October Newsletter: Education Program
Gottesman Libraries
The Gottesman Libraries Education Program informs students, faculty and staff about the latest thinking in education, in ways that engage members of the community with one another and with a broad range of educational experts. The program also provides understanding of work being done throughout the College. Read more about offerings in October.
Workshops
Regularly scheduled instructional offerings include workshops, tours, orientations, and course-specific instruction in coordination with staff and faculty of the College.
Your Research Journey is a five-part library workshop series to help guide you in your research throughout the semester, by providing you with manageable tools and resources to use along your journey. Whether this is your first time conducting research, or you are a well-seasoned researcher and looking for a refresher, each workshop introduces fundamental information to lay a foundation of knowledge on which you can build your scholarly work. While the workshops in this series are designed to build upon each other, you are welcome to attend any workshop individually. All are held on Wednesdays, 3-4pm.
Elevate Your Research builds upon the foundational series, Your Research Journey, by presenting valuable new topics, resources, and methodologies to make you an even stronger and highly proficient researcher. Held on Thursdays, 11am-12pm, this series also invites deeper, collaborative work to strengthen academic research initiatives.
Managing Your Citations with Zotero, Wednesday, 10/1, 3-4pm
Learn how to download, install, and use Zotero to organize and manage your citations as you do research. This workshop provides a quick start introduction including: downloading; tour of the interface; nuts and bolts of how to ingest references through a web connector; and different ways of citing.
Presenter: Ava Kaplan, Research and Instruction Librarian
Where: 101 Russell / Online
The Literature Review, Wednesday, 10/8, 3-4pm
The Literature Review is an essential element of scholarly inquiry, allowing researchers to understand the context and conclusions around a specific topic. A literature review can be conducted as a section in a main project such as a thesis or dissertation, or it can be a standalone project for a course or publication. For whatever reason you are embarking on your literature review process, this workshop will introduce you to the concepts and guidelines behind the three primary types of literature reviews; the narrative review, scoping review, and systematic review. We will also cover strategies for locating the sources you need for your literature review.
Presenter: Ava Kaplan, Research and Instruction Librarian
Where: 101 Russell / Online
Reading the Information Landscape: Principles of Source Evaluation, Wednesday, 10/15
In an era of AI-generated content and information overload, how can you confidently determine a source’s credibility? This workshop equips graduate students with a sophisticated toolkit for navigating the modern information landscape. We will move beyond basic checklists to master practical evaluation frameworks and review core principles like the peer-review process and source types. You will leave feeling empowered to critically analyze any information and enhance the quality of your scholarly work.
Instructor: Ava Kaplan, Research and Instruction Librarian
Where: 101 Russell / Online
Unlock PubMed: Find the Best Evidence for Your Research, Wednesday, 10/16, 11am-12pm
This hands-on workshop is essential for health-science and psychology students who need to find reliable research efficiently. Learn how to enhance your basic search and maximize your time by mastering the powerful features of PubMed, including using filters to narrow your results, applying the precise vocabulary of MeSH terms, and quickly saving and exporting the best evidence-based articles for your papers and projects.
Instructor: Ava Kaplan, Research and Instruction Librarian
Where: 101 Russell / Online
Charting Your Path, Wednesday, 10/22, 3-4pm
Graduate school research may feel daunting, but this foundational workshop will address the key concepts, strategies, and tools to help develop your research skills. Charting Your Path will start with a broad overview of what library research can look like, including the terms you may come across in your journey. We will also cover how to use Gottesman Libraries and the Columbia University Libraries to access physical and digital resources; discuss reference management tools; show how to create strong keyword searches; and end with a review of strategies for better search results. Attendees will leave this workshop with the information needed to be successful in Library research across all research disciplines.
Presenter: Ava Kaplan, Research and Instruction Librarian
Where: 101 Russell / Online
The ABC's of Copyright, Thursday, 10/23, 11am-12pm
This workshop covers the ABC's of copyright and fair usage, most specifically in educational settings. We will discuss the meaning and importance of copyright protection; look at resources that highlight the basic do's and don'ts; and and point to further sources of information that can help you navigate the law’s complexity and make more informed determinations.
