51����

When Grace Ochidi and Olufolakemi Omoruyi tell their first- and second-grade classes that it’s time for mathematics, the response is always enthusiastic now. “They say ‘yay,’” Omoruyi said.

And Ralpheal Brown, their principal at Hopkins Lloyd Community School, said the whole school culture around mathematics has become stronger.

The teachers and principal are part of a group of 12 Milwaukee public schools taking part in a unique professional development program to improve mathematics teaching, learning and leadership in their schools.

The project, funded through a grant from MPS, started in January 2023, and brought the school teams together monthly for three hours on Thursday evenings to learn how to improve mathematics teaching. The group also met for two full days last summer.

It’s unusual, said DeAnn Huinker, professor of mathematics education, because it includes principals or sometimes assistant principals in the sessions. “So often we’re only working with teachers, but it’s exciting to have the principal there.”

By involving the principals, Huinker said, the overall culture of mathematics in the school can improve.

Three pillars to the program

What’s interesting about the project is that it can involve some “math anxious” people, she added. “Some principals say, ‘oh math isn’t really my thing, but I know we really need to work on it in our school.’” Sometimes, teachers encouraged principals to take part in the project or principals encouraged teachers to participate, Huinker said.

The project has three pillars.

One is ambitious mathematics instruction – helping teachers and administrators build their knowledge base about effective mathematics teaching.

The second pillar is a slice of mathematics. “We try to pick a math topic to build the knowledge of the principals and the teachers in that area,” Huinker said. “It’s wonderful and fascinating because the principals – some of them haven’t really thought about math in quite a while.” Teachers and principals work together on hands-on activities – like making fraction strips – that can help make math more accessible for students.

The third pillar is leadership, according to Huinker: helping teachers and principals build their content knowledge to provide mathematics leadership to all the teachers in a school. “Everything we do we tie to this pillar.”

Enthusiastic response

The response from MPS is enthusiastic.

“As we have continued to work with the principal and teacher teams, we are also beginning to see the teachers in the projects become leaders within their buildings and supporting colleagues to develop a love of teaching mathematics,” said Danielle Robinson, mathematics instruction coach for the MPS Central Region.

Participants have really valued the partnership between 51���� and MPS, said Beth Schefelker, project staff manager for MPS. These teachers take learning seriously since instructors are connected to current research from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics and also working at UW-Milwaukee to prepare future teachers, she added.

“The MPS team has brought forward a process on how to study state standards to identify expectations and then analyze student work to pinpoint areas in need of growth,” Schefelker said. This process has led school teams to develop a common understanding of standards-based student solution strategies. “School teams have taken this process back to their schools and are thrilled to report the positive outcomes of this work,” she said.

“It’s so exciting to watch principals work alongside their teachers … taking risks, having open conversations and sharing small success,” Schefelker said. “I’ve been able to observe various people evolve into critical leaders of mathematics.”

Following up

The program did some follow-up sessions this summer to go deeper into the content, and also had funding available to send teachers and principals to the Wisconsin Mathematics Council state conference in May, where the project was highlighted in two sessions.

“We always love to have strong representation of our urban district at the state conference,” said Huinker said. “They can learn even more to bring back that excitement and enthusiasm to their schools for high quality math instruction.”

The 12 MPS schools involved in the project are:

• Bruce
• Congress
• Doerfler
• Eighty-First Street
• Fratney
• Milwaukee French Immersion
• Milwaukee German Immersion
• Golda Meir
• Hopkins Lloyd
• Pratt
• Starms Discovery Learning Center
• Starms Early Childhood

Jenny Rudd didn’t have to look far for an inspiration to go into teaching. 

“My mom is a teacher. I’ve been influenced by her growing up, and have been lucky in knowing I wanted to teach my whole life.” 

The Wisconsin Council of Teachers of English chose 51���� alumna Rudd for the 2024 Outstanding Student Teacher Award. Rudd, who graduated from the School of Education in May, will be honored at the council’s annual convention in October.  

Teaching creative writing to diverse group

Pulaski has a diverse student body, with students coming from more than 20 countries, collectively speaking 25 different languages.  
 
Teaching creative writing to students who came in knowing little or no English was challenging, Rudd said, but her cooperating teacher and the supportive staff helped her meet those challenges. “My cooperating teacher (Bridget Spoerri) really pushed me to be independent, and the students were so fun.”  
 
