May 27, 2024
Elementary educator Abby Brockway ’24 chases ‘light bulb moments’
By Michael Hagan ’15, ’19G
Abby Brockway ’24 graduated summa cum laude with a degree in elementary and special education in May 2024, but she always has been a teacher.
As a child in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, she and her friends would pretend that their playrooms were classrooms. She was almost always the teacher and took the role seriously. She was an inquisitive girl eager to share the fruits of her inquiry and wonder with others.
“My grandfather was a fifth-grade teacher. Decades after retiring, his former students still approach him at the grocery store or message him on Facebook to share how he’s impacted their lives for the better. I strive to be like him. He is the kindest, warmest individual and my forever role model as a teacher,” Brockway said.
Brockway loves her home in the Garden State, where she has worked summer jobs at the Jersey shore since high school, but college was an opportunity to experience a different environment.
“I love home, but it’s already home. It was important to me to study somewhere else and make it home,” Brockway said.
She was methodical in her search, prioritizing three criteria. She wanted a strong and reputable academic program in education, a broad curriculum that would satisfy her natural curiosity, and the opportunity to study abroad, something she was told would be impossible in many education programs because of their requirements.
When she learned that Providence makes it possible for its aspiring teachers to study in Florence, Italy, and Belfast, Northern Ireland, Brockway knew PC was the right choice.
For their first two years, PC students study in the Development of Western Civilization Program, better known as Civ. Many assigned texts are read in translation. Thinking about the translation of ideas dovetailed with Brockway’s academic and professional interest in language acquisition.
“Studying the ways ideas develop and change over time, how humanity has engaged questions and confronted challenges — I couldn’t get enough,” she said. “If something piques your interest, keep exploring, keep digging. That’s my mantra.”
Brockway pursues a career of facilitating moments of breakthrough and synthesis for students largely because of the joy she experiences in such moments.
“There’s so much joy in learning. It’s the best feeling when the light bulb in your mind switches on. I seek that. I chase light bulb moments,” she said.
Civ introduced her to topics in history, philosophy, and theology through art and literature. In the spirit of digging deeper, she decided to minor in history, where she enjoyed research-intensive courses.
“I’d get lost in the library stacks and databases. I’d always look for notes and references like breadcrumbs leading to deeper knowledge,” she said.
Her introductory course taught historiography — philosophies and methods of history. At PC, this is accomplished through application to a specific historical event or period. Brockway’s professor, Steven Carl Smith, Ph.D., associate professor of history, introduced students to his specialization: the history of the early American Republic considered through primary source documents, often newspapers. One was a transcribed toast given by Aaron Burr (whom non-historians might first recognize as a character in the musical Hamilton).
“In the toast, Burr said, ‘Mene mene tekel upharsin.’ He was quoting the famous writing on the wall from the Book of Daniel, which warned the king, ‘You have been weighed and found wanting,’” Brockway said. “Civ is a glimpse into cultural contexts that have shaped imaginations for centuries, millennia even. If I hadn’t been exposed to the Bible in Civ, then I wouldn’t have understood what Burr meant. Classes at PC always end up intersecting, whether in content or methods.”
Brockway spent a semester in Florence studying the Italian education system, including the thought and practices of Maria Montessori, originator of the Montessori philosophy of education, which emphasizes self-direction and nurturing curiosity. Brockway learned how the Montessori model was co-opted by the National Fascist Party of Italy under dictator Benito Mussolini. A tool for learning was abused as a tool for indoctrination.
“It’s important to see how things made for good can be used for evil,” Brockway said.
It was a practical application of philosophical ethics and moral theology discussed in Civ and other courses.
Brockway joined The Cowl student newspaper, PCTV, and the social media ambassadors program. In social media work especially, she thought deeply about the content and volume of information children process daily in an era of tablets and smart phones. Many educators are pessimistic about the impact of social media on learning. Brockway prefers to adapt to rather than dismiss it.
“Coach Kim English always says, ‘If you don’t evolve, you die,’” Brockway said, quoting the head coach of Friars men’s basketball. “We need to understand the ways students receive information. There is a constant tension between old and new ways of teaching and learning. Educators must navigate that tension, not ignore it.”
Brockway admires Coach English, women’s basketball head coach Erin Batth, and other coaches and athletes in Friars NCAA Division I athletics. Men’s basketball games at the Amica Mutual Pavilion in downtown Providence during her sophomore year were an exciting aspect of the lifting of pandemic-era restrictions. Brockway described it as being like a second beginning at PC in the best of ways.
“I close my eyes, and I can feel the energy. I can hear the crowd cheering in the stands and sneakers skidding on the court. Celebrating on the court when the team clinched the 2022 BIG EAST Championship is something I’ll never forget,” she said. “It was our bounce back from the pandemic, and we bounced high.”
As an educator, Brockway draws professional inspiration from several professors, including Catherine Keating, Ph.D., assistant professor of special education, whose respect for students kept Brockway motivated even at difficult times.
“You are all wonderful, and you all look especially great today,” Keating would say — a kind pick-me-up for the hard-working and oft-tired student-teachers.
Even more meaningful was Keating’s appeal to divine providence at work in their budding careers.
“You are doing exactly what you are meant to do. You are doing God’s work,” Keating repeated often.
Brockway studied the two decades between 1918 and 1939 in the Civ colloquium “Between the Wars” with Darra Mulderry, Ph.D., associate director of the Center for Engaged Learning, who advises students seeking prestigious fellowships and scholarships and teaches history. Mulderry introduced Brockway to primary and secondary sources that detailed global upheaval and its impact on society and taught her to listen actively and deeply.
“Dr. Mulderry was an inspiring model of everything I’ve learned about respect for students,” Brockway said.
She corresponded with Mulderry and other faculty while studying abroad, sending photos of objects and places she learned about in history classes.
Lynne Ryan, Ph.D., professor of education, kept Brockway apprised of the latest research in instruction and educational leadership. Anthony Rodriguez, Ph.D., associate professor of education, supported her when the roof literally caved in at her student-teaching placement and the school pivoted to distance learning.
Brockway savored PC’s traditions, including Senior Ring Weekend. She intends to wear her class ring to graduate school and into classrooms of her own. She will begin studies toward a master’s degree in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) at the Boston University Wheelock College of Education and Human Development in the fall.
“I’m very sad to leave Providence. But I know that somewhere, right now, there is a girl who mirrors me circa 2020, anxiously looking forward to her first year as a Friar and studying to become a teacher. She has drive. She has passion. At Providence College, she will follow where that leads alongside excellent scholars who are wonderful people,” Brockway said.
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