With growing scholarly open source and public domain materials in an unprecedented time of remote learning, we also will explore options for using and leveraging such freely available resources in coursework and research.
Instructor: Roshnara Kissoon, Reserves and Support Services Librarian
Where: 101 Russell / Online
Searching Strategies, Wednesday, 10/29, 3-4pm
How do you know you are retrieving all the relevant information needed for your research topic? Do you find your catalog and database searches are not giving you the best results? This workshop will cover the strategies and concepts needed to give you confidence that you are finding the best results in your searches and take you beyond conducting simple searches by using tools to search in a variety of contexts. The workshop host will review how to use Educat+, the catalog of the Gottesman Libraries; CLIO, the Columbia University Libraries catalog; and database providers, like EBSCO and Proquest. We will then show how you can optimize your queries by using Boolean logic and punctuation to refine your search style and retrieve exactly the resources you seek.
Presenter: Ava Kaplan, Research and Instruction Librarian
Where: 101 Russell / Online
Highlighted Databases
Every month we draw attention to select databases that strengthen learning, teaching, and research in academic areas and their relevance to current offerings and programs.
While literacy traditionally refers to the ability to read, write, speak, and listen, with key elements of phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension, it has evolved to include multiple new forms to address needs in today's complex and changing world. These areas reflect proficiencies in contextual understanding, critical thinking (especially in libraries and research), digital and multimodal environments , finance, and health.
In October we highlight databases that focus on theory, research, and practice in reading and writing that support programs at Teachers College in Literacy Specialist, including curriculum development, assessment, and intervention.
Read more on the library's news feed.
Talks
We host a variety of talks, from book to guest to art, to encourage thinking , conversation, and action on a broad range of interesting and relevant topics and needs.
Meet the Artist: Yutong Chloe Wu, A Glimpse: Serendipity Across Cultures, Thursday, 10/2, 4-5pm
Please join us for a casual talk with Teachers College alumna and 2025 Myers awardee Yutong Chloe who will give an overview and gallery tour of "A Glimpse: Serendipity Across Cultures". This exhibit explores the serendipitous connections formed through fleeting glimpses of life behind half-open doors in rural China’s hutong alleys. The work captures the tension between concealment and revelation, memory and destiny, and the profound beauty of shared humanity. The life-sized, lithographic print of a traditional Chinese gate, reimagined as a fusion of Chinese and New York architectural elements, serves as a physical and metaphorical threshold, inviting viewers to reflect on themes of cultural memory, serendipity, and the universal experience of crossing boundaries—both literal and figurative. Yutong Chloe Wu's project aims to resonate deeply with the diverse community at Teachers College, particularly Chinese students who participate a vital proportion in this campus and may find a sense of cultural connection and shared memory in the work. At the same time, the universal theme of the “door” as a symbol of transition, opportunity, and connection will speak to a broader audience, including those familiar with the iconic doors of New York City.
We will invite viewers to share their stories and memories with one or some doors they encountered -- either orally or written on sticky notes. Red rice paper will be distributed to exchange stories, with words of fortune given by the artist to participants to place on their doors at home.
Where: 305 Russell / Offit Gallery
Book Talk: Four Mothers: An Intimate Journey Through the First Year of Parenthood in Four Countries, by Abigail Leonard, Thursday, 10/9, 5-7pm
"Tsukasa in Japan grapples with memories of a difficult childhood as she tries to chart a new, healthier path for her own daughter while balancing onerous cultural expectations. Chelsea in Kenya endures a devastating loss just before she gives birth and finds that without the traditional support of previous generations, motherhood can be grueling – but it can also provide emotional healing. Anna in Finland navigates a complicated relationship with her child’s father, but the country’s robust family policies allow her to still pursue the kind of parenthood that she envisioned. Sarah in the US leaves the religious community that raised her in order to create a less traditional family of her own only to find she’s largely confronting motherhood alone.
Utterly moving and propulsively readable from page one, Leonard interweaves these stories with a critically researched exploration of how parental support programs evolved in each country—and why some provide more help than others. As nations around the world debate programs like paid leave, universal daycare, reproductive healthcare, and family tax incentives, Four Mothers offers a uniquely intimate, moving portrait of what those policies mean for parents on the ground—and considers what modern families really want."
