Brice Christianson, an alum of the School of Education’s Interpreter Training program, interpreted the State of the League address for National Hockey League commissioner Gary Bettman on Wednesday (June 15) night.
Commissioner Bettman gave his address before Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final between the Colorado Avalanche and Tampa Bay Lightning. This is the first time the NHL used an ASL interpreter for the event. It was described as part of the NHL’s effort to improve the hockey experience for deaf and hard of hearing fans.
“I invest a lot of time into prepping and practicing so I’ve been watching a lot of the NHL playoffs,” said Christianson, founder, CEO and professional sports interpreter of P-X-P, a firm that cultivates accessible and inclusive experiences in sports and entertainment. “So I’ve been watching a lot of the NHL playoffs. I’ve been practicing while I watch interviews, play-by-play commentary, and any terminology that I’m unfamiliar with, I research it, break it down.”
Women’s Giving Circle Funds Multiple Projects 
The Women’s Giving Circle funded projects in 2022 designed to improve teaching and learning within the field of education. At the group’s luncheon meeting on June 23, members heard about some of the results of the 2022 projects.
The Women’s Giving Circle was founded in 2006 to bring together women alumni and former and current teachers of all ages who pool their gifts for greater impact and keep themselves current about education through their promotion of the School of Education and its educational research.
The 2022 grant recipients designed a variety of projects and research to improve the teaching and learning experience.
Jenny Brownson
Jenny Brownson, senior lecturer for the elementary and middle education program, designed an effort to support and mentor teacher candidates. The grant, which ran from February to May 2022, supported a workshop for cooperating teachers to help them coach, mentor and evaluate the student teachers with whom they work.
This workshop supplemented the existing Cooperating Teacher Verification Workshop, and focused on working with adult learners, supporting teacher candidates with social-emotional learning, and evaluating a framework that pays attention to the gap between the student teacher’s desired ability and their current ability. The workshop also looked at ways to address equity issues in the classroom, identifying and cultivating culturally relevant teaching, and mentoring student teachers to use a social justice perspective in their teaching that addresses inequity in the community and in the students’ own experiences.
Candance Doerr-Stevens
Candance Doerr-Stevens, associate professor of literacy education, looked at ways of promoting teacher resilience through restorative circles in a project that ran from January to July 2022.
The ongoing uncertainty of the pandemic and other stresses have created uncertainty for both teachers and students planning to become teachers. With her project, two teacher preparation programs, English education and elementary education, piloted the use of restorative circles in selected courses to promote teacher resilience.
The enduring COVID-19 pandemic has created continual uncertainty for teachers and students.
Restorative circles, also known as “Talking Circles” and “Peacemaking Circles” use a structured framework for conversation to build relationships, create safe spaces, and address conflict and crisis within a community.
The project involved hiring a restorative school strategist to facilitate circles, engaging teaching and learning instructors to practice restorative circles with their pre-service teachers; encouraged the circles with three cohorts of pre-service teachers from the two programs, and assessed the impact of the restorative circles. The goal is to fully immerse both 51ÁÔĆć instructors and students in the practice of restorative circles as part of their preparation for teaching.
Angel Hessel
Angel Hessel, distinguished lecturer and director of student teachers in the elementary education program, is working to give student teachers the tools to build classroom communities. The work is carried out through the Peace Learning Curriculum offered in collaboration with the Peace Learning Center of Milwaukee.
The curriculum, which was offered in the spring 2022 semester and will be continued in the fall semester of 2022, teaches participants tangible age-appropriate tools to encourage inclusion in the classroom community, develop skills for productive communication and tools for nonviolent conflict resolution.
Teachers need to maintain a positive and productive classroom climate to build a classroom community. At the same time, disruptive student behavior is one of the largest drains on engaged academic time. A 2015 study showed many educators reported they felt inadequately prepared for effective classroom management.
The Peace Learning Curriculum, which has been offered as part of student teacher preparation for several semesters, helps aspiring teachers feel better prepared, according to the comments of those who complete the workshop. One wrote: “I will use everything I learned from this training in my classroom. An added benefit is having access to the Peace Learning Curriculum, so that I can use the strategies throughout my teaching career.”
