Branches

UNH-TRRE provides opportunities for alumni to pursue teaching careers It may not seem like a therapeutic riding instructor, a physics expert, and a manager of family entertainment centers would have a lot in common, but Abigail Clark, Brian O’Connor, and Dan Hornbeck certainly do. As graduate students enrolled in the University of New Hampshire’s Teacher Residency for Rural Education (UNH-TRRE) program, they are all preparing to become teachers in rural New Hampshire schools, while earning their second UNH degree. Clark (’19), O’Connor (’19), and Hornbeck (’93) all received their bachelor’s degrees from UNH, and have elected to pursue their M.Ed.’s through UNH-TRRE. Although they have arrived at a similar place for the 2019-2010 academic year, their journeys to UNH-TRRE, and to teaching, have been unique. Abigail Clark arrived at UNH planning to become a veterinarian. The Plymouth, Mass. native graduated with a degree in biomedical science, but realized during her time as ...

Three words to describe Whitney McCallum’s classroom: “rigorous, engaged, and fun.” McCallum teaches English Language Arts and Social Studies on the sixth-grade team, and has been teaching Grades K-6 for the past 22 years. McCallum’s passion is to inspire her students to engage as critical thinkers who question, wonder, ponder, and doubt, who “look to change the world” with their ideas She enjoys being innovative in the classroom and consistently tries to grow and hone her craft by identifying and implementing new data-supported teaching methodologies or strategies. She is a Laconia local, born and raised surrounded by lakes and mountains. Outside of the classroom, she enjoys spending time on the lake boating or floating, and reading and playing board games on rainy days.  Her family has recently started a small farm in Moultonborough  which also keeps her busy.   Sonya Roberts embodies the idea of being both a student and a teacher. She s...

Dale Maguire describes herself as a “modern-day international nomad,” having spent 20 years of her life living overseas in Europe and Asia, and much of the rest moving from place to place within the United States.  She sees her role as a teacher not only to teach students how to learn successfully but to excite and motivate them to be life-long learners, self-advocates, and proud community and world citizens. Maguire applied to the TRRE program to achieve her longtime goals to become a certified teacher and settle in the Lakes Region to be near family. Her extensive background working with children and curriculum development comes from experience as a counselor, special education teacher and youth program coordinator. With a B.S. in Computer and Information Sciences, Dale’s technical experience includes work as a website designer and administrator, telecommunications IT support, and systems program analyst. Through TRRE, Dale hopes to build strong connection...

Meet Brian O’Connor, our resident of the month!  Brian is working on his certification in secondary science, focusing on Physics, completing his residency in Pittsfield.  “ Many of my best mentors and inspirations in my life have been my physics teachers. They’ve taught me an appreciation for hard work, dedication, knowledge, and empathy, just to name a few critical lessons. If I can provide even a fraction of that mentorship to a few students that need it, I’ll have done justice to those people.” Before joining the TRRE program, Brian was a Physics major at UNH, where he worked as a  peer tutor in physics.  He has lived in many New England locations, including the tiny rural town of Thetford, Vermont. Brian experienced several different public school settings, and found many valuable mentors in the teachers at these schools, especially his physics teachers.  He hopes that through the TRRE program he can learn to provide the same level of mentorship...

(Insert photo) Kiza Armour is a physics teacher at Pittsfield Middle High School and Teaching Mentor for Brian O’Connor.  “I make a difference in the lives of kids who do not have all the life advantages of many students in wealthier districts,” says Armour of one of her motivations for teaching in Pittsfield. Kiza has worked with students in grades 8-12 since 1994 and has been the STEM department chair in Pittsfield for 20 years. Kiza’s teaching experience includes subject areas such as physical science, physics (intro through AP), chemistry, robotics, engineering, computer science, astronomy, senior math and algebra. In addition, she facilitated movie making and oral history learning studios. Essential methodologies in her classroom include; student-centered education, competency-based education and inquiry based teaching methods. Kiza was originally drawn to Pittsfield because of its strong sense of community and commitment to providing classroom technology,...