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Omaha teacher chosen as U.S. Department of Education Classroom Fellow

An Omaha teacher has been chosen as one of eight Classroom Fellows nationwide.

The U.S. Department of Education chose the eight Classroom Fellows from a pool of more than 1,200 applicants. One is MaddieFennell, a literacy coach at Miller Park Elementary School.

Fennell says as a Classroom Fellow, she’ll remain in her role at Miller Park, while sharing best practices with the Department of Education and teachers nationwide.

"No policy is passed at the national level with bad intentions, but sometimes things happen through implementation that make things very difficult in a way that was never intended. So our job is to help people understand some of that land of unintended consequences, as well as help them capitalize on and promote programs that are really great and deserve to have light shed on them, so other people can replicate what’s going and what’s working well."

Fennell calls her position as a literacy coach a “dream job.” Along with teaching best practices, she works with teachers to provide resources and training so they, in turn, can help students. She says a project she wants to work on this year is getting more teachers involved in education reform policies.