Juan Nieto has been doing his Field Placement at Wyandanch Memorial HS, under the supervision of ELA faculty member, Mr. Richard Crowe since Sept. 2008. Mr. Crowe has been extremely pleased with Juan as a Student Teacher and the GEAR UP college access program recruited him last fall as a Classroom Tutor and Robotics after-school Instructor.

Juan will also be participating in the GEAR UP "Parents as Heroes" Conference on Sat, 3/21/09 in two ways: as a student panelist in the "First in Family" workshop telling his story as a first-generation college student; and as the presenter for "Your Child's Life Online" workshop explaining Facebook, MySpace and other aspects of the internet & social networking to parents of teens.

Silvia Francese attained maximum height in motivational skills with role-playing and group activities in her classes at Sayville Middle School. She is seen here (with cooperating teacher Eileen Walsh-Ahrens in the background) presenting information verbally and visually using a 'Smart Board' display to make comprehension by students as clear and involved as possible. She displayed superior management skills during her student teaching and I congratulate her on a fine job professionally and successfully completed.

Kristeen Galella is currently student-teaching in the Connetquot School District in Mrs. Ellie D'Antonio's Special Education - Self Contained classroom. She will be graduating with a Masters of Science in Education, Dual-certification in Special-Education Birth-6. Kristeen also holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Social Sciences with a Minor of Child & Family Studies . She has been inducted into the Honor Society for Education; Kappa Delta Pi. Using a wide variety of resources and materials designed to keep these 1st and 2nd graders involved and actively participating she organizes learning stations to create an effective environment. Kris emphasizes the importance of multiculturalism and individuality in her classroom , consistently demonstrating her ability to modify the curriculum to meet the needs of the students.

Setting high expectations, Christine Walsh displays the outstanding qualities of a 'natural' teacher. Under the guidance of her cooperating teacher, Gina Cerulli, she has consistently challenged these 2nd graders to be actively involved in the learning process. Writing and illustrating her own book to teach scheduling with digital and analog clocks, using a Power Point presentation to reinforce the steps in creating a time-line and dressing as a scientist while children dissected raw eggs in an introductory lesson on Chick Embryology are just a few of her accomplishments. Christine's goal; "I hope that my students will leave with an appreciation of the world around them, the people in it and a desire to better themselves."

Question: What do creating a business to organize students, a background in home economics and a student teaching experience have in common? The answer is Helen Dixon, a current student teacher in Mr. Bonifacio's 4th grade class in the Northport School System.

When asked to teach a lesson on making change, Helen naturally thought about using money manipulatives. At the same time, she realized that 4th graders are often a little disorganized and lose some of the pieces. With her unique background she came up with the idea of math placemats or math mats. Each child was given colored paper on which to place their manipulatives. Not surprisingly, the children loved them and the money wasn't lost. Because of the enthusiastic student response, Helen decided to refine her creation. Her next mats were laminated with interesting math information; different information for different mats written on the surface. Now when her fourth graders learn about money, they might be looking at the process for multiplication or equivalent fractions or geometry terminology.

Helen's creativity is going to serve her well as she takes her place as one of our future teachers. And it is her creativity and excellence in teaching that has made her one of our Dowling Student Teaching Success Stories.

It is trying enough for part-time student teachers to conduct a full lesson during their experience in a classroom but Alison Gallagher did so with amazing skill and fervor at Sayville High School under the influence of her very gifted cooperating teacher, Susan Hart.

Both are seen here conducting a review for an upcoming test using a beautifully designed game board for Baseball. The board was constructed totally by Alison and augmented with a 'Smart Board' for score keeping. LEARNING IS FUN in this classroom and I offer my congratulations for an outstanding effort and results.