2015 Conference on Teaching: Teachers Engaging Learners
The Evaluation Systems 2015 Conference on Teaching brought together researchers, practitioners, and policymakers to discuss the Conference theme Teachers Engaging Learners. Conference topics addressed how teachers are engaging their colleagues and students in meaningful learning while furthering their own professional development. Over the course of the Conference, educators identified strategies for engaging all learners, including building collaborative partnerships.
Speakers
Mr. Dan Brown
NBCT, Co-Director, Educators Rising
Dan Brown is a National Board Certified Teacher who taught elementary school and high school English in New York City and Washington, D.C. He is the author of the first-year-teaching memoir The Great Expectations School: A Rookie Year in the New Blackboard Jungle. His writing has appeared in Educational Leadership, The Boston Globe, New York Daily News, and Education Week, among other publications.
Dan served for one year as a Teaching Ambassador Fellow in the Office of Secretary Arne Duncan at the U.S. Department of Education. In 2014, Mashable named him one of "10 Rockstar Teachers on Twitter." Connect with him @danbrownteacher.
Dan holds degrees from Teachers College, Columbia University and New York University.
Watch his TEDx talk on the future of education.
Dr. Marvin Lynn
Professor and Dean of the School of Education, Indiana University South Bend
Dr. Marvin Lynn is professor and dean of the School of Education at Indiana University South Bend. He has served as associate dean for Teacher Education at the University of Wisconsin—Eau Claire; associate professor of Curriculum and Instruction, affiliate faculty member in African American studies, and director of graduate and undergraduate elementary teacher preparation programs at the University of Illinois at Chicago; and assistant and associate professor of Minority and Urban Education, a graduate program he founded and coordinated at the University of Maryland at College Park. He also worked for several years as an elementary and middle school teacher in Chicago and New York City.
As a scholar, Dr. Lynn is an internationally recognized expert on race and education. He has been invited as a keynote presenter at Manchester Metropolitan University in the United Kingdom, at the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein, South Africa, and at the Thinking Globally, Counseling Locally Conference in Trinidad and Tobago. He is also frequently invited to share his expertise in the United States. In 2013, he gave the Freeman Butts Lecture at the American Educational Studies Association Conference in Baltimore, Maryland. In the past year, he has shared his expertise at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota, Ball State University in Indiana, and elsewhere. He is the lead editor of the Handbook of Critical Race Theory in Education, published simultaneously in the United States and the United Kingdom with Routledge Press. He serves as an editorial board member of several journals and has published more than two dozen research articles and book chapters in reputable outlets.
In addition to his longstanding work as an educator and leader in a variety of educational contexts, Dr. Lynn has established successful education and arts organizations, including the Critical Race Studies in Education Association, which recently sponsored its 8th Annual Critical Race Theory in Education Conference at Vanderbilt University, and the ever-popular South Shore Opera Company of Chicago, established in partnership with the Chicago Park District in 2008.
Dr. Lynn earned his PhD in social sciences and education with a concentration on race and ethnic studies in education from the University of California at Los Angeles, a master of arts in curriculum and teaching with an emphasis on urban education from Teachers College, Columbia University, and a bachelor's of science degree in elementary education with concentrations in music and language arts from DePaul University in Chicago. He is a proud father to three boys and enjoys singing in a variety of styles. For more information, he can be reached at lynnm@iusb.edu.
Ms. Jennifer Bare-Benak
Fourth-Grade Teacher, Mary Beck Elementary, Indiana
Jennifer Bare-Benak is a recent graduate of Indiana University South Bend with a bachelor's degree in elementary education. She took her first teaching position in a fourth-grade classroom at Mary Beck Elementary in Elkhart, Indiana, in fall 2014. Outside the classroom, she is a busy mom of three daughters, ages 15, 12, and 9. Together, they enjoy playing board games, riding bikes, and spending lazy Sunday afternoons at the library.
