During the 2023-24 academic year, Dr. Rachel Schiera taught six different courses at Lander University while strengthening her collaborative research program, developing education curriculum that is being used internationally and presenting her research at national conferences.
Her work inside the classroom and beyond has earned recognition for Schiera as the recipient of the University’s 2024 Junior Faculty Scholar Award.
Schiera, an assistant professor of education in Lander’s College of Education, has been the coordinator of the Call Me MISTER (Mentors Instructing Students Toward Effective Role Models) program at the University since 2021. Designed to increase the pool of available teachers from a broader, more diverse background, the program seeks to improve the quality of instruction in the state's lowest-performing schools.
Her leadership with Call Me MISTER was bolstered, she said, when she was selected last year to join the inaugural research coalition of the Alliance for Decision Education (DE). The group, comprising scholars worldwide, focuses on the ability of teachers to support DE, which promotes the teaching and learning of skillful judgment formation and decision-making in kindergarten through college settings.
“This research coalition has deeply impacted my teaching, particularly in relation to my work with Call Me MISTER,” said Schiera.
In fact, Schiera believes that the award recognizes not only her accomplishments but “also the accomplishments of the many people with whom I have collaborated with over the previous two years. Any time we undertake research, there should be a strong collaborative element, because research, and especially educational research, is not accomplished solo. Receiving this award reflects a series of successful collaborations that have also contributed to a stronger knowledge base about teaching and learning.”
In spring 2023, Schiera developed and implemented a curriculum through which Lander’s pre-service teachers collaborated with colleagues in Costa Rica to teach and carry out limnology – the study of inland waters, such as lakes, streams and wetlands, for example. Limnologists strive to better understand freshwater ecosystems and promote their conservation and management. The experience resulted in a presentation of research findings at a community event.
“Lander’s students had the opportunity to teach the curriculum, which potentially benefits their teaching,” she said.
This past spring, “many of those students were in my Elementary Science course and have made connections to the content because of this experience in Costa Rica.”
In Fall 2023, Schiera collaborated with Dr. Lauren Adams, of Lander’s College of Education, to study how the use of “TeacherTok,” or other short video platforms, would affect the teaching practice of pre-service teachers. Schiera and Adams developed a presentation, “Enhancing Pre-Service Teachers’ Literacy Learning Using Tik Tok: Classroom Approaches and Research” for the annual South Carolina Association of Teacher Educators.
They discovered that “TeacherTok is potentially beneficial in teacher training, but more research is needed to understand pre-service teachers’ use patterns,” Schiera said. “In reaction to these findings, I have integrated assignments in my classes that leverage TeacherTok to better understand the effect anecdotally.”
Schiera also contributed to a grant application with Dr. Sarah Hunt-Barron, dean of the College of Education, to support tutoring for students taking introductory English and math courses at Lander.
A second grant application secured funding for a program for women of color who are majoring in education at Lander to support their student experience and enhance their retention as education majors.
Since 2016, Schiera has worked with the Fulbright Distinguished Awards in Teaching Program for International Teachers and has consulted with teacher-scholars for course instruction in classrooms worldwide.
Schiera earned her bachelor’s degree in English, copyright and editing at James Madison University and set out to pursue a career in publishing. But working at a computer eight hours a day did not align with her desire to work closely with people. She earned a master’s degree in teaching English speakers of other languages at the School for International Training in Brattleboro, Vermont. Then, Schiera furthered her education with a master’s degree in literacy and a doctorate in curriculum and instruction from Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
She has taught in China, Mexico and South Korea and finds that “teaching lays the foundation for a just, equitable and thoughtful society. Honestly, very few careers compare to teaching in this regard.”
Her service at Lander is extensive and includes being a member of the Faculty Senate and the departmental study abroad co-coordinator for Lander University and the Costa Rica Global Learning Program.
Schiera has delivered presentations at international, national, regional, state and local conferences and has earned recognition and awards in recent years for the quality of her research. She is a member of the National Science Teaching Association, Palmetto State Teachers Association, Palmetto Literacy Association, International Literacy Association and the American Association of University Women, as well as other state and national organizations.