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For more information about Amanda Quesenberry's work, review her profile.

Amanda Quesenberry: Familiar lessons in a new place

By Matt Kurnick

"One of the things I like most about ISU is, even though it's a larger school, it feels small. Here I feel like I'm aware of things happening on campus. It feels much more like a community than other places I've been." — Amanda Quesenberry, assistant professor of Curriculum & Instruction

(July 17, 2009) Amanda Quesenberry, assistant professor in the College of Education, is just shy of completing her first year at Illinois State.

In her first year, Quesenberry has taught and supervised Early Childhood Education students in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction. Much of this time she has spent familiarizing herself with her new job. "As a new faculty member, I'm finding that I learn something new every day," Quesenberry admitted. "Going out into the schools to observe and supervise students has helped me to become more familiar with the community."

Although Bloomington-Normal might still be unfamiliar to Quesenberry, the content she is teaching is something with which she has plenty of experience. Curriculum and Instruction 314 deals with how teachers assess children's learning and then build the information they have gathered through assessment into planning for lessons. The class also provides guidance for future teachers on how to set up the classroom environment to maximize the success of the students.

"What we talk about in the course is how to make assessment part of what teachers do every day," Quesenberry said. "As a teacher you build what you're teaching based on what you know and understand about where the children are developmentally. What you know and understand about them comes from observing their ongoing progress over time."

Quesenberry spent much of her professional career working for Head Start, a federally funded preschool program, at local, state and national levels. Last year, she worked at Head Start's national office in Washington, D.C., where she coordinated a group which focused on ongoing assessment and child outcomes for Head Start children. Quesenberry has grown close to the topic and believes there is a need for ongoing improvement in this area.

"For some reason, people do not often associate assessment with early childhood education, but I feel that assessment is a critical part of understanding how children learn and what they are capable of accomplishing. I'm interested in making sure that students feel comfortable with assessment. The course is about helping students understand that assessment is a lot more than paper and pencil testing."

Quesenberry, who earned her Ph.D. from the University of Illinois, enjoys researching social and emotional development in children, especially children with challenging behaviors. Her research requires her to make connections with people and programs. Going out into the community to supervise clinical experiences with her students has provided an avenue through which Quesenberry can make connections with teachers, administrators, and programs in the area. The travel is something she got used to when she worked as a training and technical assistance provider for Head Start several years ago.

"I was able to see a range of classrooms all over the state. I was working with 29 different programs, and although I was on the road constantly, I loved seeing the variety of classroom and programs. It opened my eyes to how big the field of early childhood can be." Quesenberry feels that she brings with her varying levels of perspective on the field of early childhood, however, now she is focused on learning more about Illinois State and the surrounding area.

So far, during her limited time at Illinois State, Quesenberry has not only started learning about the community and the local education programs, she has learned a great deal about Illinois State itself.

"It was a nice surprise to learn that we have such strong support for teaching, for research. I feel supported professionally. One of the things I like most about ISU is, even though it's a larger school, it feels small. Here I feel like I'm aware of things happening on campus. It feels much more like a community than other places I've been."

Beginning a new job in a new community has provided Quesenberry an opportunity to think about what she has done and what she still has yet to accomplish. The start to a new career offers some daunting, yet exciting opportunities. For Quesenberry, focusing on the tasks at hand will help prepare for her future.

She laughs and says, "Let me get through next week! At this point I am still taking things one semester at a time. When I think about life beyond this semester, I think about how I can be of service to the field. Ultimately, I would like to connect the research that I am doing with service and teaching. I I like to think about how I can make those connections and then bring what I've learned from my experiences back to my students. I'm a big believer that the experiences I have today will shape what I do tomorrow and the next day."