Oscar Neale came to Stevens Point Normal School in 1917 and was Director of Rural Education until his retirement in 1944. He then ran and was elected to the Wisconsin State Senate for two, four-year terms. A dormitory on the UWSP campus was named for him. Oscar Neale taught the first picture study course in a public institution in Wisconsin and was an authority on picture interpretation. Mr. Neale authored many articles and two widely used texts, Picture Study in the Grades, published in 1925, and World Famous Pictures, published in 1933.
Mr. Neale is survived by one grandson: Col. James Neale of Gainesville, Ga. The descendants of Oscar Neale have donated $2.4 million to UWSP to create scholarship programs, to sponsor the Oscar W. Neale Memorial Celebration of Teaching banquet honoring cooperating teachers, and to fund the Oscar W. Neale Fellowship that recognizes and supports outstanding collaboration between UWSP faculty and educators in Central Wisconsin.
Neale Fellowship Past Recipients
2020-21: Chamomile Nusz - Director Tomorrow River Community Charter School
Amber Garbe – UWSP F Elementary Language Arts Methods
Zoe Brown – UWSP Faculty Elementary Art Methods
2019-20: Amy Wiza from Wisconsin/Nicaragua Partners of the Americas, Inc.
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2018-19: Dacia Giordana from Marshfield High School
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2017-18: Jodi Hoscheit from Sand Lake Elementary in the School District of Holmen
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2016-17: Heather Grabarski - Adams-Friendship Elementary School
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2015-16: Kirsten Bertsch, Claudine Fredy, Michelle Frola, Cari Honken, Brittney Kastens, Teresa Lecy-Wojcik, Kathryn Meyer-Blum, Stacey Wester, Amy Wiersma of Iola-Scandinavia School District
"Kindness Project"
2014-15: Shelly Johnson and Jennifer Wietrzykowski of Bannach Elementary School, Stevens Point, with Prof. Christine Gould
The Challenge Café: Open for Advanced Learning during Response to Intervention Block
Photo Gallery
2013-14: Kristine Doering - Pittsville School District
Pittsville Public Schools Pottery Throw Project
2012-13: Lisa Vann - Almond-Bancroft School District
Spanish-speaking students in the Almond-Bancroft School District will be
able to use technology to reduce communication barriers and improve
academic performance thanks to a grant from the University of
Wisconsin-Stevens Point. Read More | Photo Gallery | Video
2011-12: Kathy Hansel - St. Stanislaus School, Stevens Point, Wis.
The
sixth Oscar W. Neale Fellowship, sponsored by the Oscar W. Neale
Memorial Endowment, was given to Kathy Hansel, a learning resource
teacher at St. Stanislaus School in Stevens Point. The fellowship will
support the PAWS Literacy Lab (Point’s Alliance with St. Stanislaus)
that will connect UWSP education students with St. Stanislaus students
as they incorporate art and music into the teaching and learning of
reading.
2008-09: Joan Krohn, Merrill Head Start, Merrill, Wis.
Trees
have always interested Joan Krohn. One of her earliest memories is
swinging between two of them in a blanket hammock that her older brother
rigged up. She also fondly recalls trying to hatch a broken concrete
block with the neighbor kids in an eagles nest made from elm leaves.
This interest in trees eventually led her to the University of
Wisconsin-Stevens Point as a forestry major. Five days in the required
calculus class (which she promptly dropped) steered her to a Natural
Resource major, secondary teaching certification and a minor in outdoor
education. After a short stint as a camp ranger/director for the Girl
Scouts of Milwaukee Area, Joan and her husband Jon (another UWSP alum)
began, and are still in the process of, raising their family.
When
the youngest started Kindergarten Joan rejoined the workforce as a
substitute teacher. During her fourth year of subbing, she did a long
term at Head Start/Early Childhood and was very kindly asked to stay.
The UWSP School of Education came to the rescue designing a program of
study so that she could keep her job and earn her Early Childhood
certification and Masters.
Joan now likes to take her classes of
three, four and five year olds into the woods to learn from trees. She
and the entire staff have learned much about the value of exploring,
observing, problem solving, overcoming challenges and thinking in
nature. Joan proposed to create a natural playscape on the school
grounds so that students could have these natural experiences every day.
The Oscar W. Neale Fellowship from the University of Wisconsin Stevens
Point was awarded to her to provide assistance to fulfill this vision.
She hopes to kindle a life long interest in trees in her students, their
parents and their community.
2007-08: Amber Garbe, Xia Lee Vang, Kao Lee Lor, Madison Elementary School, Stevens Point, Wis.
Amber
Garbe is in her fifth year of teaching. She has taught 2nd, 3rd, 4th,
ESL and reading. Kao Lee Lor is in her third year of teaching English
Language Learners. Lee Vang is in her fourth year of teaching, having
taught 1st, 3rd, and ESL K-6. Our team of educators worked to start and
facilitate literacy nights for families learning English during the
2006-2007 school year. The family literacy nights morphed into the Pan
Dau Art to Published Art project of publishing culturally-relevant
books.
Statements of the impact of the Neale Fellowship project:Impact
on Community: The published multicultural books will increase the
knowledge of the rich oral history of the Hmong culture across Central
Wisconsin. In the spirit of Mr. Neale, this project works to make
materials that are not readily available, multicultural books and art,
more accessible. In addition, the process of creating and sharing the
books align with Mr. Neale’s belief in the integration of art, history,
and literature.