Abigail Leonard is an award-winning international reporter and news producer, previously based in Tokyo, where she was a frequent contributor to NPR, Time, and New York Times video. Her stories have also appeared in The Washington Post, Newsweek, and Vox. Before moving to Japan, she wrote and produced long-form news documentaries as a staff producer for PBS, ABC and Al Jazeera America. Stories she reported have earned a National Headliner Award, an Award for Excellence in Health Care Journalism Award, an Overseas Press Club Award and a James Beard Foundation Media Award Nomination. She was a 2011 East-West Center Japan Fellow and 2010 UN Foundation Journalism Fellow. She served as First Vice President of the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan, a 2000-member national press organization, and also chaired its scholarship program.
Before she became a journalist, she was a middle school teacher for the New Orleans Public School District through Teach for America. She has a bachelor's degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a master's in Science, Health and Environmental Journalism from NYU. She now lives in Washington DC, where she enjoys riding her electric bicycle with her husband and three awesome kids.
Moderating discussion is Dr. Aurelie Athan, a clinical psychologist and Research Professor at Teachers College, Columbia University. Dr. Athan's research interests embrace Maternal Psychology: Matrescence & Maternal Mental Health, Perinatal Risk & Resilience, and Reproductive Psychology: Reproductive Identity Formation and Reproductive Life Planning & Decision-Making. The author of numerous articles, her Ph'D is entitled, Postpartum Flourishing: Motherhood as Opportunity for Positive Growth and Self-Development (Columbia University, 2011). Dr. Athan is the founder of KHORA, the Maternal and Reproductive Psychology Lab at Teachers College.
This book talk is co-sponsored by KHORA and Gottesman Libraries. It is the first in a series of three book talks this Fall on matrescence, the "developmental passage where a woman transitions through pre-conception, pregnancy and birth, surrogacy or adoption, to the postnatal period and beyond." (Aurelie Athan, Ph.D., 2016)
Where: 306 Russell / Online
Artivism: The Art of Becoming, with Dan Costello, Monday, 10/27, 4:45-5:45pm
This presentation showcases a new paradigm of personal evolution. It explains how to achieve personal enlightenment to attain self-sovereignty. The foundation of this pathway is to become a guiding light in the world and to embody love as a powerful force in a time of significant global turmoil.
Daniel Costello is an author, professor and clinical therapist specializing in spiritual and psychological modalities grounded in evidence-based practices inspired by Carl Jung. Dan graduated from the Columbia University School of Social Work and is a trained practitioner from The Barbara Brennan School Of Healing. He is a combat veteran who recently retired as the Director of Substance Use Disorders and PTSD Treatment at the Northport VA Medical Center in NY.
Dan is a graduate of the South Oaks Addiction Training Program for Professionals and is currently an adjunct professor in the Adelphi School of Nursing. He has over 30 years of expertise counseling diverse populations in many areas, including anxiety and depression, addiction, PTSD and trauma, suicide prevention, and crisis and family intervention.
Register HERE.
Artivism: The Power of Art for Social Transformation is jointly sponsored by Adelphi University and the Gottesman Libraries. A movement with committed social artivists, Artivism: The Power of Art Social Transformation, grew out of Illuminations of Social Imagination: Learning From Maxine Greene, (Dio Press, 2019), edited by Teachers College alumni Courtney Weida and Carolina Cambronero-Varela, and Dolapo Adeniji-Neill, of Adelphi University.
Where: Online
Book Club: Running from the Mirror, by Howard Schulman, Tuesday, 10/28, 12-1pm
Join a group of enthusiastic readers to discuss great memoirs of relevance to education! Our second book memoir is Running from the Mirror, by Howard Shulman (Boulder, CO : Sandra Jonas Pub. House, 2016), an intimate and inspirational journey of survival and ultimately well-being.
