Hi, I'm Darla Mallein, a hometown girl and proud graduate of Emporia State University (BSE 1980; MS 1994). I graduated from Kansas State University in August of 2003 with a doctorate in Curriculum and Instruction. As an assistant professor in the Social Sciences department, I am responsible for teaching the Introduction to Teaching Secondary Social Studies course and the Secondary Social Studies Education Methods course, supervising student teachers, and advising all of the BSE majors in our department. As the social studies methods instructor, one of my main goals is to provide my students with the knowledge and skills they need to meet the needs of the diverse learners in their classrooms. I'm also trying to “create” teachers who will break the stereotypical mold of the social studies teacher who only lectures and/or shows videos to his or her students on a daily basis.

In addition to my undergraduate program duties, I am also the Director of the Master of Arts in Teaching Social Sciences program and serve on the Council for Teacher Education and the Council on Advanced Programs. On the state level, I have served two terms as president of the Kansas Council for the Social Studies and am currently on their state board and in charge of their website (www.kcss.info). I also belong to several professional organizations such as the Association of Teacher Educators (ATE), Kansas Association of Teacher Educators (KATE), and the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS).

My scholarship activities include the publication of A Handbook of Activities for Secondary Social Studies Methods by Allyn and Bacon in December 2006. This handbook is a compilation of the hands-on activities I have used in my Intro to Teaching Social Studies and Teaching Secondary Social Studies Methods courses. I also conduct workshops on how to implement the theory of multiple intelligences into the social studies classroom, hands-on activities for social studies classrooms, and vocabulary strategies for any classroom. In addition to the workshops, I have also presented at the Association of Teacher Educators and the National Council for the Social Studies national conferences. This past year I have served as a scholar consultant for Teacher Curriculum Press’s Government Alive! project. I am currently working on a professional development project with teachers who completed my master’s level graduate course this past summer. I will be visiting their classrooms this Fall to observe them implementing some of the strategies they learned in my summer school class.

My background in education includes twenty years of experience in the public schools: two years teaching 7th and 8th grade Language Arts and Social Studies at Americus Elementary School; four years teaching 8-12 English at LeRoy High School; one year teaching 9-11th grade English at Emporia High School; and thirteen years teaching 8th grade social studies at Emporia Middle School. In addition to being a Class sponsor, I also sponsored extracurricular activities such as cheerleaders, Student Council, school plays, and yearbook and newspaper staffs. However of all the extracurricular activities I sponsored, I am most proud of starting the Future Educators of America club at Emporia Middle School with Dr. Nancy Smith, elementary education professor at ESU and Dr. Kirsten Skarstaad, former secondary education professor at ESU. I also enjoyed co-sponsoring trips for middle school students with Ann Eldridge, former 7th grade social studies teacher at Emporia Middle School, to Washington, D.C., Boston, and New York City.

During my twenty year public school career, I was very fortunate to receive fourteen classroom grants that enabled me to purchase a variety of art supplies and historical costumes to help bring history to life in my classroom. In addition to being awarded classroom grants, I was the recipient of several teaching awards: 1996 Kansas Jaycees Outstanding Young Educator, 1997 Kansas Master Teacher, 1998 Kansas Teacher of the Year, 1998 finalist for National Teacher of the Year, 1998 Walmart Teacher of the Year, and the 2000 Emporia Area Chamber of Commerce Golden Apple Award. I was also the 1995 Outstanding Recent Graduate of ESU Teachers College as well as the Fall 2003 Outstanding Graduate of Kansas State University's College of Education.

On the college level, my awards include being recognized as one of the recipients of the 2007 Liberal Arts and Sciences Outstanding Teaching Award, the “You Make a Difference Award” in November 2005, and a Who’s Who in Teaching award.

While I enjoyed my time in the public schools, I always had the desire to help train future teachers, so in 2001, I quit my job at the middle school and enrolled in summer school at K-State. That same summer, I was offered my current job at ESU on a part-time basis. I've always felt like that job offer was a sign that I was meant to be a social studies methods instructor at ESU, a job that is challenging but very rewarding. Fortunately, I was able to complete my doctorate in 22 months. My dissertation was on the benefits and challenges of completing a Teacher Work Sample during the student teaching field experience.

On a personal level, I am married to Mike Mallein and have two sons, Brady and Lucas. While spare time is a precious commodity for a university professor, whenever I get the chance I love to read.

My office phone number is 620-341-5567, and my email address is dmallein@emporia.edu

Last Updated September 20, 2007