Kenneth R. Dunaj, Resume

For the past seventeen years, I have been working with students in the Wilton Public School System as a secondary social studies teacher and as the high school humanities instructional coach.  As I have evolved as an educator I have sought out new professional learning opportunities.  My professional journey as a secondary teacher in public education has provided me with experiences that have supported my professional growth.  Since taking on the role of one of the high school's library media specialists, I have been able to investigate and experiment with various instructional methods and digital tools when I collaborate with teachers and students.  I hope to continue my career as an LMS by promoting reading, inquiry, and learning.  

During my tenure as a  Wilton High School secondary educator for my career, I have forged inroads with numerous teachers across the school and district to introduce well researched and practiced pedagogical instructional strategies to transform classrooms for learners.  When I made the choice to become a secondary library media specialist, I realized that I would be able to take my instructional talents and my passion for learning to support students when they engage in personalized inquiry/project based learning.  

One of the key components of being an impact teacher/media specialist at the secondary level is being able to create meaningful connections with our learners and faculty members.  We need to ensure that students feel safe and not overwhelmed when the dependence on social media for social acceptance and the highly competitive college process has caused students to reach new breaking points. A school library media specialist must collaborate with multiple stakeholders in their educational community to develop and maintain a learning commons that serves multiple functions.  A student’s willingness to engage with learning and his or her ability to feel successful in a high stakes secondary learning environment is dependent on the relationships they have with the LMSs and the environment that is fostered by the LMS in the LLC.  

I have always strove to develop trustworthy professional relationships with my peers and learners. I have personally witnessed students and teachers turn around their academic/professional performances when they know that someone cares about them, their safety, and success in and outside of school.  I want the LLC to be a physical space that allows students to take risks and access knowledge from the collection that I develop and from the learners/staff within the LLC.  

Although all teachers want their students to be problem solvers and self-directed, it is important for learners to know that there are caring adults who will be there to support them when they might be grappling with a personal or academic challenge.  It may sound simple, all learners can be successful although it might not always look the same. 

One of the most important trends that I have been a part of in the past several years has been attempting to foster design thinking in classroom environments.  If we as educators can help students identify novel problems that they find important, we can easily adapt our content and instruction to meet student interests.  Our goal is to help develop young adults that are innovators and problem solvers. With the marriage of the humanities and STEM curriculum, students can learner about the core aspects of the disciples while practicing their critical thinking skills when completing authentic performance-based assessments.  I have witnessed student learning soar when the learners were given choice in their learning and how they are able to demonstrate mastery by creating a product of their choice. I am excited to see how schools will use standards-based assessments, Universal Design for Learning and project based assessments to capture student progress and success in the years to come.