"Just three days after he was born, Howard Shulman contracted an infection that devoured his nose, lips, lower eyelids, and palate, leaving behind a gaping hole. Abandoned at the hospital by his parents, he became a ward of New Jersey under the care of a state-employed surgeon, who experimentally rebuilt his face. Running from the Mirror is the poignant true story of one man's struggle to survive against staggering odds and find his place in the world. Howard gives an unflinching account of growing up a bullied outcast, with no family to officially call his own. Relying on little more than street smarts and grit, he rises from dishwasher to successful entrepreneur. Along the way, a European actress, a schoolteacher, and a fiery Latina help transform his life. Filled with heart-wrenching suffering as well as soul-lifting joy, this memoir is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit." --Publisher's description.
See here for an interview by KUSI-TV Carlos Amezcua with Howard Shulman.
Fall Memoir Book Club is co-sponsored by GSLD Student Success and meets once a month. The first 10 students to register will get a free copy of the book.
Where: 305 Russell
Live Music
The Everett Cafe Music Program sponsors performances by TC student and affiliated musicians. Please contact us if you are interested in playing! We welcome solos, duets, and trios and we are scheduling performances for the Fall.
Nicholas DiMaria Jazz Trio, Thursday, Thursday, 10/2, 6-7pm
Nicholas DiMaria is a trumpeter, teacher, and composer based in New York City. He draws inspiration from multiple genres and art forms in his compositions and is continuously inspired by expressing visual art in a musical medium. His music is described by audiences as introspective, passionate, and eclectic; influenced by jazz, hip-hop, and classical music.
In addition to leading groups at Carnegie Hall, The Northeast Wine and Jazz Festival, The Syracuse Jazz Festival, The Central New York Pride Festival, and restaurants and clubs across New York State, he has performed at The Great New York State Fair, The CNY January Jazz Festival, the Disneyland All-American College Band, and opened for Grammy-Winner Lalah Hathaway. Nicholas is well-adapted to playing with jazz ensembles, wedding bands, and funk groups. He currently holds a weekly performance residency at Oliva Tapas, NYC (Thursdays and Fridays from 6-8pm). Nicholas is also a faculty member at Larchmont Music Academy, where he teaches trumpet and a jazz ensemble. In 2020, he received his Bachelor's in Jazz Arts from Manhattan School of Music where he studied with Scott Wendholt, Ingrid Jensen, Jim McNeely, and Jon Faddis.
Claremont Strings & Ensemble, Wednesday, 10/15, 4-5:30pm
Claremont Strings, our longest-running ensemble, features music for classical strings, from the symphonies of Mozart and Haydn, to well known arias from the operas of Puccini and Bizet. You may hear a selection of continental Viennese waltzes and French cabaret. Musicians of The Claremont Strings Ensemble have performed collectively at Weill Hall, Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall and throughout the Northeast, playing a diverse range of symphonic and chamber music, eclectic jazz, and gypsy swing. Wadsworth Strings, emanating from the Washington Heights area, is a division of Claremont Strings, founded by Vivian Penham, a graduate of the Juilliard School and Columbia University.
Book Displays
Book displays are curated and designed by library staff to share the joy of books and reading, while encouraging greater awareness of available resources and their significance to the Library and College.
Everett Cafe: Teacher Stories, Memoirs, and Reflections
Offering a glimpse into the daily lives of educators, Teacher Stories, Memoirs, and Reflections showcases the joys and struggles of the profession – one which brings out the passion, dedication, and profound impact that teachers have on the lives of their students. Their narratives may spark conversation about critical topics in schooling, while building community and support for the many challenges they face or the accomplishments they share. Often the first year of teaching is the hardest, shown by the prolific number of memoirs in urban settings, especially for the country’s largest public school systems - New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago.
As we welcome new students to their first year at Teachers College, we hope you will be inspired by these educational narratives, some classic, others new, that complement scholarship by lending personal voices with meaningful experiences to the student teacher’s journey that traditionally begins in the classroom.
Where: Everett Cafe
October Staff Picks: A Walk in the Park
“'Step out into the forest. Breathe deeply. How do you feel?' Peter Wohlleben poses this question in The Hidden Life of Trees, highlighted here in this month’s staff picks. It’s a question I like think about when I wander outdoors—whether strolling in a New York City greenspace, hiking in a national park, or sitting in my parents’ backyard garden. Nothing can quite imitate the serenity or adventure of being immersed in nature, but this collection aims to bring some of that outdoor splendor indoors. The works selected showcase a diverse mix of perspectives: great artists, writers, essayists, park designers and historians share their depictions of nature's wonders—and how we interact and connect with them. For those craving to escape to your own oasis—be it tranquil garden or untamed forest—we hope this collection can transport you there."
