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Conway Elementary TRREople pictured left to right: Principal Jason Robert, Annabel Nash - K/1 TRRE Resident, Jen Nelson - K/1 Teacher, Kathy Carrier-K/1 Teacher, Patty Poulin - K/1 Teacher, Rachele Harvey - K/1 TRRE Resident, Eliza  Braunstein - 2/3 Teacher and TRRE Graduate, Matt Berger - 2/3 TRRE Resident, and Michelle Dupuis 2/3 Teacher.  Conway, NH, comprises five villages with a town population of 10,115 in the 2010 census.  The land, once home to the Pequawket Indians, is located at the southeastern edge of the White Mountain National Forest. Conway encompasses wonders such as Cathedral Ledge, Echo Lake State Park, and part of the Kancamagus Highway, which in addition to the Conway Scenic Railroad and Cranmore Ski Resort, attract tourists to the area. Mt. Washington, the Mt. Washington Observatory and Story Land, also, are not far away. Conway’s economy is driven by services and tourism. The largest employers in town are Memorial Hospital followed by School Administ...

  Kimberley Dorman and Johnathan Springer at Colebrook Elementary School and Academy (SAU 7) In a Teacher Residency for Rural Education (TRRE) first, a Cohort 1 graduate has become an induction mentor to a Cohort 3 graduate at Colebrook Elementary School and Academy. Kimberly Dorman (M.Ed., 2018) showed signs early in the program that she was a developing teacher leader. She graduated from TRRE with certifications in secondary life science (Grades 7-12) and middle school science (Grades 5-8). When Johnathan Springer (M.Ed., 2020) was hired to teach physics and math, it was a natural fit to pair the two together. As an induction mentor, Dorman will provide professional guidance for Springer during his first year of teaching as part of TRRE’s two-year induction support for graduates. Johnathan Springer works at Colebrook Academy (SAU 7) teaching two 7th grade math classes, two 8th grade math classes, and a running start physics class. His relevant experience before joining TRRE inclu...

  Kathryn with her oldest son, Eli. Kathryn McCurdy Ph.D. is the Director of Induction and Mentoring for the Teacher Residency for Rural Education program. She also is an Assistant Clinical Professor in the UNH Education Department where she serves as the Director of Field Experiences for the University’s Manchester campus. As a former middle school math teacher, Kathryn teaches Exploring Mathematics with Young Children to TRRE residents. Both her practical expertise and research backgrounds are in the field of beginning teacher learning, mentoring, and induction. In her role as Director of Induction and Mentoring, Kathryn collaborates with the TRRE Management Team and school partners to develop programming that supports TRRE graduates in their first two years of teaching through mentoring, virtual networks, and continued professional development. Examples of 2020-2021 induction and mentoring activities include:   Graduates from Cohort 1 (M.Ed. 2018), Cohort 2 (M.Ed. 2019) an...

  Pictured above left to right standing: Charlene Mathews - Grade 2 Teacher , Lauren Conner - TRRE Graduate and Middle School Science Teacher, Michael Galli - Principal,  Alayna Signorello, TRRE Graduate and Grade 3 Teacher, Amber Kingsbury Grade 1 Teacher and seated left to right  Justin Avery and Cam Harrison - TRRE Cohort 4 Residents. Warren Village School, a district of SAU 23, is a Pre-K to Grade 8 school with 11 teachers, serving 62 students from Warren and Glencliff, N.H. Glencliff village is famous for its post office, a major supply stop for hikers on the Appalachian Trail. The town of Warren is surrounded by the White Mountain National Forest and is notable as having, within a stone’s throw of the school, its own Redstone Rocket, the same kind of engine booster used to hurl New Hampshire native Alan Shepard into space back in 1961—a very unique sight for this small town! The 2018 US Census counted fewer than 1,000 people in the community. Warren Village School ‘...

What do a computer programmer, CityYear Manchester volunteer, a former banker, a literacy tutor, and a special education paraprofessional all have in common? They are all members of the newest and largest TRRE cohort. In May, we welcomed 15 future educators to our program. Please join us in congratulating and welcoming Cohort 4 (2020 - 2021) to the TRRE program!   Cohort 4 is unique not only in its size, but also in the circumstances under which the program has been operating. With social distancing the norm, the TRRE program adapted coursework and orientations to virtual formats. These measures have been extended through the summer and have led to a different entrance to graduate school for our new residents compared to past cohorts. This means that the residents, while having met many times over Zoom, have yet to meet each other, or other members of the TRRE program in person. This includes their teaching mentors, who they have met virtually.  Although operating wi...

