Three Simmons Faculty Awarded Sam Taylor Fellowships

 Caitlin Anderson (Wellness), Sherril English and Diego Román (Teaching and Learning), join 18 other SMU faculty members who have been awarded Sam Taylor Fellowships. The fellowships support research and award up to $2,000 for full-time faculty members at United Methodist-related colleges and universities in Texas.

Anderson will examine how first-year students define their values and rationalize their behavior. She’ll investigate “the correlation between values congruence, GPA, and well-being.”

English’s research will look at urban school students’ conceptions of learning by examining “the classroom and out-of-school learning experiences of several DISD students, their approaches to learning tasks, and the ways that they view learning outcomes as they grow to become independent and self-regulated learners.”

Román seeks to further his research in bilingual education by “examining the sociolinguistic knowledge and language attitudes of bilingual teachers towards the varieties of Spanish spoken in North Texas.” He looks at whether the notion of  having “one correct Spanish” may impede students’ bilingualism.

Plaudits to MBE’s Leon, Teacher of the Year at Coppell ISD School

Denton Creek Elementary in Coppell ISD has named Maricela Leon its Teacher of the Year. Leon, a former economist, teaches fifth grade and is a current student in the Master of Bilingual Education program. The Simmons School is proud of her and her  accomplishments!

Early Literacy Teachers Complete Training

Congratulations to students in the Early Literacy program who received their 2016 Certificates of Achievement. This 18-credit hour literacy program provides professional development for K-2 classroom teachers in high need public schools (including charters) to meet the literacy needs of their students. Read more.