-- Lauren Young, Library Associate / Reference and Reader Services
-- Kate Scott, Library Associate / Art and Design
Where: Second Floor
Rocket Display: Halloween Treats
In October we showcase spooky stories and bewitching books to usher in the annual celebration of Halloween that occurs on the eve of All Hallows Day and serves to mark remembrance of those who have passed away, but also to popularize horror and the supernatural. They are treat to read throughout the month, before we carve pumpkins, trick or treat, go to a costume party, and feast on candy or Halloween-themed baked goods on October 31st!
Halloween Treats, complete with decorations, is curated by Kate Scott, Library Associate / Art and Design.
Where: Second Floor
Curiosity Cabinets: Timeless Beauty: Selections from the Ellen Walters Avery Collection
Born in Brooklyn, New York, on January 1st, 1861, Ellen Walters Avery was the youngest daughter of Samuel P. and Mary Ogden Avery, and sister to the architect Henry Odgen Avery. Described as modest, retiring, and intellectually gifted, Ellen Walters Avery was a bibliophile with a curious and passionate love of nature and the humanities, especially literature, poetry, music, the classics, and Church history. Her carefully curated collection, comprising 609 titles – many of them multi-volume, exquisitely illustrated and bound – was gifted by her devoted mother to the Library of Teachers College, Columbia University, four years after her untimely death from acute pneumonia on March 25, 1893.
A Catalogue of the Ellen Walters Avery Collection of Books is a delightful glimpse into her taste for literary, historic, and artistic treasures – a window onto a beloved young woman’s aesthetic sensibilities and rich intellect. Many of these works combine disciplines – children’s books with education; natural science with religion, botany with linguistics; etiquette with ancient cultures – while individualism, imagination, and nature are central, suggestive of a Romantic spirit. Miss Avery was also drawn to the science of collecting, private libraries, bookplates, and women’s creative contributions.
Where: Third Floor
Offit Gallery: How Serendipitous: Exploring Art and Architecture, Culture, Human Connections
This book display compliments A Glimpse: Serendipity Across Cultures, an art exhibition in the Offit Gallery. Select books draw upon the history and significance of Chinese and American architecture, from traditional gates and hutong alleyways, to the row and townhouses of New York. While architectural details help set context and provide a partial view, literary genres, such as legendary tales, children’s books, and memoirs, lend creative insight into culture and lived experiences. The final section provides a further look at cultural heritage, cross cultural aspirations, and the integration of American and Chinese values and goals in artistic, social, and political landscapes.
Where: Third Floor
News Displays
Need to keep current, look to the past, teach a topic? The Everett Cafe features daily postings of news from around the world, and also promotes awareness of historical events from an educational context. Be sure to check the Cafe News postings on the library blog.
Banned Books Week, Monday, 10/6
Molly Pitcher Is Born, Monday, 10/13
"Black Thursday" at the New York Stock Exchange, Friday, 10/24
All Hallow's Eve, Friday, 10/31
Exhibits
Educational exhibitions are mounted in partnership with the Teachers College community and others with an interest in displaying unique and innovative educational materials, while also regularly showcasing Teachers College's Historical Art Collections.
The library has several spaces in Russell Hall to exhibit diverse materials, and also features digital and web-based exhibitions when possible.
Select Works from Carol Cade Children's Art: The Artistic Development of Children, Part Two
The Carol Cade Children’s Art Collection comprises 532 mostly drawings and paintings, with some mixed media, created by young artists whose work was collected over decades by Carol Beth Cade, an avid teacher and painter from the South. Children of varying ages made them in family or neighborhood groups. College students asked them to draw pictures of themselves, something they enjoyed, or something they would like to do when they are older.