“We basically navigated the language issues by having the students write in their native language, then work with us on translation.” The teachers also allowed extra time for students who weren’t native speakers, the opportunity to use a Spanish-English dictionary if Spanish was their first language, and offered the option of using Google translate. “We did have a very diverse group, so there were a number of languages my students could speak, which is amazing,” Rudd said. “I just loved that.” 

Rudd completed her student teaching at Casimir Pulaski High School in Milwaukee, where she has accepted a full-time position. She taught creative writing and a Diploma Programme (DP) course on theory of knowledge to juniors and seniors. (The DP course is part of Pulaski’s curriculum as an .)  

With the help of other bilingual teachers, she said, she was able to use the students’ native languages to help them develop their English writing skills and become enthusiastic about learning. “I loved hearing them chat with each other in their home languages.” 

“It was great learning about a bunch of different cultures,” she added, “and having students integrate their own selves into what we were learning and talking about.” 

Students discover their own voices

Students kept arts-integrated journals of their work through a grant her cooperating teacher had. The two teachers gave the students prompts, which they could respond to and integrate into their journals. Using art supplies and writing responses to the prompts let them share their own culture and experiences – some of them traumatic – in those journals. “It was very much focused on student expression, which I really loved,” Rudd said. 
 
As an avid reader herself, Rudd said she loves helping students discover and analyze literature and discover their own voices. “It can be hard for high schoolers because at that point, they either absolutely love it or hate it. Sometimes the hardest challenge is just to get them to buy in. Writing can be such an amazing escape and such a great way to express yourself and get whatever message you want out there.” 

She was glad some of the students were comfortable talking to her outside of class about the issues they were dealing with. “High school can be very complicated for students,” she said. “It’s always rewarding to make a connection with a student, and they’d come in to talk to me about something outside of class, whether it was sports-related or job-related or whatever. I felt I’d really accomplished something whenever students felt comfortable telling me about their lives.” 

With the help of her cooperating teacher, Rudd said, she worked on figuring out what kind of teacher she wanted to be – finding the balance between creating a classroom that was warm, welcoming and supportive, but with high expectations. 

Student teaching confirmed career in education

She chose 51���� after growing up in Wauconda, Illinois. Her dad is a 51���� graduate, and her mom played on the soccer team before transferring to UW-Whitewater.  
 
“51���� was a great support system for me, and I had multiple professors I truly treasure and am so grateful for.”  
 
Her student teaching confirmed her career choice, Rudd said. 
 
“The rewarding part was doing what I was meant to be doing. My whole academic career beforehand was always focused on being a teacher. So, it was really great when I started doing it, it was like ‘yes,’ I can’t see myself doing anything else.” 
 
Rudd joins a long list of 51���� English Education graduates who have received the award over the last few years.  
 
“Someone has earned this award from 51���� for the past seven years and intermittently in the previous decade,” said Kristine Lize, director of the English Education program, who nominated Rudd.  

Previous award winners include:

• 2023 
  Paul Winkler 
• 2022 
  Siraj Khan 
• 2021 
  George Connelly 
• 2020 
  Owen Lebrun 
• 2019 
  Alyssa Prindl 
• 2018 
  Margery Struck 
• 2016 
  Jason Lopez 
• 2015 
  Patrick Porwoll 
   
  In addition, nine first-year teachers who were 51���� alumni have been honored with the WCTE’s Outstanding First-Year Teachers (Nancy Hoefs Memorial) Award since 2009. 
   

If a student asks her a question in Swahili, Pauline Kanyiva Mwendwa will try to answer. Likewise, if she gets a question in Spanish, she can help.

Mwendwa, a graduate student in the 51���� School of Education, is an English-Bilingual teacher for juniors and seniors at Pulaski High School.

“We have students from Asia, we have students from Latin America. We have students from all around the world,” she said.

Mwendwa has taught in her native Kenya and in Mexico but came to 51���� because she wanted to develop a better understanding of teaching in a large urban school — “What are the challenges and how can I overcome those challenges.’’

Because she is working full-time as a teacher while going to school, scholarship support has been very important to her, she said. “It has really helped me be able to balance my finances so I could pay school fees and work as a teacher full-time.”

During the 2023-2024 school year, she received the Roland Callaway Memorial Scholarship, the Day/Finch Scholarship and the Milwaukee Educators Scholarship. During the 2024-2025 school year, she is receiving the Roland Callaway Memorial Scholarship, the Amy Tessmer Boening Scholarship and the Sydney G. Hambling Scholarship.

