Summer Professional Development

See what our faculty members have done this summer to expand their knowledge through professional development.

Frank J. Van Atta
Director of Middle and Upper School Music
 
Frank attended the Massachusetts ACDA (American Choral Director's Association) Summer Conference, which is an annual gathering of conductors of choral ensembles from around the Northeast. This year's clinicians were Dr. Betsy Cook Weber and Dr. Mary Goetze. Dr. Cook-Weber is the chair of the Choral Conducting Department at the Moores School of Music at the University of Houston, where she teaches choral conducting classes and serves as director of the world-renown Concert Chorale. Dr. Goetze is Professor Emerita from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where she served as the chair of the Music Education Department, Artistic Director of the Indiana University Children's Choir, and conductor of the International Vocal Ensemble. Both clinicians focused on international music in the choral classroom, connecting this with quality repertoire for both Greenline and May Chorale, as well as Brimmer's Global Connections program.
 
Frank also attended a week-long workshop, iPads in the Music Classroom, with Elizabeth Wooster. They explored a variety of apps for music theory, composition, presentation, and recording. Elizabeth and Frank developed final projects that laid the groundwork for implementation of iPads in general music and performing ensembles from Pre-K through grade 12. 
 
Rona Mattocks
World Languages Department Chair
 
Rona attended a week-long seminar at the Sorbonne in Paris which surveyed the history of the city as seen in literature, art, film, and revisionist historical accounts of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic era. She says, “It was an incredibly engaging series of lectures given by passionate and dynamic professors.”
 
In addition, she embarked on an intensive 4-week course in Icelandic language, history, and culture in Reykjavik, Iceland, in an effort to prepare for her Winterim trip there in March 2014. 
 
Nikki Atkins
Grade 5 teacher
 
Nikki spent a month in England where she visited The Globe Theatre. She saw a play in rehearsal, and she thought the tour was excellent. The trip inspired her to do a lot of reading about the Middle Ages and Renaissance periods, which is the first unit of study in Grade Five.
 
Carl Rapisarda-Vallely
MS/US Theater teacher
 
Carl attended the Broadway Teacher's Workshop in New York City in July along with theater teachers from all over the world. He attended workshops with Broadway directors and choreographers including Tony Award winner Susan Strohman (The Producers). He also attended four Broadway shows and participated in cast talk backs after the performances. 
 
Kelly Neely
Director of Global Studies 
Humanities Dept. Co-Chair
 
Kelly presented in June at the Asia Society Conference in Brooklyn, NY, about service learning and global education. She has been taking an online course through Primary Source called Windows to the Islamic World: Art, Architecture, and Music. Finally, she attended the opening conference at Episcopal High School in Alexandria, VA, with the other teachers in the cohort for the 2014-2015 Teachers of the Future Program, where they focused on blended and online learning and the work they will do in this and other areas throughout the school year. 
 
Carl Rapisarda-Vallely, Kelly Neely, Middle and Upper School Librarian Megan Dolan, and Middle and Upper School Art teacher Kathryn Lee collaborated on an application to participate in the 2014-2015 NAIS 20/20 Global Challenge. If approved, the 8th Grade will be partnered with an international school to help solve one of the 20 global problems identified by the program. The project will cross the humanities and art departments and will provide an opportunity for 8th graders to work with other students from around the globe to help make our world a better place.

Gemma Kevaney
Fourth Grade Teacher

Gemma worked on creating an eSpelling Book for fourth graders using the Book Creator App. This will be the Fourth Grade Spelling Book for the school year that students will use.
Grade Three teacher Hali Hellmuth, Assistant Director of Technology Jennifer Kunkel, Grade Four teacher Ina Patel, and Lower School French teacher Géraldine Naddaff worked (and will continue to) on creating formal benchmarks for technology skills/use in the Lower School. They examined benchmarks established by several other schools (including a technical school) in New England.

History teacher Ted Barker-Hook and Science Department Chair Cecelia Pan learned how to use Folio Collaborative and worked on how best to introduce Folio Collaborative to the faculty and use it for faculty reviews.

Nancy Bradley
Math Department Chair
 
Nancy, along with Math teachers Rupa Houndegla and Pete Slaski, spent four days at WPI at a STEM conference called Applied and Industrial Mathematics Institute for Secondary Teachers. It was a week of lectures by professionals who use math in their professions. Some of the professions included  an actuary, ER doctor, biology research, engineer (working for Toyota and their "Crash Test Dummies"), and an economist. The presenters gave tips on how to help students succeed in math beyond high school.  
 
Pete Slaski
Math teacher
 
In addition to the conference at WPI, Pete attended a two-day workshop at the Boston Convention Center hosted by the American Statistical Association.
 
The first workshop, Meeting Within a Meeting focused on strategies to teach statistical topics in middle school to prepare them for AP Statistics (if they decide to take it). The lecturing professors demonstrated new programs and apps that make the topics more accessible to younger students.
 
For the next workshop, Beyond AP Statistics, four well-renown Statistics professors presented on different topics. All of the material discussed was outside the scope of the AP curriculum. The lectures were given in an attempt to broaden and strengthen the participants view of statistics. There were some great websites and lesson ideas presented.
 
