App State Elementary and Middle Grades Education

Our Department of Learning, Teaching, and Curriculum has been named the 2026 recipient of the Hickory Development Award — one of the inaugural Hickory Champion Awards.

This recognition highlights the department’s leadership in launching two innovative programs at App State’s Hickory campus:
K–9 STEM Education Program
Part-time, night-time Elementary Education Program

Together, these programs are expanding access, supporting working educators, and strengthening the teacher pipeline across North Carolina.

We’re proud of the faculty and staff whose vision and dedication are making a lasting impact in our region.

Click the link in the comments to read more!

App State Elementary and Middle Grades Education

Wrapping up Block 3 with so much pride as we celebrate and send off our Elementary Education majors into student teaching! 🎉

This group has put in an incredible amount of hard work this semester—showing up, growing, reflecting, and pushing themselves to become the teachers their future students deserve. Their dedication and commitment have been so evident every step of the way.

We are beyond proud of all they’ve accomplished and can’t wait to see the impact they will make in their classrooms. The next chapter starts now, and they are more than ready. 💛📚

We're still thinking about the amazing Spring semester that we just wrapped up, and how our students were cracking the code on language proficiency, one egg at a time! 🥚✨

Our Block 2 future teachers celebrated the season with an Egg Hunt that was anything but ordinary. Each egg held an English Langugage Learner profile, a WIDA proficiency descriptor, or a scaffolding strategy, and it was up to our teacher candidates to find the matches and think deeply about how to support multilingual learners in their future classrooms. 🌍 From listening to writing, our students explored all four communication domains while having a little springtime fun. We could not be more proud of the thoughtfulness and heart they bring to this work every single day! 💛🖤

Our very own, Dr. Lianne Jones, received the Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Award! 👏 🏆

Celebrating Excellence in Education 🎉

Congratulations to our 2026 Reich College of Education Award recipients! Nine outstanding faculty and staff members — along with our Special Education Department of Labor Grant faculty — were recognized for their dedication to teaching, leadership, scholarship, service, and student success.

Dr. Lianne Jones: Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Award
Dr. Betsy Rosenbalm ’01 ’05 ’08 ’14 ’22: Outstanding Graduate Teaching Award
Dr. Sandra Albert: Outstanding Part-time Faculty Award
Rhonda Russell: Outstanding Advocacy for Student Success Award
Dr. Herb Brown: Outstanding Leadership Award
Dr. Teressa Sumrall ’05 ’07: Outstanding Mentoring Award
Dr. Alecia Jackson: Outstanding Scholarship/Creative Achievement Award
Dr. Jill Weidknecht Van Horne: Outstanding Service Award
Alexis Manus: Outstanding Staff Award
Special Education Department of Labor Grant Faculty: Community of Practice Award

Click the link in the comments to read more!

Watch out, world - there are some freshly graduated teachers on the loose! 🌎 🎓 We are so proud of our Mountaineer graduates and can't wait to see them make BIG impacts with students.

So proud of our Block 2 Interns and the impacts they are making!

We LOVE the partnerships we get to develop with local teachers!

Drs. Leslie Bradbury and Rachel Wilson have published an article in the journal Science Activities titled "From Curiosity to Comprehension: Supporting Diverse Learned in Academic Language Development" with two first grade teachers at Hardin Park School ❤️ 💛

Check it out here:

From curiosity to comprehension: supporting diverse learners in academic language development In this article, we describe a collaboration between two university science educators, a first grade teacher, and a special education teacher to modify a unit focused on carnivorous plants. Given t...

Congrats to all of our graduates!

Congratulations to the Mountaineers graduating this spring — especially those graduating from the Reich College of Education and all teacher education majors across the university. We are so proud of all you've accomplished!

If you’re thinking of joining our Accelerated Admissions Masters program, now is the time to apply! Our Masters in Elementary Education with concentrations in math or emergent bilingual students is the perfect way to earn both of your bachelors and masters degrees!

https://rcoe.appstate.edu/students/accelerated-masters-program

Teacher Appreciation Week is May 4–8!

We’re celebrating our incredible alumni teachers with a special thank‑you: application fees are waived for all education graduate programs and certificates during Teacher Appreciation Week.
It’s the perfect time to take the next step in your education — and your career.

Click the link in the comments to learn more and apply!

Cratis D. Williams School of Graduate Studies, Appalachian State University

What's the best way to build classroom community? Morning Meetings! ❤️

Each semester, Block 2 students learn the ins and outs of a daily, morning check in that helps build relationships, empathy, and sets students up for success throughout their day. They put their knowledge to practice by leading a morning meeting for their peers complete with 4️⃣parts: greeting, share, activity, and message 👫 Here are some highlights:

❄️ After a snowstorm, students planned a snowball greeting. They loved giving warm fuzzies and thinking about the positive impacts of themed meetings in the classroom.

🖤 Students planned a morning meeting during Black history month. The game and biography information connected in the meeting really help students see that academic content can have a place in the morning meeting. Students also enjoyed awareness and a deep conversation about how morning meetings bring about cultural awareness.

🌈 Another group of students from Hickory planned a morning meeting with a rainbow breathing activity to help bring about mindfulness for students. Students really enjoyed the activity and it positively impacted their ability to handle stress related to coursework.

🧶 Students planned active games that promoted community through collaboration and teamwork. Students had to work together to untangle a ball of yarn!

​🐷 Dr. Lewis’ planned a morning meeting where students completed a maker space activity to create a puppet pig quietly as a team with no talking. The activity helped students communicate and process their understanding about collaboration in the classroom.

We are so proud of the creativity and heart that our students have poured into these morning meetings!