TRRE is in the fourth year of a five-year US Department of Education grant. Goals of the TRRE program are to recruit, prepare and retain highly qualified teachers for rural high need schools in NH. Retention of these new teaching in TRRE partner schools supported by two years of induction, i.e. professional development and mentoring. In the process, TRRE has developed valuable university-school-community partnerships to engage with the shared goal of enhanced teacher preparation. While we celebrate our success and growth to date, we simultaneously begin to examine the components of the TRRE program we hope to sustain into the future. Currently we are working with four resident cohorts in varying stages of the program. Hiring and Retention Cohort 1 graduates (2017-2018) will enter their third year of teaching in school districts north of the White Mountains in Fall 2020. Cohort 2 (2018-2019) graduates will begin their second year of teaching, also in rural partner school dis...

Teacher Residency for Rural Education (TRRE) team members started to review applications and interview potential Cohort 4 members in December. The application review process is complete and we’re thrilled to announce Cohort 4 has 16 residents! Meet one of our newest Cohort 4 residents.  Kristy Wells accepted last year and deferred to Cohort 4. Wells brings a wide variety of experiences to our newest cohort. Her experience includes work as a special education paraprofessional in Wichita Falls, Texas, as well as serving as a substitute teacher for three years. She has worked with students with autism spectrum disorders to collect data for behavior and IEP goals and assist teachers facilitation of inclusion across different settings. She is a veteran of the Air Force, and her husband recently retired after 21 years of service. Wells was excited to learn about the TRRE program and relocate to the northern area of New Hampshire where her husband was raised. In addition to join...

Abigail Clark - Cohort 3 Resident Abigail Clark has been working in barns and riding horses since she was eight-years old. She never realized that this passion would eventually lead her to her first experience with teaching. During her junior year of college, she discovered the joys of sharing her knowledge with others while working as an instructor for the therapeutic horseback riding program. She described seeing the empowerment and confidence in her clients when they learned how to control a 1,000-pound animal as “one of the best feelings in the world.”   It was during her time as a camp counselor at the local Boys and Girls Club in her hometown of Plymouth Massachusetts that Clark realized she wanted to become a teacher. She had always been passionate about the natural world, animals, and the sciences, and working with the children at the Boys and Girls Club helped her to realize she wanted the opportunity to share this passion with others.  Clark joined the TRRE ...

Tom Schram Whether working as a ranch hand in Wyoming or supervising Teacher Residency for Rural Education (TRRE) residents in New Hampshire’s North Country region, beloved University of New Hampshire (UNH) Education Department’s Tom Schram has always had a love for small communities.  Schram recalls many fond memories of spending time on his grandfather’s farm. His grandfather, Hal Case, started life as a farmer and went on to teach agriculture at the University of Illinois, as well as start several agricultural colleges in Asia and Europe. While reflecting on his grandfather, Schram shared, “My fondest memory of him was walking with him through the cornfields and having him pick up a handful of soil and talk about really what it means. He was always an advocate for farmers.” Case’s commitment to farmers and rural communities is something Schram often thinks about during his work with TRRE. Schram’s career in public education started after a number of years working in the ...

Seth Denoncour is a New Hampshire Native who grew up hiking and camping in the North Country. The TRRE program seemed like a natural fit to Denoncour and he entered the program especially excited about participating in a community internship in order to engage fully with the school community. Denoncour is now mid-way through his residency and pursuit of a secondary science teaching certification at White Mountains Regional High School with his mentor Bill Klein.   Helping others has always been a passion of Denoncour’s, but he did not always plan on becoming a teacher. In high school, Denoncour often sacrificed his own study time to assist his classmates in their learning. After high school he toured around the world with the United States Navy for six years, during which time he experienced many new cultures and communities and acted as a mentor to incoming shipmates by managing training programs. Upon leaving the Navy, Seth returned to school with the int...

Bill Klein’s goal (right above) in the classroom is to shape young minds to be truly passionate about science. From an inner-city in New Jersey to Vermont then to rural New Hampshire, Klein is a veteran educator with 24 years of experience teaching high school science in private, public, and parochial schools. This year Klein entered his third year teaching science at the White Mountains Regional High School and truly believes that the strength of the WMRHS community lies in their small size, friendly faculty, and acknowledgement of all students as individuals. As teaching mentor to Seth Denoncour, Klein enjoys engaging in shared planning and reflection on lessons. As Denoncour gained confidence in the classroom this fall, Klein gave his mentee the lead on implementing lessons on genetics with a high honors biology class.  Klein did not always imagine he would end up a science teacher. His passion for environmental education i...