Dr. Melanie Smith, an education professor at 番茄社区 University, has published a chapter in the Handbook of Research on Advancing Teaching and Teacher Education in the Context of a Virtual Age.

Her chapter, titled “A Conceptual Framework for Understanding How Early Career Literacy Teachers Curate a Lesson Plan in a Digital Age,” focuses on the challenges that early career literacy teachers face when planning small group reading lessons, particularly in the primary grades.

According to Dr. Smith, early career teachers often struggle with knowing how to meet the diverse needs of their developing readers. To alleviate this challenge, they seek support from their social environment鈥攊ncluding online sources鈥攊n today’s digital age. However, due to their lack of experience, they may not always know how to determine quality when curating lessons from various sources.

Dr. Smith’s chapter aligns with Sawyer et al.’s critical curation theory, which supports the idea that early career literacy teachers need support in determining quality when curating lessons from various sources. Her conceptual framework enhances knowledge of the curation process for early career literacy teachers and highlights possible sources that they may utilize when planning small guided reading group instruction in the primary grades. Furthermore, the chapter highlights how these teachers select sources from the internet and use a research-based literacy framework to discern quality in their selection.

The Handbook of Research on Advancing Teaching and Teacher Education in the Context of a Virtual Age is a comprehensive resource for educators seeking to navigate the challenges of teaching in the digital age. The book includes contributions from leading scholars in the field and covers topics such as online learning, blended teaching models, and teacher preparation for virtual instruction.

Dr. Smith’s chapter makes an important contribution to the book by highlighting the challenges that early career literacy teachers face in the digital age and proposing a framework for addressing those challenges. Her research will be of interest to educators, researchers, and policymakers seeking to improve teacher preparation and support in the digital age.

The Handbook of Research on Advancing Teaching and Teacher Education in the Context of a Virtual Age is available from , a leading publisher of scholarly books and journals.

Hawk said the idea for the event was inspired from The Math Race event Stowell Elementary puts on annually. The Great Reading Race featured a scavenger hunt/race which parents were able to complete with their children. At the event, there were ten stations each family had to finish in order to receive the next clue, allowing them to move on to the next station.听

Additionally, each station featured different activities which included various literary skills such as eight rules of grammar, using a dictionary, prefixes and suffixes, rhyming, reading and comprehension, word problems, word families, reading recipes, root words/word endings, antonyms and synonyms, and more. Due to the event being schoolwide, each table featured something for every grade level. Furthermore, stations and activities were Dr. Seuss themed.听

鈥淭he great thing about this event is that parents got to work with their child(ren) in learning skills and ways to apply the skills that benefit them both at home and at school,鈥� Hawk said.听

Hawk also noted the importance of reading in a child鈥檚 everyday life but said that many parents aren鈥檛 always equipped to help their children develop these literary skills.听

鈥淩eading is a skill that students will use every single day for the rest of their lives. Parents are busy, and with COVID, I feel as though reading levels have really declined, and once students get behind, it is hard to bridge that gap. Reading to your child every day is so important, but so are the skills that come along with it. Parents, most of the time, don’t know what those skills are or how to teach them to their kids,鈥� Hawk said. 鈥淭his event helped shed light on the basic skills that parents forget about or don’t know about and offered many fun ways to help their kids read. Reading is the key to a successful future.鈥澨�

Hawk said her favorite part of the event was watching the parents and children working together to complete the activities.听

鈥淚 love watching kids learn and show their parents what they know. Every station was completely different than the last, so I feel like the students really enjoyed the anticipation of not knowing what they had to do next. It also helped that it was a competition. The family that completed the race the fastest, won a $25 coupon to the book fair,鈥� she said.听

Nine families signed up and attended the event. This was Van-Far鈥檚 first event which required parents to preregister. Hawk is hoping to have the event again next year and is anticipating an even larger crowd.

By Alex Shipley

鈥淢y role as governor is trying to find out everything I can do to help and support education as the school year starts,鈥� he stated.

Policies and approaches were discussed that will help to aid both effective learning and safety for all stakeholders.

Governor Parson expressed that he was glad to sit down with area administrators because schools鈥� needs vary from county to county across the state.

Dr. Larinee Dennis, HLGU Vice President for Academic Administration, stated, 鈥淚t was a pleasure to gather both Hannibal Public Schools and HLGU personnel to hear from and speak with Governor Parson. I was encouraged to hear how our state and community are working to reopen schools, but to do so in a safe way. I appreciate Governor Parson allowing local authorities to make decisions about reopening.鈥�

by Rebecca Sneed ’12

A 2019 Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) report documenting teacher shortages in the state of Missouri found that elementary education is suffering the most severe shortage.

鈥淚t is our hope that beginning this online pathway for completing a degree in elementary education will help fill a need in our state,鈥� said Dr. Larinee Dennis, interim vice president for academic administration and education department chair. 鈥淗LGU has a strong reputation of producing highly qualified teachers, especially in the area of elementary education.鈥�

This program includes fully online coursework that will culminate in a semester-long student teaching experience. It is designed for students who already have an associate of arts degree or have general education degree requirements fulfilled, however, students are able to fulfill gen-ed requirements online before starting the EED degree completion program if necessary.

Those currently employed in schools as paraprofessionals or substitutes may be ideal candidates for this program.