He says, “The workshops were great, and they gave me a few ideas to enhance my AP curriculum this fall.”
 
Sara Murray
First Grade teacher
 
Sara attended the iCore training in June and learned a lot of great techniques to expand and deepen ipad projects and routines in 1st grade.
 
Excited and inspired from attending the NSTA Science Conference in Boston this spring, Molly Serventi-Gleeson and Sara spent a day of professional development in July to write a STEAM curriculum for 1st Grade that they will implement in September.
 
Kristin Wisemiller
Director of Academic Services
 
Kristin attended the interactive two-day workshop, Cutting Edge Reading & Writing Techniques for Teachers. It included information regarding current research findings in the field of literacy instruction. 

The goal of the workshop was to provide participants with knowledge and practice with reading and writing interventions designed for improving the skills of students in elementary and middle school classrooms. Participants gained a broader understanding of how to differentiate instruction effectively for readers and writers in their classrooms, including those whose primary language is not English. Additionally, the workshop provided participants a diagnostic framework for assessing the efficacy of their interventions and planning future instruction. 
 
David Cutler
Director of Writing Center
U.S. History & Journalism Teacher
Technology Integration Specialist
 
David Cutler presented with comic writers, educators and illustrators for a panel discussion at the San Diego Comic Con, titled, "Getting the Most of of Graphic Novels in your Classroom of Library." Cutler, who promotes Reading With Pictures, a non-profit education dedicated to bringing comics into the classroom, spoke about his work with fellow panelist Josh Elder, who writes "Adventures of Superman," "Scibblenauts Unmasked" and other titles for DC Comics. "It's a honor and an unreal experience to be working on change in the classroom with folks whose comics I read as a kid," Cutler said. David wrote an article which was printed in The Atlantic, entitled, "The New Teachers' Aides: Superman and Iron Man."
 
At the San Diego Comic Con, Cutler poses with fellow panelist Jonathan Hennessey, a massively popular and widely acclaimed author of historical graphic novels, including "The Gettysburg Address: A Graphic Adaptation," and "The United States Constitution: A Graphic Adaptation." In the background, Reading With Pictures President and DC Comics writer Josh Elder sneaks in for a smile. 
 
Cutler also helped organize and run professional development training for this year's NAIS-sponsored Teachers of the Future, comprised of 35 of the nation's most talented and creative independent school teachers. Over the three-day event, the group, including newly inducted Teacher of the Future Kelly Neely, learned about how blended and online learning is changing the educational landscape.
 
Bill Jacob
Creative Arts Chair
Director, Creative Arts Diploma Program
 
Bill led a camp for 200 academically talented students, ages 16-19 on the Princeton University campus this summer.

Landon Rose
Band and Music teacher

Landon participated in the Silk Road Ensemble Institute at the Harvard Graduate School of Education along with K-12 teachers, administrators, and teaching artists. The theme was "Passion Driven Learning." Landon says, "And passionate it was! Yo Yo Ma performed with the Ensemble and spoke about the interplay between the arts and learning. It was very inspiring!"
 
Sharin Russell
Director of the Brimmer and May Annual Fund
 
Sharin traveled to Colorado Springs, CO,to attend BOOTCAMP 2014, for independent school Annual Fund leadership giving. It consisted of 3 1/2 days of intensive workshops with independent school fundraisers from around the country. 

Kyla Graves
Middle School Humanities Teacher

Kyle had the opportunity attend Vanderbilt’s Beginning Teachers in Independent Schools Workshop. It was a part of their Peabody Professional Institute series, which brings together professionals from all over the country to work together for a week or more at a time. Kyla says, “Having been in independent schools for eight years, it was an eye opening experience to learn from a teacher's perspective this time around. It was very useful and informative!”

Annabelle Ambrose
Lower School Librarian

Annabelle spent three days at Harvard University with the EdTech Group learning about different apps that the students can use to create projects and share information with other students. 

Ellinor Wareham
Pre-K-3 Math Specialist, Middle School Math

Ellinor did two projects over the summer. First, she was in the group that looked at the e-portfolio. They learned about the capabilities of the program and decided how they wanted the faculty to use the program in the first year. She also met with Cecelia Pan to map out a new honors program for this year. They will be completing a math/science collaborative honors program, which will have four projects (one per quarter) with both math and science components.

Andrew Stattel
Second Grade Teacher

Andrew took three science education courses toward his Master's degree in science education. One course focused on using technology in the classroom. His final project involved flipping a math unit, which he plans on using in his classroom this year. In another class he learned how to teach science using the inquiry model. This class focused on the 5 E Learning Cycle - Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, and Evaluate. This is the format science teachers can use when designing curriculum. It fosters deep understanding of science concepts because it allows students to construct their own understanding. The third class was a physics class focused on the science of motion for elementary students. In this class he learned how to teach concepts such as speed and velocity using the 5 E model.

Lower School Assistant Head Courtney McGuillicuddyCarl Rapisarda VallelyEllinor Wareham, Middle School Science teacher Matthew Skelly, Middle and Upper School Science teacher Bethany ShannonSara Murray, and Géraldine Naddaff attended the iCore workshop in June and came away with new ideas on using the iPad as a complementary learning tool. They learned about apps that will bring exciting new ways for students to be engaged and active participants in the classroom.
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