certified ECE Music Instructors for their annual professional development workshop. After introductions, where the group shared their teaching history, the UConn music courses they teach, and their favorite part of being a teacher they discussed their goals for the day. Next the group engaged in conversation with Assistant Professor of Music Theory, Dr. Stefanie Acevedo on popular music. After a short break, the group reconvened and Shannon shared updates and new resources with the Instructors and highlighted the UConn ECE HuskyCT site for Music Instructors.

UConn Music courses offered through ECE.

Fall 2023 UConn ECE Animal Science Workshop

Posted on November 14, 2023 by Stefanie Malinoski

On Tuesday, November 14^th, UConn Early College Experience, and the UConn ECE Faculty Coordinators for Animal Science, Drs. Amy Safran and Jen Nadeau met with certified ECE Animal Science Instructors for their annual professional development workshop. After introductions, Dr. Safran went over guidelines for all ECE Instructors including sample syllabi with course descriptions, philosophy, required texts, and grading policies. Later the group participated in a discussion about their courses and ideas for future professional development meetings. After lunch, they were able to get hands on experience in a Horse Science lab on equine myofascial release therapy with Cathleen Peabody, a professional equine therapist.

UConn Animal Science courses offered through ECE.