Introducing the 2019-2020 Newsela Fellows

At Newsela, our mission is "to unlock the written word for everyone”. We strive to transform the way students access the world through relevant and interesting nonfiction content. The Newsela Fellowship is an elite professional learning community that offers our most innovative Newsela educators a year-long opportunity to be part of this mission by learning as a cohort, designing and implementing a passion project, and coming together to speak at a Fellow Summit. 

We are excited to introduce the first 8 Newsela Fellows for the 2019-2020 school year. You can read about each Fellow and their project. Additionally, check back for our Fellows blog series and Fellows Flipgrid as they share updates from their classroom this year. 

Chase Mitsuda - Assistant Principal in Hawaii 

• Fellows Project  : Professional Development in the Teaching of Close Reading Strategies through Instructional Videos

• Follow on Twitter: @chasemitsuda

Christine Scoppa - Middle school reading specialist in New York 

• Fellows Project : Empowering Students to Take Ownership of Their Writing Development

• Follow on Twitter: @ChristineScoppa

Kristen Rafferty - 4th grade teacher in Minnesota

• Fellows Project : Using a Badge System to Track Success with Reading Skills

• Follow on Twitter: @MissKRafferty 

Monika Moorman - 4th grade teacher in Florida

• Fellows Project: Advocating for Educational Equity to Support Diversity Through the Use of Text

• Follow on Twitter: @MrsMoorman1

Nancy Biddinger  - Instructional Technology Coach in Florida

• Fellows Project : Supporting close reading with Instructional Technology Across a Large Urban School District

• Follow on Twitter: @BiddingerFL

Patricia Boguslaw - Middle school STEM teacher in Illinois

• Fellows Project : Building Coherence and Relevance Across Subject Areas

Richelle Jurasek - High school ENL in New York 

• Fellows Project: Utilizing English to Become World Change-Makers

Sarah Bayer - 6th grade ELA in Georgia 

• Fellows Project : Using Newsela to Increase Student Engagement through Passion Projects

• Follow on Twitter: @MrsBayerLSMS

Applications for the 2020-21 cohort will open in the Spring 2020. The Fellowship is open to Newsela Teacher Trainers and/ or any NCEs that have completed at least 2 NCE Endorsements. Learn more here.