College of Education
Northern Illinois University
Graham Hall
DeKalb, IL 60115
Phone: (815) 753-1948
Fax: (815) 753-2100
cedu@niu.edu
Ten years ago Mina Blazy earned her bachelor's degree in elementary education from the Teaching and Learning program in the College of Education. Since then she has been building an illustrious career as an outstanding elementary educator. Blazy was recently recognized in a "California Educator Magazine" feature about critical thinking in the classroom, a topic with which she's intimately familiar.
After graduating, Blazy went on to teach 8th grade at Still Middle School in Aurora (District 203). There she became adept at using the true middle school concept.
"We used critical thinking and listened to what the parents and students wanted from their education." While she found this to be standard practice in Illinois, she discovered it to be a somewhat new concept once she moved west.
"I still believe that students learn best when they are given the chance to think about thinking," she said of her experience teaching 8th grade science in the Palm Springs Unified School District. "I have also found that when they use lots of hands-on activities in science they learn better and retain the information."
Blazy speaks of her NIU experience glowingly and is glad to be able to use her education with her new students in California.