Mr. Joshua Parker
Instructional Coach, Randallstown High School, 2012 Maryland Teacher of the Year
Joshua Parker, an English/Language Arts teacher at Randallstown High School, is the 2012 Maryland Teacher of the Year. Joshua Parker is a graduate of the College of Notre Dame of Maryland, he holds a bachelor of science degree in sports communication with a minor in English from Towson University, and he earned a master of arts degree in leadership in teaching. He is zealous when it comes to teaching to prepare world-class students, and he has proven his abilities while serving as and holding several English/Language Arts positions throughout his tenure in Baltimore County. Having an uncommon drive to see students succeed, Mr. Parker states that he believes in their potential and works tirelessly to not only open, but to also fill their minds with instructional tools for learning.
Mr. Parker's exceptional tutelage, leadership, and enthusiasm to shape the future goes beyond the classroom: he has organized a middle school all-male reading club; directed a top-ten finishing Black Saga team; coached a boys' junior varsity basketball team; coordinated a summer program directed at engaging local youth; and implemented a comprehensive after-school program at two middle schools.
Heritage, love, need, and opportunity coalesced to push Mr. Parker to become a teacher. Growing up as an African American male, he often felt separated from his peers, and this led him to search for allies where he found, through pages of his history, inspiration from African American males who used intelligence and candor and wit and the power of the spoken word through teaching to change the world.
"Teaching was the way that I could use the knowledge of my heritage, the love of English content, and the universal need that I saw to make a difference," said Joshua Parker. "Looking back over my brief but expansive teaching career, I can't help but smile. I get opportunities to impart passion, wisdom, content knowledge, and love I have to students. Yet, my greatest achievements include providing students with a dependable role model, helping them conceptualize the purpose and power of English while helping them achieve on standardized tests."
"The opportunity that my profession affords me is the greatest reward I can reap," Joshua Parker said. "I get a daily opportunity to advance society."
Mr. Parker is a proud member of the National Network of State Teachers of the Year, a 2013 Pearson Global Fellow, and an adjunct professor. He is the only African American male educator from Baltimore County to win the state teacher of the year award and lives in Owings Mills, Maryland, with his wife, Tiffany, and two children, Laila and Joshua.
Ms. Dyane Smokorowski
PreK–12 Instructional Technology Coach, Andover Public Schools, 2013 Kansas Teacher of the Year
Ms. Smokorowski is the 2013 Kansas Teacher of the Year and is currently serving as a preK–12 instructional technology coach in the Andover Public Schools in Andover, Kansas, where she supports 300 teachers in effective technology integration and professional development. Mrs. Smoke, as her students know her, believes in a project-based, student-centered classroom that helps students build skills in communication, planning, research, and cultural awareness. She wants her students to develop a love for learning, communication, and technology, but also to understand how to use those passions to advance their own futures, as well as that of the global community.
Ms. Monica Washington
English Teacher, Adjunct Professor, 2014 Texas Teacher of the Year
Monica Washington is an English III and AP English III teacher at Texas High School in Texarkana where she serves as department chair. She has been in education for 18 years and has taught grades 7–12. She has served as adjunct professor at LeMoyne-Owen College and Texarkana College.
She began her teaching career in 1998 in Memphis, Tennessee, and moved to Texas in 2007 with her husband Ricky, a native Texan, who is a sixth-grade social studies teacher. She believes that a teacher's greatest accomplishments are those things that cannot be typed on a resume or measured by statistical data: the ability to inspire, to mentor, to engage students are immeasurable but most vital qualities. The best teachers, according to Monica, are those who are students in their own classrooms—guiding students by learning and problem solving with students.
In addition, she has a passion for mentoring beginning teachers. She wants to demonstrate to all teachers the importance of building positive relationships with students to create a foundation for academic growth.
In addition to representing the teaching profession as the 2014 Texas State Teacher of the Year, Monica is a 2015 Lowell Milken Center Fellow, and she will work with her students and the center to discover and honor unsung heroes. She is also a 2015 NEA Foundation Global Learning Fellow, and she hopes to help students begin to see themselves as global citizens.
Monica is currently pursuing a doctorate of education in teacher leadership.