The Foundations of Reading Test (FoRT): Tutoring to Success project is designed to help students prepare for the FoRT test. Annie Marcks, literacy instructor and assistant FoRT coordinator will lead the effort. The grant will allow the literacy team to provide small group tutoring to students who are taking the FoRT test for the first time. The test is required for most teachers seeking a Wisconsin teaching license. While the School of Education has offered tutoring to students taking the test, this project would take a proactive approach based on diagnostic tests and instructor feedback.
Students taking the FoRT will be offered the opportunity for small group tutoring. To ensure students who have taken the FoRT and not passed also get the instruction they need to be successful, spaces are reserved for them as well. Tutoring to increase students’ scores on the FoRT has had remarkable results and tutoring prior to the first time a student takes the FoRT has shown to be beneficial as well. Students who successfully complete all tutoring sessions will receive a scholarship to take the FoRT.
Jeremy Page
Jeremy Page, assistant dean of Student Services is leading the SOE Jumpstart First Year Experience, which is now in its third year. The class is designed for students in the School of Education, providing them with resources that help them transition to campus and college.
Students meet weekly in groups of 15 to 30 to learn what it takes to be successful academically, socially and emotionally.  This allows first-year students to connect with the curriculum, faculty and staff of their intended majors during their first academic term.
Currently, the School of Education offers few course-based opportunities to connect first-year students to the curriculum, faculty, and staff of their declared or intended majors during their first academic term. Retention rates of first year students in the SOE is approximately 75% (51ÁÔĆć Office of Assessment & Institutional Research, 2020).   This project coincides with the significant number of four-year institutions that offer these experiences.
Denise Ross
Denise Ross, associate professor of education, focused her project on developing a curriculum for the new applied behavior analysis certificate program. This is a graduate certificate for autism professionals scheduled to start in the fall of 2022. The project will involve seven students who will meet bi-weekly to align the course syllabi with university and professional requirements and infuse equity activities into the curriculum.
Applied behavior analysis is an evidence-based approach to teaching children with autism and other disabilities. It is an important field because of the number of children with autism is increasing in Wisconsin and across the country. There are currently only two ABA certificate programs at Wisconsin universities despite the need for behavior analysis professionals in the state. 51ÁÔĆć’s program will incorporate issues of equity into its curriculum by preparing educators to provide ABA services to underserved racial and socioeconomic groups. The grant will also help develop and purchase digital library materials for the program.
EdLine 2022
.
The 2022 edition of the EdLine, the School of Education alumni publication, highlights:
How the School of Education aligns with two other schools under the new College of Community Engagement and Professions
How a School of Education class is helping students choose a major – and a career
Research on the impact of a key reading exam on aspiring teachers. How our donors are making a difference
A profile of an alumna making a difference at the Vel R. Phillips Juvenile Justice Center
A student who is competes in pageants, serves the community and rehabs wildlife
How the Women’s Giving Circle is supporting the School of Education
Because of limited resources, we are printing a reduced number of copies, and hope you enjoy reading this issue online. The software we use allows you to flip through the pages just like a regular magazine. You can follow news from the SOE throughout the year by going to the School of Education News webpage.
If you would prefer a print copy, please contact us at edline@uwm.edu.
EdLine Archive
Character Education Awards Announced
The and the 51ÁÔĆć School of Education announced the four elementary schools and one middle school that have won the Promising Practice award this year for their thoughtful, innovative approaches to character education.
One elementary school earned the State School of Character designation (SSOC), determined by the Wisconsin Character Education partnership. This school also received the National School of Character award determined by character.org.
WCEP promotes the intentional, initiative-taking efforts of educators to instill in all Wisconsin students, core universal ethical values such as integrity, honesty, fairness, responsibility, and respect for themselves and for others through character education.
The WCEP and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s School of Education sponsor the State Schools of Character (SSOC) award program. This program, in partnership with Character.org recognizes schools for their exemplary character education programs.
Wisconsin is one of 30 states participating in the SSOC program. SSOC winners become eligible for the National Schools of Character (NSOC) recognition.
