Dr. Emily S. Meixner
Coordinator, Secondary English Education Program
Assistant Professor of English
202 Bliss Hall, English Department
609-771-2686
meixner@tcnj.edu

• "HOW TO TEACH..." Seminars
   
   

• Past "How to Teach..." Presentations
  March 2008: The Cat Ate My Gymsuit (Jennifer Podolak)
  February 2008: Using Children's Literature to Explore Literary Themes and Theory (Kelly Reimer)
  December 2007: How to Survive Your First Year of Teaching (Heidi Schmid)
  February 2007: Short Story Workshop (Pamela Wrede) (supplementary handouts)
  October 2006: Poetry Performance (Lois Harrod)
  September 2006: Middle School (Charles Roberto, Christina Maffa, Elizabeth Wetzel, Robert Robinson)
  April 2006: 'That's Gay': The Politics of Language, Gender, and Sexuality in the English Classroom (Maryellen Collins)
  March 2006: Creativity in the Classroom (Elizabeth Hults)
  February 2006: Mentor Texts and Writer Self Reflection (Jennifer Boutros) (supplementary handouts)
  December 2005: The Things They Carried (Eric Conrad)
  October 2005: Poetry Workshop (Tiffany Worden)
  April 2005: Romeo and Juliet (Christina Maffa) (supplementary handouts)
  February 2005: Ethan Frome (Jennifer Knobloch)
  May 2004: Culturally Relevant Pedagogy (Tracy Wagner)

• Upcoming PRAXIS Test Dates: www.ets.org/praxis
  *Register for the PRAXIS II, #10041 (English Language, Literature, and Composition: Content Knowledge)
              Sept. 13, 2008                        Apr. 25, 2009
              Nov. 15, 2008                         June 13, 2009
              Jan. 10, 2009                          July 25, 2009
              Mar. 14, 2009

Congratulations to Katie McKenna,
The 2006-2007 recipient of the Robert Mehlman Student Teaching Award!

Congratulations to the following 2007-2008 graduates on their new jobs!

Kat Alfonso, The Cranbury School
Trista Altstadt, Ocean County Vocational and Technical Schools
Allison Ernst, Bernards High School

Amanda Estes, Basking Ridge High School

Kate Featherston, Hightstown High School
Nick Georgiou, Middletown High School, South
Katie Greco, Barnegat High School

Brian Hamer, Byram Township Intermediate School (7^th and 8^th grades)

Megan Jones, Union Middle School, Rutherford, NJ (7^th grade)

David Knecht, Seneca High School
Katie McKenna, Millstone Middle School (8^th grade)
Kristine Mintel, Robert Morris School, South Bound Brook (7^th grade)
Jaclyn Pryzbylkowski, Voorhees Middle School (6^th grade)
Emily Vander Horn, Schor Middle School, Piscataway (8^th grade)

• Robert Mehlman Student Teaching Award
          2007-2008    Katie McKenna (Millstone Middle School)
          2006-2007    Jen Podolak (South River Middle School)
          2005-2006    Maryellen Collins (Crossroads Middle School North, South Brunswick)
          2004-2005    Katina Ingram (Bordentown Regional High School)
          2003-2004    Jennifer Knobloch (Nutley High School)
   

• New Jersey Commissioner's Distinguished Teacher Candidate Award
         2006-2007    Jenna Lerro (Annapolis Middle School, Annapolis, MD)
         2005-2006    Pamela Wrede (West Morris Mendham High School)
         2004-2005    Elizabeth Hults (Barnegat High School)
   

• Alfred P. Holman Award
         2004-2005    Christina Maffa (Churchill Jr. High School, East Brunswick)

    An article based on Nancie Atwell's new book (The Reading Zone):            
            http://content.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=8132

    Stephanie Keat ('04) recommends:
         Subjects Matter: Every Teacher's Guide to Content-Area Reading by Harvey Daniels and Steven Zemelman 
            (2004, Heinemann)  
         "...a great reference for integrating reading across the curriculum and for incorporating other areas in the reading classroom."

    Pamela Wrede ('06) recommends:
           The Literature Teacher's Book of Lists by Judie L.H. Strouf (2nd. ed., 2005, Jossey-Bass)
          "The book is basically a huge table of contents, index, and works cited rolled into one.  Novels and other works of literature  (poems, plays, etc) are grouped by genre, theme, literary terms that can be taught from each, literary periods, and various other categories (interesting ones is Works by authors who did not attend college and works by authors who wrote in old ages).  It is a great way to find supplementary material to use in nearly any lesson and it will also give students the opportunity to explore texts similar to those they enjoy for whatever reason.       

    Kelly Wilson ('05) recommends:
            Teaching Reading in Middle School by Laura Robb (2000, Scholastic Inc.)
            "My school gave it out in an effort to help us to create a more balanced literacy program with reading, writing, and daily word study, so if anyone has a similar sounding program this book might give them some good ideas."