Reeves earns UNL's Swanson Award for teaching excellence

The College of Education and Human Sciences at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln has selected Jenelle Reeves, associate professor in the Department of Teaching, Learning and Teacher Education, as the 2015 recipient of the Donald R. and Mary Lee Swanson Award for Teaching Excellence. She will be recognized at the All-University Honors Convocation April 12 and at a campus luncheon May 1.

    The award focuses on the impact of teaching excellence on students. Recipients' teaching promotes thinking, encourages engaged, active and continuous learning and holds high student performance standards. They also work to improve their own teaching, including research and scholarly activity.

    Reeves' career includes teaching English as a Second Language to Japanese high school students, being an ESL instructor at the University of Tennessee, and since 2002, being a professor in ESL and teacher education at Auburn University and UNL.

    Reeves' students are nearly all native English speakers and have little experience with a second language. Most have never traveled outside the country.

    "A first step in my courses is often to help (students) see this mismatch and to encourage them to think critically about it, to reflect thoughtfully on the educational opportunities offered and denied English learners in Nebraska classrooms, and to design effective instruction for English learners," Reeves said.

    When she came to Nebraska in 2005, Reeves led program changes that introduced English learner practicums into elementary education program and English learner endorsement programs. The changes allowed UNL students to see the challenges English learners face.

    Reeves has led education abroad trips to South Korea and the Netherlands and to Italy later this year.

    "Today's knowledge about education has to be the equivalent of an entire year of academic study," said one of Reeves' students who recorded her thoughts after observing South Korean schools. "My mind is overflowing with new ideas, beliefs and emotions after visiting three elementary schools in and around Chuncheon, South Korea. I can't help but think about how I can use this knowledge to become a better teacher and positively impact the lives of my students."

Writer: Brad Stauffer, College of Education and Human Sciences