Personal experience an asset in the classroom

Mwendwa was inspired to go into teaching by her parents and her own teachers in Kenya. After a few years, she decided she wanted to challenge herself by teaching in another country. She chose Mexico, where she added Spanish to the languages she already knew — Swahili and another community language from Kenya and French. In Mexico, she said, “Google translate was my friend,” at first, but she learned Spanish and adapted to the culture.

Those experiences impact her work at Pulaski, where many of her students are from immigrant families.

“I tell them I am an immigrant. I know what you are going through. It’s hard being in a different country, but you can’t give up, even if it is overwhelming at times.”

A key challenge is helping students meet standards when the materials they need to learn are all in English. Another challenge is helping them focus on their schoolwork, Mwendwa said, when many of them are facing other issues outside of school that affect their concentration.

In her teaching, Mwendwa encourages her students to see the fact that they are bilingual as an asset now and in future when they go to apply for jobs.

“I tell them they are walking around with two languages in their heads. That is a superpower.”

What she is learning at 51���� helps her every day in her classroom, she said. “If I didn’t go to 51����, I would never know how to tackle this. If I hadn’t been taking the program, I don’t think I would be the teacher I am today.”

51���� mentors encouraged career in bilingual education

Her mentors and advisors at 51����, including Tatiana Joseph, assistant professor in Teaching and Learning and director of the English as a Second Language and World Languages programs, have helped her decide on the courses that fit her needs as a teacher.

Through 51����, Mwendwa has also been able to attend conferences with other bilingual educators. “I’ve been able to interact with people who’ve been in the career for years. They’ve been very helpful. They know the challenges and they’ve developed ways of overcoming them,” she added. “Being able to learn from them is amazing.”

Learning to develop her own curriculum has been very helpful to her, Mwendwa said. In Kenya and Mexico, the curriculum was pretty much set so, at first, developing her own was a challenge, but one she’s met.

“Students have different ways of learning. It’s not one size fits all. I’m not criticizing the systems I worked with for years, but I like the freedom to develop my own strategies to meet the needs of my students,” she said.

Just because students don’t speak English doesn’t make them incapable, she added. “I want to support students at their own pace. I know they’re very smart and they will be able to work with me. I want to support my students as English language learners to liberate their knowledge.”

Brice Christianson, a 51���� alumnus, is being honored with the Stuart Scott ENSPIRE award as part of the ESPN 2024 Sports Humanitarian Awards. The award will be presented July 10 in Hollywood, and featured July 11 on ESPN programming as part of the 2024 ESPYs.

Christianson earned his B.S. in Education with focus on ASL/English Interpreting.

After becoming the first professional sports American Sign Language interpreter, he founded (which stands for “play by play”) three years ago. The firm specializes in making professional sports more accessible and inclusive to those who are deaf and hard of hearing.

Christianson has provided sign language interpreting for the Milwaukee Bucks and other sports teams. He interpreted for National Hockey League Commissioner Gary Bettman during his addresses for the Stanley Cup Final starting in 2022 — a first for major professional sports. And as part of this year’s Stanley Cup Final, Christianson’s P-X-P partnered with the NHL to produce a first-of-its-kind, alternate telecast on ESPN+ and Sportsnet+ for every game of the Stanley Cup final, “NHL in ASL,” dedicated completely to using ASL.

The ENSPIRE award is named in honor of pioneering ESPN commentator Stuart Scott, who died of cancer in 2015, and celebrates individuals that have taken risks and used an innovative approach to helping the disadvantaged through the power of sports.

Both of Christianson’s parents are deaf, and his father inspired Christianson in his career. As a youngster, his father attended Green Bay Packers practices. Team members befriended him, and he became a lifelong sports fan. Christianson’s efforts to help his dad enjoy games led him to earn his degree and to create his firm to support access and inclusion to help the Deaf community better enjoy sports.

The Sports Humanitarian Awards will be featured in studio programming with a video shown during the 2024 ESPYS, which will air live on ABC on July 11 at 7 p.m.

“Sports has the ability to bring people together and drive positive change to make a difference in communities that need it most,” said Kevin Martinez, vice president of ESPN corporate citizenship. “ESPN is proud that the Sports Humanitarian Awards will once again recognize athletes and sports figures who are using the power of sports to make a difference in communities across the globe.”

The 51���� Alumni Association also honored Christianson as a Graduate of the Last Decade at its annual awards ceremony in February.