Professor explores new avenues for teaching at Goucher

Annalisa Czeczulin knows her life mission is never-ending, and that’s the best part. She loves figuring out how people learn best, but there isn’t a simple, one-size-fits-all answer.

“But that’s the wonder,” she says. “You have those moments where things click together and you find another piece of the puzzle and figure out how to put things together not just for yourself, but for your students.”

A Russian professor at Goucher since 2003, Czeczulin has recently become the director of the Master of Arts in Teaching at Goucher's Welch Center for Graduate and Professional Studies. Her passion for teaching—whether it’s promoting language or helping her peers garner expertise in the classroom—is one of many reasons she earned the AATSEEL Award for Excellence in Teaching at the Post-Secondary Level.

The American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages (AATSEEL) promotes languages by recognizing teachers and professionals working toward that same goal. “It’s nice to be recognized for the effort you’re making and the contribution you’re making for your field,” Czeczulin says. “I was stunned I got this award because it’s a very competitive field.”

Czeczulin has taught students from pre-K to college in some form or another, enabling her to work with a variety of learners at all levels and see the big picture of teaching, she says. In addition to her work at Goucher, Czeczulin has co-organized and hosted the ACTR Olympiada of Spoken Russian semifinals in Maryland for elementary through high school students since 2007.

Now that Czeczulin is settling into her new role at the Welch Center, she has a broader impact on classrooms because her focus is on the teachers, not the students. What she brings to those in the graduate program is her own experience and her knowledge of teaching methodologies. Czeczulin can tell her students what does and doesn’t work, she adds, but their success as teachers will come from their ability to personalize lesson plans.

“It’s like trying to give someone else’s speech or lecture when you haven’t written it. It’s not going to work,” Czeczulin says. “You really have to take into account who your students are, what their backgrounds are, what your own background is, and how you prefer to teach.”