Anjuli Dyal, a South Ozone Park kindergarten and first-grade special education teacher at P.S. 121Q, is one of 12 educators selected to join the Scholastic 2022-2023 Teacher Fellow Cohort, where she will further her professional development and hone her skills.
Throughout the fellowship, Dyal will help inform product development, design, professional title research, and various K-12 initiatives for the Education Solutions Division. Additionally, she will complete a capstone project that will be showcased at a summit in Scholastic’s NYC headquarters at the end of the program in July.
The Teacher Fellows were selected through an open call for applications which were reviewed by a panel of judges based on measures of problem solving skills, overall teaching experience, classroom practices, and more. They also received a stipend of $2,000 as well as at least $500 retail value of books and materials from Scholastic.
Dyal said she learned about the Scholastic Teacher Fellow Cohort through LinkedIn, a business and employment-focused social media platform, and was thrilled at the possibility of working with a well known and respected company like Scholastic.
“This is a full-circle moment for me because I bought some of my favorite books from the Scholastic Book Fair as a child,” Dyal said. “I feel honored to be able to contribute to a company that has so much meaning to me and to work alongside such talented professionals. I can’t wait to see how our feedback will make an impact.”
In January, Scholastic, the global children’s publishing, education, and media company, announced its inaugural Teacher Fellow Cohort. The team of 12 high-performing K-8 teachers will collaborate with Scholastic Education Solutions’ product development, research and publishing teams across the school year, offering a direct pathway to their diverse expertise and the real-time experiences of their classrooms.
The dual goals of the program are to promote innovative co-design and action research for Scholastic’s instructional offerings and to provide unique professional development opportunities for these educators.
“The Teacher Fellow program builds on the strong connections Scholastic has had with teachers for more than a century and reflects our deep commitment to develop resources for today’s teachers’ immediate needs,” said Amanda Alexander, chief Academic Officer. “We are thrilled to welcome these 12 educators into the Scholastic family to share their diverse experiences and critical perspectives.”
So far, Dyal said she has learned a lot about working with a group and the benefits of coming from different backgrounds.
“We all have so many ideas and have so much knowledge to offer one another,” Dyal said.
Currently, Dyal is completing her master’s in Education with a concentration in mathematics. For her capstone project, her primary focus is promoting a growth mindset through the use of games for math, she said.
“As a Scholastic Teacher Fellow, my capstone project allows me to elaborate on my studies and further contribute my ideas that will create something great for our scholars,” Dyal said.
Dyal began teaching at her alma mater P.S. 121Q in October 2021. For Dyal, it’s been a pleasure to return to the classroom in the role of an educator.
“I was blown away by the grace my previous teachers had and now I get to be just like them,” Dyal said. “I’ve always been passionate about helping people. Growing up, my teachers always knew that this was my path. They would tell me, ‘You’ll be a teacher someday,’ and they were right!’”
Dyal’s inspiration and passion to become a teacher truly came from the ability to change the lives of students for the better. While she was an undergraduate, Dyal fell in love with the idea that educators are teaching future leaders. It’s a growing field she says, that is filled with so much to adore.
Dyal is also a reading interventionist through Reading Ready, in partnership with the CUNY Research Foundation and GO Project. It’s a research-based curriculum created by Katherine Pace-Miles to help support emerging readers. Through this program, Dyal is able to support students in the Department of Education and at the GO Project through a remote platform.
The program, according to Dyal, emphasizes phonics skills through letter practice, sound practice, word practice, and reading practice during sessions. For Dyal, it’s heartwarming getting to track each student’s progress and see how much they learn through an engaging program.
As an educator, Dyal’s dream is to continuously learn in all the forms she can, she said.
“It’s an honor to be a full-time graduate student, a teacher with Monday Professional Development opportunities, a Scholastic Teacher Fellow, and a reading interventionist at the CUNY Research Foundation simultaneously because of how much I get to learn,” Dyal said. “I get to apply my knowledge in every facet of my career and see the intersection with everything I do. One day, I will be able to step into an administrative role and share my findings with others.”
