The 麻豆影院 2019 Best Should Teach Lecture and Awards Ceremony will celebrate excellence in education by recognizing outstanding CU 麻豆影院 faculty members, K-12 teachers and graduate student teachers with Best Should Teach Awards on Sept. 12 from 6-7:30 p.m. in the University Memorial Center Glenn Miller Ballroom.聽
Free and open to the public, the ceremony will feature award-winning author and University of Georgia professor , who will deliver the keynote talk, 鈥淲e want to do more than survive: Abolitionist teaching as anti-racist pedagogy.鈥� Love is a dynamic speaker and one of the field鈥檚 most esteemed educational researchers in the areas of hip hop education and urban education. Her work is also concerned with how teachers and schools working with parents and communities can build communal, civically engaged schools rooted in intersectional social justice aimed at creating more equitable classrooms.
The event will honor five聽CU 麻豆影院 faculty members, four聽K-12 teachers from local school districts and lead graduate teachers in the Graduate Teacher Program with Best Should Teach Gold and Silver Awards.
The 2019 Best Should Teach faculty award recipients include:
- Mona Attwa, Instructor of Arabic, Department of Asian Languages and Civilizations
- Emmanuel David, Assistant Professor, Department of Women and Gender Studies
- Wendy Glenn, Program Chair of Secondary Humanities and Professor of聽Literacy Studies, School of Education
- Erika Randall, Associate Professor, Department of Theatre and Dance
- Kate Semsar, Assistant Director for STEM Education and Instructor, Miramontes Arts & Sciences Program (MASP)
Teacher honorees from partner school districts include:
- , Adams 12 Five Star School District, 4th grade teacher at STEM Launch in Thornton
- , St Vrain Valley School District, English Language Development Liaison and Bi-Literacy Interventionist at Columbine Elementary in Longmont
- , Brighton 27J, Engineering Teacher at Prairie View High School in Henderson
- , 麻豆影院 Valley School District, art teacher and the teacher librarian at Emerald Elementary in Broomfield
The Best Should Teach awardees were selected for their embodiment of the beliefs, behaviors, and skills of exemplary teachers. The call for nominations for CU 麻豆影院 faculty also include statements and nominations from students from all colleges and schools across campus.
"Wendy has taught two of my recent classes and has been simply wonderful," one student nominator remarked about Wendy Glenn.聽"She is kind, caring, sensitive, and offers quality instruction week in and聽week out. In an environment where sometimes work feels like it is graded for completion, Wendy provides feedback that seeks to improve our work, but presents it in such a way that we feel seen and our voices heard."
The late, lifelong educator Lindley Stiles and his wife Marguerite Stiles established the Best Should Teach Initiative in 1996 to celebrate excellence in teaching, and Stiles鈥� inspiring motto is inscribed on the School of Education Building:
鈥淭o those who come, I leave the flame! Hold it as high as you can reach. If a better world is your aim, all must agree: The Best Should Teach.鈥�
Meet our five faculty award recipients and learn how they embody the Best Should Teach motto:
Mona Attwa
Mona Attwa is an instructor of Arabic in the聽Department of Asian Languages & Civilizations.聽Before coming to CU 麻豆影院, Mona Attwa taught Arabic language and translation at the American University in Cairo, Leiden University in the Netherlands, and the International Language Institute (IH-Cairo).聽She is interested to look at the effects of globalization and superdiversity on cross-country communication in the Arab world.聽
When the motto says 鈥淗old it as high as you can reach鈥�, that is Mona. She is alongside you and holds you high with her. It is a key aspect of impactful leadership to humble yourself and foster others success, and Mona does that every, single, day.鈥�
鈥� Student nomination
Emmanuel David
Emmanuel David is an聽assistant professor in the聽Department of Women and Gender Studies. David is an interdisciplinary feminist, queer, and trans studies scholar with a qualitative research focus on gender, sexuality, labor, and globalization.聽Since 2013, he has served as the co-director of the LGBTQ Certificate Program. He is a faculty affiliate of the Center for Asian Studies, the Department of Ethnic Studies, the Center for Values and Social Policy, the Department of Sociology, and the Natural Hazards Center.聽
Emmanuel is an extraordinary teacher and engaged pedagogue with vast contributions to the WGST/LGBTQ/CU teaching mission. To quote a student, 鈥楨mmanuel鈥檚 willingness to get down in the trenches with his students rather than dazzle them with his intellectual prowess is admirable.鈥欌��
鈥� Robert Buffington, CU 麻豆影院 professor of women and gender studies
Wendy Glenn
Wendy Glenn is professor of Literacy Studies and Teacher Learning, Research, and Practice; chair of Secondary Humanities; and co-director of Teacher Education in the CU 麻豆影院 School of Education. She teaches courses in the theories and methods of teaching literature, writing, and language.聽Her research centers on literature and literacies for young adults, particularly in the areas of socio-cultural analyses and critical and culturally-affirming pedagogies.聽
Wendy is committed to touching every single one of her students so that in turn they can touch every one of their students. She has truly left a big mark on every student she has and is committed to creating a better world that she believes teaching is a part of."
鈥� Student nomination
Kate Semsar
Kate Semsar is聽assistant director for STEM Education and instructor for the Miramontes Arts & Sciences Program (MASP). Semsar works both with MASP and the greater CU 麻豆影院 community to promote inclusive pedagogy, including co-developing a MASP course on Inclusive Education (with Karen Ramirez), co-facilitating Inclusive Pedagogy workshops for faculty, and participating on the UROP Advisory Board.
Katharine (Kate) Semsar has been an invaluable member of our team in the Miramontes Arts & Sciences Program. She believes in our students, but better yet, she helps them to believe in themselves. We are all aiming and reaching higher as she cheers us on."
鈥� Student nomination
Erika Randall
Erika Randall is a passionate teacher of dance (in the studio and in the lecture hall), and a committed advocate for the arts, dance, equity, LGBTQ and Women鈥檚 rights. Erika champions diversity and inclusion across the CU 麻豆影院 campus, within Theatre & Dance, and in the larger dance field, propelling the Department of Theatre & Dance into critical campus-wide and national conversations about higher education.聽
Her honesty and directness is impactful and many students respond by rising to her expectations when she gives them the truth of their performance. She is always encouraging TOP PRO 鈥� to act professionally and she models this for our entire department."
鈥� Student nomination