Sandra Pech, Ph.D.
Biography
Following graduation from Heidelberg College in 1983 my educational career began with 10 years of teaching in the Alliance City Schools, Alliance, Ohio. During those ten years, I had the opportunity to teach second graders through fifth graders in various combinations. In 1987 I received my Masters Degree in Elementary Education from Akron University. The arrival of our first child and my husbands’ work related transfer to North Carolina in 1994 lead to my involvement with infants through 5 year olds in a preschool setting where I was the director of a Mother’s Morning Out program. After returning to Ohio in 1999, I taught at the preschool level for two years and later was invited to become a supervisor for Â鶹´«Ã½â€™s Early Childhood Education program where I facilitated college students who were completing their student teaching at the pre-k and primary levels. Following six years of supervising, I decided to pursue a Ph.D in Curriculum and Instruction in order to return to the classroom as an educator. I was a graduate assistant, and an instructor until my graduation in May 2010.
I am currently an associate professor for Â鶹´«Ã½ at Tuscarawas and am the coordinator of the Bachelor of Science in Education (BSE) program in early childhood education. I began as the coordinator of the program when the 4 year BSE was added to the 2-year associate's degree during the fall of 2009.
My research interests include curriculum development in the primary grades and inquiry based learning. I am interested in the integration of content as well as teacher-student interactions that support both the academic and social-emotional interactions at the primary grade level.
Teaching Licenses held
K-8 Certification: Fall 1983-June 2024
Literacy Endorsement K-12: Fall 2001-June 2024
Education
M.S., Elementary Education, Akron University, and
Ph.D., Curriculum & Instruction, Â鶹´«Ã½
Expertise
Social-emotional classroom climates
Teacher education
Collaborative relationships
Mentoring of teacher candidates
Professional development of inservice teachers
Publications
- Pech, S. (2013).Peer Pals: Supporting Positive Social–Emotional Behaviors in a Kindergarten Classroom. Childhood Education. 89(4), 217-223.
- Bircher, L., O’Brien, K., Pech, S. & Bintz, W. (2010) Doctoral Student Socialization: Moving from the margins to the center. Excelsior: Leadership in Teaching and Learning. The Journal of the New York Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (NYACT
- Kroeger, J. Pech, S., & Cope, J. (2009) Investigating change in field sites through mentor and candidate dialogues. Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education, 30(4), 328-345. DOI:10.1080/10901020903320536
- Pech, S. (2022). Integrating Content across Disciplines in the Primary Classroom. Pathways to Research, an online reference series, EBSCO information services.
- Lash, M, & Pech, S. (2020). The role of democratic beliefs and practices in early childhood classrooms: Lessons learned from inservice teachers. In I. Jones and M. Lin’s Critical issues in early childhood teacher education Vol 1: A United States perspecti