Vote Nell March 28

I hold an Ed.M. in Learning and Teaching from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a B.A. in Dance Studies from Connecticut College. Most recently, I have been studying issues of underachievement and motivation, models for schoolwide enrichment, strategies to nurture the potential of all learners, and twice-exceptionality at the University of Connecticut and the University of Iowa.

I am a licensed teacher with more than 10 years of classroom teaching experience in public elementary schools. I have served in English-only, Structured English Immersion, and bilingual Spanish self-contained classrooms and as a math specialist. I was the founder and chair of a Student Success Team, ensuring supports for struggling students. I provided professional development to teachers at the school, cluster (regional), and district levels, and worked on the development of a school-level induction program for new teachers.

 

I have also worked in New Teacher Support in the central office of the Boston Public Schools, where my role was to provide district-level support and training for 500 new teachers annually, as well as to manage the implementation of a mentoring program administered in conjunction with the U.C. Santa Cruz New Teacher Project. I co-taught a course in differentiated instruction for the Boston Teacher Residency Program.

Additionally, I served as Board Chair of Extras for Creative Learning (now called Extras), a non-profit organization that serves public school teachers in Massachusetts. As Chair, I was responsible for setting policy, ensuring compliance with the law, and creating a culture of accountability.

 

My work in education and my professional growth has evolved around three central questions:

• What tools can we use to support learning for diverse learners?

• What tools can we use to support the professional growth of teachers?

• What tools can we use to help all students to fulfill their potential?