For more information, contact Gail Barrowclough, enrollment counselor, at 573.629.3280, or via email at gail.barrowclough@hlg.edu.

鈥淭he agreement we have with Moberly Area Community College will help students find a clearer path to their degree objective without penalizing them for making the transition to a new school,鈥� said Dr. Anthony Allen, HLGU President.

Specifically, this agreement contains provisions that allow students to complete an Associate of Arts in Teaching degree at MACC and then transfer to HLGU鈥檚 early childhood or elementary education program and complete a baccalaureate degree in two years.

Missouri is currently experiencing a shortage of teachers, with elementary educators being the largest area of need, followed closely by special education teachers.

For more information on the HLGU Education Division, contact Pam Stewart at pamela.stewart@hlg.edu, or click here.

The article addresses how Knox County R-1 School District has implemented a one-to-one student-to-iPad ratio in their district and the methodology they followed to support and evaluate their use of technology in the classroom.

鈥淭he main focus of technology in use in our district is to transform standard learning into higher levels of thinking,鈥� said Strange and Orton in the article.

Dr. Strange is a 26-year educator currently teaching special education students at Knox County R-1. Orton is an 11-year educator serving as the innovative learning specialist for Knox County R-1. She is considered the Apple iPad expert in their learning community.

To read their article online, .

by Rebecca Sneed ’12

The Missouri Education Preparation Annual Performance Report (APR) said that performance of the candidates in the program exceeds expectations, giving HLGU a Tier 1 rating.

鈥淚 am very proud of the teacher candidates that HLGU produces,鈥� said Dr. Larinee Dennis, chair, division of education. 鈥淥ur program integrates experiential learning in PreK-12 classrooms, beginning in the freshman year, to provide our students opportunities to see the theoretical knowledge applied by master teachers in action. HLGU has many teacher education graduates who are recognized as outstanding teachers in their field and we are proud that they are using their knowledge for service.鈥�

APR results are compiled from reporting on content assessment pass rates, content coursework GPAs, first-year teacher surveys, and principal surveys of first-year teachers.

DESE Communications stated that, 鈥淭he primary purpose of this APR is to give higher education programs feedback for continuous improvement. The APR will also provide parents and students with reliable information about each program鈥檚 performance. We trust that the APR will give the public valuable insights as we all work together to strengthen Missouri education.鈥�

HLGU offers 13 undergraduate degrees in early childhood education, elementary education, and secondary education. The University also offers a Master of Science in Education in special reading, teaching and learning, and teaching and learning with initial certification, as well as a Master of Education in Education Administration in elementary and secondary principalship.

The Missouri Association for Colleges of Teacher Education (MACTE) recognizes Reid Echelmeier 鈥�16, and Ashley Foreman 鈥�15, as two of the state’s Outstanding Beginning Teachers. Both graduates of 番茄社区 University, Echelmeier is in his first year of teaching high school English in Bowling Green, MO, and Foreman is in her second year of teaching fourth grade at Gratz Brown Elementary in Moberly, MO.

鈥淭he HLGU Education Division is proud of both Reid and Ashley for being recognized as outstanding beginning teachers!鈥� said Dr. Larinee Dennis, chair, division of education.

HLGU offers 13 undergraduate degrees in early childhood education, elementary education, and secondary education. The University also offers a Master of Science in Education in special reading, teaching and learning, and teaching and learning with initial certification, as well as a Master of Education in Education Administration in elementary and secondary principalship.

The Outstanding Beginning Teacher Awards recognize teachers in their first two years of service who demonstrate excellence in serving children in school districts across Missouri. Only 59 of the approximately 8,000 teachers who were certified in the last two years were given engraved glass apples for their dedication and service to Missouri鈥檚 schools and communities. Award recipients were selected based on recommendations from Missouri鈥檚 state and nationally recognized teacher education programs, and a recommendation from candidates鈥� school districts.

鈥淚 admire [Reid Echelmeier鈥檚] positive approach to each day.听When challenges arise, he is flexible and great at improvising while continuing to challenge his students,鈥� said Brock Bailey, principal at Bowling Green High School. 鈥淸He] performs all of his duties in manners that we have described as well beyond his years of experience.听It has been a pleasure to help Mr. Echelmeier begin his career, and I am very encouraged that I am able to have Reid as a professional in our building.鈥�

Angie Doss, principal of Gratz Brown Elementary, said that, 鈥淢s. Foreman has a great rapport with her students that uses humor and set expectations to keep her room a safe environment for learning and risk taking, yet orderly and smooth. She allows for students to be independent learners and encourages them to work together and have meaningful conversations about their learning.鈥�

At the ceremony, awardees were challenged to continue their work by creating fair classrooms through a pedagogy of care in a professional development session conducted by Dr. Lauren Arend, professor of education at Saint Louis University, and to be stalwarts for democratic thought during the keynote address by Dr. Julian Vasquez-Heilig, professor of educational leadership at California State Sacramento. MACTE recognizes the contribution of these fine teachers, as well as all of our excellent, highly qualified teachers throughout Missouri’s who serve and educate our students.

MACTE is a state affiliate of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE), and serves as the voice for educator preparation programs across the state. The ceremony was held at the Columbia Conference Center in Columbia, Missouri, and was hosted by MACTE President Dr. Diana Rogers-Adkinson, MACTE President-Elect, Dr. Alexander Cuenca, and members of the MACTE Executive Board.