Character Education aspires to create a kinder learning environment which incorporates students, faculty, staff, and families of students, according to WCEP. This allows everyone to enjoy the learning process and students also have models for their coming adult lives.
A key element of Character Education in general and Promising Practices is that core universal values are incorporated in all parts of the school. Character is not taught as a course. Studies and follow-up reports are available which show how much performance improves in Character schools whether they are private, public, urban or rural. Promising Practices winners’ results are shared so others can adopt them. For more information, visit The webpage.
The Awardees this year are:
Rocky Branch Elementary (River Falls School District) “Monthly Character Education Groups”
This Promising Practice demonstrates shared moral leadership, inclusiveness in buddy groups and student voice with older students to create content to share.
A focus on a caring community following pandemic disruptions was the impetus behind this practice of monthly buddy groups. Staff placed a priority on school culture and relationship building using monthly cross-grade level buddy groups. Students and teaching staff participated, providing an opportunity for students to get to know one another. They used this innovative approach to expand shared moral leadership and student voice. Groups were enhanced by fifth-grade students collaborating to create monthly videos to introduce the character trait. Survey data shows 95% of students like the buddy groups and 90% said they learned about the character traits.
Meyer Middle School (River Falls School District) “Connect: A Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Course.” This Promising Practice is research-based, connecting social emotional learning to character development including participation by all students. Progress data is demonstrated. A strong belief that social emotional learning and character education are connected led to the development of this best practice. Using Meyer’s character education program as a foundation, the staff wanted to increase SEL student skills as key to student success and promote overall well-being. School climate would also be enhanced.
Using research-based approaches, every student takes the 7.5-week class each year with content/skills at each grade level. Student survey data is collected determining effectiveness and learning growth. Students are also asked to reflect on the impact their moral and performance character have had on them and their school, family, and community.
Edgewood Elementary School (Greenfield School District) “Morning Announcements: A Fresh Look”
This Promising Practice demonstrates strong student engagement as well as creativity with strong character education focus and fosters student intrinsic motivation. Pandemic school closures created a challenge for all schools to keep the school community connected.
Edgewood’s approach provided a common school announcement through the YouTube medium. Once back in school, both logistics and preferences made the school continue Morning Announcements through this media platform.
An added enhancement has been to allow for greater school participation and more connection to character education. Students contribute by writing scripts, saying the Pledge of Allegiance, or making commercials for character-based problems they see in school and how to resolve them.
The weekly schedule of topics such as Motivational Monday, Thankful Thursday and “Apaws” (a character shout out to students and staff caught showing a character trait). This creates a routine that school staff reports have had a substantial positive impact on school culture and reinforces character traits.
Westside Elementary School (River Falls School District) “Westside Elementary Character Council”
This Promising Practice is a Council that is inclusive, promotes character and demonstrates character daily in the community. Westside Elementary shifted its student council to an inclusive council focused on character and service learning. All students at grades 4 and 5 can participate. The goal is to embrace and live out the school’s character traits in service to others to make their school and community a better place. To be an inclusive and equitable group, the school devoted time during midday leading to a 50% increase in participation.
Students are now the voice for character growth, selecting projects and sharing with the entire classroom. The character focused council’s essential mission is helping students reflect on the connection between the service projects and their intrinsic understanding of character. Every two months the students are asked to reflect on the own participation in the service project, including how it relates to character traits, what they learned and how it benefits others.
Greenwood Elementary School (River Falls School District)
Greenwood Elementary School has been named a 2022 Wisconsin School of Character. In 2017 Greenwood achieved this status and was also recognized as a National School of Character.
This designation remains for five years and then schools are asked to recertify. Greenwood Elementary School went through this recertification process which required them to show their character program is thriving, that they used previous feedback to grow their character education program and were also able to show evidence they performed outreach to other schools to share their expertise in character education.
Everyone in the school understands the eight important traits their school stands for. They are Courage, Cooperation, Respect, Citizenship, Responsibility, Compassion, Positive Attitude and Honesty. Students participate in events to thank fire and police departments, support the local animal shelter, and serve at a Veterans’ Day Breakfast. Every day in the classroom and hallways, students are praised for exhibiting good character.
