Teacher Feature October 2022: Neena Kumar

Trained as a scientist, Neena Kumar has dabbled in a variety of fields and finally landed in education. Neena serves as the Dean of Curriculum and Instruction at Legacy Early College High School in Greenville, South Carolina. Over the past few years, she has identified the needs of her scholars and has taken advantage of the outreach efforts of several local stakeholders, bringing real world experiences and workforce interactions into her classroom. In these experiences, she has seen a step jump in her students’ engagement and motivation. 

“Personally, ‘learning by doing’ validates my teaching practices, and I am a strong advocate for student driven learning.”

Learn about Neena’s favorite StoryMaker lesson, pro-tips, and what she’s currently listening to in our Q&A below.

How long have you been using SRL lessons? 2 years

What’s your favorite StoryMaker lesson?

Evidence and Experts. This one is my favorites! It can be used as an activity after the main topic of the story is identified and before drafting the script. 

Links to your students’ work can be found here. 

What’s a dream story you’d like to report on? I would like to document a day in the life of a teacher.  No two days are the same and each iteration of the same task has something new, not to mention the number of people a teacher interacts in a day. 

What’s a media making tool can’t live without? my iPad pro

What are you currently listening to? Songbird by Fleetwood Mac

Piece of advice for teachers and educators just getting started on StoryMaker: Take your time establishing the pace that feels right to you. You will not be able to do everything all at once. Let the learning evolve. 

You can follow Neena on instagram (@neenakumar1), and reach out to her directly to learn more about how she’s adapted StoryMaker into her classroom at neenakumar@legacyearlycollege.org.