Today, she’s working in the Nanuet, New York, school system, teaching remedial math and remote lessons to students who have to quarantine for Covid. She credits the Graduate School of Education’s (GSE) accelerated master’s program with making it possible. Because she earned 12 graduate-level credits her senior year as an undergraduate, she graduated with a Master of Science in Teaching in childhood education and special education in 2021.

“I’m really blessed, because Fordham is what stuck out on my resume, and doing the five-year program was always mentioned in every interview I did,” she said.

“People would say, ‘How did you do your master’s so quickly?’”

Because she committed to the program at the end of her first year, Giglio was able to begin interning at schools immediately, working as an undergraduate in pre-k, second, third, and fourth-grade classes. She also met with an adviser from GSE for a seminar every few weeks to talk about her progress.

In her senior year, she began splitting her time between the Lincoln Center campus, where GSE classes are offered, and the Rose Hill campus, where she finished out her undergraduate requirements. She credits her adviser, Arlene A. Moliterno, Ph.D., a clinical professor of curriculum and teaching who recently retired, with helping her, especially during the pandemic.

“When we were in her seminar, we could ask her any questions about the graduate classes we were taking. To have that support and to be able to ask questions of someone who you have already built a relationship with is amazing,” she said.

“The way Grad Ed does it is so great because it’s like stepping stones leading you to grad school and a master’s.”

Returning After a Break

Like Giglio, alumna Francesca Russo took graduate-level education classes her senior year. She graduated from Fordham College at Rose Hill with an undergraduate degree in English in 2018. But after graduation, the Yonkers native decided she wanted to enter the workforce for a few years before finishing her master’s. She worked full time for four years as a fundraiser for a private school, and then re-enrolled at GSE in September, carrying with her those graduate credits she earned her senior year. She is currently taking classes part-time and hopes to teach middle or high school.

“I think my path is something that seniors might not realize is an option for them. If teaching is something they’re interested in but are not really sure about, I would encourage them to look into the five-year program, because years down the line, should they want to return to the idea of being a teacher, they’ll already have credits under their belt,” she said.

“If you don’t return to teaching, it’s still beneficial to have 4000-level courses on your transcript when you’re an undergrad. Should you decide to become a teacher, it’s not too late as long as you come back in five years,” she said.

“I loved the professors I had when I was a senior. They were always available outside class, I’ve never had trouble getting in touch with one, through via phone calls or zooms.”

An Opportunity for Self-Discovery

Marilyn Bisberg, a professor in the Graduate School of Education who is the program coordinator for the accelerated master’s, said the program, which currently has 66 students enrolled in it, has been in existence for over a decade. It’s appealing because it saves students both time and money, but there are less obvious benefits as well, she said.

Students who enroll after their first year as an undergraduate can then spend their undergraduate years deciding what it means to them to be a teacher. By the time they enroll in graduate school, they already have a sense of what age range and grade levels they want to teach, whether they want to teach in special education serving students with disabilities, and what disabilities they want to specialize in.

“The seminar and the fieldwork really helps students tease that out. From my perspective, that’s the golden egg,” she said.

“For them to start thinking about this at this point is phenomenal. A byproduct of that is that they may actually feel more motivated and purposeful in their undergrad experience. Not only are they learning in the liberal arts experience, but they’re also looking at their teachers and asking, ‘How do they teach? How can I use this as a teacher?”

Plans for Expansion

José Luis Alvarado, Ph.D., the dean of the Graduate School of Education, hopes that more Fordham undergraduate students take advantage of the program.

“Students who graduate from Fordham are proud to be undergraduates. So, it’s about getting a student to realize the benefits of continuing with their education to earn teacher certification and a master’s degree at the Graduate School of Education. It’s rare that you can finish a master’s degree and certification in one year,” he said.

Ultimately, he wants to increase enrollment to the point where undergraduate students who are pursuing the same specialties will be in their own cohorts. Many undergraduates pursuing degrees such as psychology, for example, might have an interest in teaching as a career, and the accelerated master’s program can make their career goals a reality.

“Given the number of undergraduate students who are here, there’s a fair number of them who want to be teachers,” he said, adding that GSE plans to increase outreach to undergraduate students who wish to become teachers.

“Our challenge is to help undergraduate students who wish to become teachers and connect them with our accelerated master’s program to ensure they are able to realize their career goals in an efficient manner. That’s our job.”

“Teachers are not just thinking about math, reading, and writing,” said Marilyn Bisberg, a clinical instructor, adviser, and professor for Early Childhood/Early Childhood Special Education programs. “They’re thinking about vulnerability. How do I protect the children in my classroom, and how do I protect myself? And where do I stand on all of this, in the political climate?”

Last March, a former student sent Bisberg an email. The young woman, an assistant teacher, wrote that her head teacher had announced they were going to prepare for a potential school shooting through practice drills. The head teacher’s nephew had been at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School during the February massacre.

“She [the assistant teacher] was totally distraught by it. That angst can break down her ability to feel empowered to help in some way,” said Bisberg. “She said, ‘We need to talk about this in higher ed—preparing teachers to be aware of this new part of their teaching.’”

“How can we prepare teachers better in relation to their role as teachers in the social and emotional area?” Bisberg said.

Encouraging Emotional Education in University Curriculum

For years, colleges and universities have overlooked social and emotional education in the curriculum for teacher training, said Bisberg. Instead of making it a critical component in course content, many schools make it optional. Most teachers across the nation gain these skills through workshops after they graduate. But while in their teaching programs, said Bisberg, they should learn more about the relationship between teachers’ emotions, motivation, regulation, and stamina and how that interplay affects children’s learning and behavior.

The importance of social and emotional education is gaining traction across New York state. Last summer, New York became one of the first U.S. states to mandate mental health as part of health education in schools. And now, Bisberg is part of a team that’s trying to bring social and emotional teaching and learning—a critical aspect of mental health—to teacher education in colleges and graduate schools.

In 2016, Bisberg was introduced to Craig Bailey, Ph.D., Director of RULER for Early Childhood and an associate research scientist at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence. The center has a novel evidence-based approach called RULER (recognizing, understanding, labeling, expressing, and regulating emotion), a method that develops emotional intelligence not only in students, but also the adults involved in their education—teachers.

“There may be many different curriculum ideas in terms of teaching kids how to handle their emotions, but RULER is unique in that it includes the adult in the process,” Bisberg said.

Now, Fordham’s Graduate School of Education and the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence are working together to bring RULER-inspired ideas to higher education and pre-service teacher preparation.

In spring 2017, the Graduate School of Education piloted a series of workshops as a semester-long course on social and emotional teaching and learning. Bailey came to Fordham and taught a cohort of students about the importance of authentic listening and empathy. He also engaged students in role-play and self-reflective activities to help them become more in tune with their own emotions.

In spring 2018, Bailey came back to present his workshop. This time, he didn’t just present to GSE students—faculty also participated.

Promoting Strategies for Teachers and Children

Going forward, Bisberg hopes to bring this social and emotional education to more students at GSE, offering them strategies they can use to understand their own emotions as they prepare to support the children in their future classrooms. This school year, she’s bringing Bailey’s lessons to a new group of GSE students in the early childhood program to further research the effect that Bailey’s strategies have had on teacher preparation. After analyzing GSE student anecdotes and short- and long-term data, she will determine how to best integrate social and emotional education in GSE classes and create additional curriculum that supports it.

Ultimately, she hopes this will become a bigger discussion in higher ed circles and that this type of education is no longer relegated to only professional development.

“It’s not just about pre-math, pre-writing, pre-reading for new teachers,” she said. “This is about us as people—as teachers.”