Education First Year Seminars

Promoting Teacher and Student Well-Being 

This course is designed to promote well-being for first-year students interested in working in education. The goal is to provide students with coping skills to combat burnout and promote wellness that can also be incorporated into future teaching practices. We will be following the Well-Being Promotion Program to improve mental health and coping skills for young adults. 
 

Section 1
Nithyashri Hariharan 
Course Time: Thursday 11:30a.m.-12:20p.m.

Section 2 
Katie Roslonek
Course Time: Wednesday 4:00pm-4:50pm

Section 3
Ryan Waldruff
Course Time: Wednesday 12:20pm-1:10pm

Section 4 
Julie Tanguay
Course Time: Wednesday 2:30pm-3:20pm

Becoming Educators and Leaders: Building Purpose and Community in College

This seminar invites first-year students to think about college as more than a series of separate classes and assignments. Students will explore how their interests, goals, and relationships can connect to shape a meaningful path through college and into the field of education. Through discussion, reflection, and practical strategies, the course helps students navigate campus resources, build community, manage time and stress, and grow as learners and leaders. Students will also consider how the habits and values they develop now can shape the educators and community members they become. The seminar is designed to help students feel supported, purposeful, and confident in their transition to college.
 

Scholastika Massawe

Course Time: Monday 1:25pm- 2:15pm
 

Critical Literacy for Curious Minds  

We often think that "literacy" means just reading text, but that isn't true! This course will explore ways to engage more critically with all types of literacies, including children's literature, photographs, fine art, and more. These strategies will support you as you encounter them in your college career, while learning through hands-on activities applicable to classrooms of all ages. Learn how to engage in discussions of social justice and power across genres while taking away strategies for your future classrooms

Gretchen Hohmeyer 

Course Time: Tuesday 11:30am- 12:20pm

Crafting Our Identities: A Dis/ability Memoir-Making Class 

This course will creatively engage students in exploring their identities and creating communities of practice as new college students and future educators. Students will try their hand at various arts-based methods for critically reflecting on their transition-to-college experiences. Each week we will engage with dis/ability narratives in diverse multimodes (comics, essays, videos, zines, etc.), and discuss how re-occurring themes relate to their lives as college students. Throughout the course, students will craft memoir pieces using the art forms of their choice and display their final artworks in an exhibition at the College of Education

Jana Picket

Course Time: Tuesday 1:00pm - 1:50pm
 

Navigating College in the Age of AI

Navigate your transition to college academics while mastering the rapidly evolving landscape of artificial intelligence. In this seminar, students will operate strictly within university AI policies to explore how technology can actively enhance their time management, goal setting, and critical thinking skills. Our primary goal is to demystify AI and prevent overdependence, transforming these powerful tools into tailored assistants that support your unique academic journey.

Ziyue Zhang

Course Time: Wednesday 1:25-2:15pm
 

Interdisciplinary Learning

This seminar gives first-year students practical experience with one of the most valuable skills in contemporary education: interdisciplinary learning. The course prepare students investigate how connections across fields can inspire more thoughtful, creative, and inclusive approaches to teaching and learning. Students will be introduced to co-constructing sense-making, explore collaborative projects in UMass, and discover how seemingly unrelated disciplines illuminate and enrich educational practice. Weekly sessions blend reflective discussion, collaborative challenges, guest perspectives from across UMass departments, and creative projects that push students to connect their own skills and backgrounds to education in new ways. Students leave with a broader professional identity, a richer understanding of how an interdisciplinary learning happens and the confidence to build bridges between their world and the classroom. The goal is not to survey many fields superficially but to develop genuine facility with the question of how disciplines can inform and enrich each other ? and how we can use that enrichment in our classroom.

Arezoo Faghihi

Course Time: Thursday 1:00pm-1:50pm

 

Introduction to University Life

In this class, you come to light with no reading assignments, are exposed to in-depth educational topics in discussions, and gain self-guided direction toward becoming a future educator or educational researcher. Weekly classes are structured for three goals: 1) providing direct support for first-year students, like transition to university, working together with peers and professors, course selection procedure, CV writing, where to find on-campus and out-of-school support/communities; 2) introducing academic writing in education, such as research paper drafting, and finding publication opportunities, etc.; 3) offering professionalism content, like time balance, stress management, and self-care. Through peers’ sharing, the course promotes emotional well-being, self-awareness, and a better understanding and plan of your academic path and professional goals.
 

Yingyuan Sun

Course Time: Wednesday 2:30pm -3:20pm