Cade’s collection presents a charming, comprehensive view of the artistic development of children, one that illustrates key stages of their artistic growth, from Scribbling and Pre-Schematic, to Schematic and Early Realism, through to Pseudo Naturalistic and Decision. In coordination with the Program in Art and Art Education, it was gifted to the Milbank Memorial Library (now Gottesman Libraries) of Teachers College, Columbia University in the early 1990s, building upon children’s art collections as a unique resource in the study and teaching of art.
Portions of the Carol Cade Children’s Art Collection were first shown at Pace University in 1991. Summaries of the artistic stages are drawn from Cade’s own narrative descriptions which include recommended classroom art materials for each stage of development. Cade’s curation lends interesting historical insight into her doctoral research at Teachers College and how the program in Art and Art Education would evolve innovatively in the following decades, with an examination of the role of the senses, emotions, and intellect in artistic development, and of the layered integrations they form over time, and with critical starting points for research.
The Schematic Stage typically begins around the age of 6 or 7, when according to Cade, “the child’s way of drawing settles for a time into a simple geometric style (the ‘schema’) which is considered so charming by adult viewers…. People and objects are drawn with a combination of geometric shapes and straight lines with each child developing his/her own combinations.” While “standard formulas” may appear, -- such as trees, the sun, houses with chimneys, and planets -- chosen colors correspond to common perceptions (blue sky, yellow sun, green tree tops).
“Early Realism” tends to emerge between the ages of 9 and 11, though with gifted young children it can be seen earlier; figures have more “continuous lines”, often with overlapping images, perspective, and shading --rendering drawings more three-dimensional. There is a growing interest in friends outside the family, details of their clothing, social awareness, often indicative of what the children would like to be or do. Hobbies and activities are prevalent, including chess, dance, art and movie making, cheerleading and student government, while some children reflect on fairy tales, magic, and fantasy.
From the ages of 6 through 11, children continue to develop cognitively, physically, and socially, as they gain a greater understanding of concepts, people, and the world around them. They may become more logical and organized in their thinking, while their confidence, self esteem, and friendships grow.
Where: First Floor
When: October 14 - November 25
(Part Three will be shown November 26, 2025 - January 12, 2026).
A Glimpse: Serendipity Across Cultures, by Yutong Chloe Wu
A Glimpse: Serendipity Across Cultures is a project that seeks to honor cultural heritage, while fostering connections across diverse communities. By creating a physical and metaphorical threshold, the installation invites viewers to reflect on the beauty of serendipity, the power of shared memory, and the universal human experience of crossing boundaries.
A Glimpse: Serendipity Across Cultures builds upon Yutong Chloe Wu's previous artwork, A Glimpse which explores the serendipitous connections formed through fleeting glimpses of life behind half-open doors in rural China’s hutong alleys. The work captures the tension between concealment and revelation, memory and destiny, and the profound beauty of shared humanity.
Where: Offit Gallery, Third Floor
When: September 5 - October 17
Ethereal Creations
Delicate, light, airy, fragile, or tenuous in tone, many artworks from the historical collections of Teachers College evoke beauty, grace, and the sublime. From the natural to the “other” world – animals, flowers, landscapes, the elements, fairies, angels, dreams, and states of being are depicted to inspire wonder and awe – of children’s drawings and paintings, art created by students for their courses at Teachers College, and prints by well known artists. Classic pieces invite our aesthetic experience, imagination and memory, and reflections on thinking and perceiving at a time when many artworks challenge the traditional.
Ethereal Creations complements Timeless Beauty: Select Works from the Ellen Walters Avery Collection, on display for the first time in the nearby Curiosity Cabinets. Paired with a beloved young woman’s aesthetic sensibilities and poetic mind, this exhibit draws upon the Ziegfeld Collection of International Children’s Art; Ukrainian Children’s Art Collection; Passow Collection of Israeli Children’s Peace Art; Students of Arthur Wesley Dow Collection; and the Federico Castellon Memorial Print Collection. Miss Avery curated her late nineteenth century interests in the natural sciences and the humanities, joining topics together with fresh delight. So we join art from different decades in the 20th century, offering a glimpse into the ethereal to spark creative learning and appreciation for beauty in similar subjects.
Where: Offit Gallery
When: October 20 - November 14