Impact on Teachers (Project Coordinators): The
teachers involved in the project worked diligently to develop innovative
ways to meet the needs of English language learning families. One of
our goals was to infuse multicultural awareness into classroom and
school curriculums.
Impact on UWSP Students: UWSP Students
participating in this project increased their awareness of the diversity
in schools and the importance of infusing multicultural literature to
prepare themselves to meet the needs of all students within the
increasingly diverse United States classrooms.
Impact on
“Published” Families: Uprooted from their traditions and lifestyles,
many Hmong families have reported that they have little time to share
traditional folklore. By honoring the rich stories of the culture,
families have seen how storytelling and literacy are connected.
Impact
on Madison Elementary Students: Although approximately 24% of the
school’s population is Hmong, we have very little representation of
Hmong literature in our school library. With few multicultural resources
available that highlight the Hmong culture, the remaining 76% of the
school is generally unaware of the history of the Hmong people. By
sharing stories from cultures, we have educated and instilled a level of
honor and respect for diversity across the student body.
2006-07: Lauren Ebbecke, Wausau East High School, Wausau, WI
Lauren
holds a bachelor of arts degree in biology and chemistry from Warren
Wilson College, Swannanoa, N.C., and a master’s degree in Natural
Resources Management from UWSP. She is in her ninth year of teaching at
the high school and junior high school levels, most currently as a
science teacher. Lauren is a successful grant writer, a certified
trainer for Smart Boards, and an adjunct faculty member for Northcentral
Technical College.
Lauren’s philosophy of science education “is
to help students understand and appreciate the natural world in which we
live.” Students must be able to make decisions based on their knowledge
and understanding of scientific inquiry, including “questioning,
forming hypotheses, collecting and analyzing data, reaching conclusions,
evaluating results, and communicating findings to others. One method of
scientific inquiry is through the use of innovative technology in the
curriculum to promote higher student achievement.
Statement of impact of the Neale Fellowship project on her teaching and student learning:“This
award is a huge breakthrough for East (High School) as we enrich
students’ lives with digital content and technology tools to prepare
them for the 21st century.”
Students have been able to connect
their learning experiences with real world experiences relevant to
science education through the use of the SMART board and lessons
constructed specifically for its use. Students are more actively engaged
in learning are more highly motivated and inspired to learn through the
use of this technology. In addition to using the interactive boards to
dissect frogs, collect and analyze data, watch videos, do interactive
quizzes, play educational games, and conduct student presentations in
Science, students are also using SMART boards in Math, Art, Health,
English, Social Studies, and Foreign Language as the result of requests
by other content area teachers and funding through other grants.
“Teachers are also excited because they have found innovative and
creative new ways to implement this technology to improve student
achievement.”
“SMART boards are key for homebound students as
well as any student who cannot attend class. While assisting teachers to
be better prepared by clearly identifying objectives, teachers can now
save their class notes and activities of the day and email them home to
students.”
In addition, the UWSP education students with who
collaborated on this project under the direction of Dr. Perry Cook and
Dr. Kym Buchanan, were able to experience, first hand, creative
applications of technology in the classroom before they entered their
chosen teaching professions.
2005-06: Jeff Mlsna, P. J. Jacobs Junior High School, Stevens Point, WI 
Jeff is in his sixth year as a 7th grade science teacher at P. J. Jacobs Junior High School in Stevens Point, WI. He has a wide variety of learners in my classroom including ELL, LD, EBD, CD, and Gifted students. I am also the supervisor of the P.J. Jacobs Science Club and the WIRED (Web Instructional Resources for Educational Development) Group. Jeff is also an adjunct faculty member of UWSP, teaching two discussion sections of Instructional Resources during the fall, 2008, semester.
Jeff’s statement of the impact of the Neale Fellowship on his teaching and his students’ learning:
“Being honored as a Neale Fellow has been on of the greatest achievements of my teaching career. One of my mottos in life is: “Never stop learning”, and the Neale Fellowship provided my students and me with the monetary “springboard” needed to start us on the road to becoming effective and engaged learners in the 21st Century. Since becoming a Neale Fellow, I have worked closely with my department at P.J. Jacobs and we have developed a rigorous curriculum that utilizes technology to effectively differentiate instruction and provide students with learning opportunities that wouldn’t have been possible with our previous level of technology. In the space below I have listed some of the 21st Century Learning Activities in which you will see our student participating in if you walk through the Science Department at P.J. Jacobs Junior High School:
- Students group using Vernier data collection equipment to identify the frictional force generated when a wooden block is pulled across different surfaces.
- Classrooms engaged in interactive discussions centering round “real” data collected from Vernier motion detectors.
- Students self-selecting movies and podcast on iPods to acquire “real-world” knowledge about topics we are discussing in the classroom.
- Students completing self-paced quizzes on iPods that were developed by their classmates.
- Teachers utilizing InterWrite Pads to identify key concepts on webpages during classroom discussions.
- Students creating content-based movies and podcasts that will show the world their knowledge and understanding of key Science concepts.
- Students can also engage in science discussions on Moodle (this is an online course management system) when they are at home.
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