Faculty Summer Projects and Professional Development News

Hackley faculty were busy this summer expanding their knowledge, exploring new creative directions, gaining degrees here and there, and otherwise stretching themselves personally and professionally to bring that much more to their classrooms this fall.

 

Samere Baraki and Cristina Diaz attended the Collegiate Summer Teaching Institute in New York City, a program designed for new faculty of color in Independent School. The program included student demonstrations and feedback, workshops on writing effective comments and evaluations, mock parent conferences, and a visit to Lawrenceville to meeting with the current cohort of Klingenstein Fellows.

 

Melissa Boviero attended a New York State Association of Independent Schools (NYSAIS) Diversity practitioners conference on June 21 & 22 held in New York City. She also attended the Milton Diversity Conference from July 12-17. She has been using the knowledge and information gained from these conferences to help prepare and plan as she begins her new position as the Middle School diversity coordinator. Orlando Pandolfi also attended the Milton Diversity Conference.

 

Nicole Butterfield attended the Adam Jeffrey Katz Memorial Lecture at Rockefeller University in New York City. In the first session, "Dyslexia and Creativity: Two Sides of the Same Coin", Drs. Bennett and Sally Shaywitz, founders of Yale University Center for Dyslexia and Creativity, presented their recent research and discussed its impact in the classroom as well as on standardized testing. In the second session, Dr. Harold S. Koplewicz, president of the Child Mind Institute, led a conversation with Orlando Bloom about how his dyslexia affected his education and his work as an actor. The lecture made it clear that extra time is critically important to dyslexic students and raised my awareness of the difficulty college and graduate level students face in getting permission for extended time on standardized testing. Orlando Bloom's success is a great example of the connection between dyslexia and creativity, and he spoke about how hard he has had to work throughout his academic and working life because reading is so challenging for him. Nicole particularly appreciated learning about how ADHD and dyslexia may have contributed to Adam Katz's death because his story inspires me to do my utmost on behalf of students who struggle with these and other learning difficulties.

 

Betsy Block continued to work on an on-line course from Madrid on Colloquial Language. She also read Teach Like a Champion, along with a large number of her colleagues from what she hears. She went to several Smart Board Trainings to investigate the technology and begin exploring how it could enhance her instructional methods. To stay up to date and add to her current repertoire, Betsy also saw “a gazillion” Spanish language films. In addition, she, too completed the ADL 'Making Diversity Count' on-line course during the summer.

 

Anne Burns and Mary Funchion attended the Singapore Math Conference. For Anne, it was a terrific opportunity to learn more about the program in more detail both in terms of pedagogy and curricular scope and sequence. For Mary, who had already received intensive training in Singapore Math strategies in 2008, this was an excellent opportunity to hone skills and to keep abreast of current teaching practices. The four day conference provided basic training workshops such as number sense and model drawing, in addition to specific topics such as posing thought provoking questions to promote mathematical understanding and teaching elapsed time to 2nd and 3rd graders. Mary has shared information with her colleagues during pre-school faculty meetings and she looks forward to acting as a resource to them throughout the school year.

Michael Clark attended the annual American Library Association Conference Washington DC in June, learning about youth literature and librarianship and previewing new children’s books and other materials.

Sarah Coble worked on two community art projects in southern Westchester. For more information on her work, read on!

 

Thomas Chin took a course in fashion photography at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in London. He reports, “I left class with new inspirations and feel ready to integrate what I have learned into my own curriculum at Hackley.” To read his story about his experience in London, read on.

 

Bill Davies began as Director of Music at Trinity Episcopal Church in Cliffside Park, NJ in late May. Among the new programs put in place for the current program year is an Jazz Evensong on Halloween, with music provided by Erick Storckman and his group.

 

Dianne Fahy attended the SmartBoard training offered at Hackley to help her prepare to incorporate that technology into her lessons for the 2010-11 year. She also "Math Camp for Middle School Math Teachers" August 23-27. This course, offered by Teacher's College at Columbia University focused on the standards developed by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM). (Borrowing from the brochure here: "Each day the program concentrates on one of the 5 content strands and explores a variety of approaches that address the related process strands. MathCamp instruction models the constructivist approach; participants work in teams to collaborate on activities that they will, in turn, facilitate in their own classrooms." In addition, Dianne is completing the ADL "A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE® Institute: Making Diversity Count" on-line course. This course provides participants with a variety of readings and vignettes concerning diversity issues, prompting them to gauge how they might respond when presented with these kinds of situations in their day-to-day practice as educators.

 

Jennifer Fertig completed tests and prerequisites for a Master’s degree in Spanish and ESL, earning a merit scholarship. She begins and advanced Spanish language course designed for teaching younger learners this fall at Manhattanville College

Jared Fishman spent the summer rewriting the sixth grade history coursepack. utilizing his own educational background in medieval studies, Jared has revised the text to tell the story of the Middle Ages to entice the curiosity of our sixth graders. The new coursepack will be complete with pictures, diagrams, maps, and vocabulary lists.

 

Steve Fitzpatrick attended a one-week conference in Boston on “The Future of Learning” sponsored by Harvard University. There he participated in fascinating discussions and mini-courses revolving around the themes of 1) globalization, 2) digital revolution, and 3) advances in neuroscience and the implications for education and learning. Steve found the experience to be a really thought-provoking and exciting week and is looking to continue integrating technology into his classroom instruction. In addition, Steve participated in the SmartBoard training seminar and is eager to start working with the smartboards.

Mary Funchion and Sue Harmon spent the summer designing and formalizing the new Lower School Assistant Teacher program, which they have launched and will coordinate this year.

Anne Gatschet worked all summer on sustainability education. She led a Casten trip to Brazil to study forest restoration and biodiversity (among other things). She worked with the Green Schools Coalition of Westchester on Strategic Planning and Communications committees, and the k-12 guide for greening your school.

 

Melanie Howard and Jessica Muenz spent three days at the Churchill School attending a course on Preventing Academic Failure. Taught by Eileen Perlman, co-author of the program, the course focused on handwriting, teaching of the daily lesson (including spelling and reading), independent workshops and demo lessons. They received PAR-part 1 certification.

 

 
In June, Erica Jablon attended the Gordon School Institute on Multicultural Practice, where she worked with Lower and Middle School teachers committed to multicultural practice. She reports, “The dialogues that shaped our unit-planning were really thoughtful and each unit was enriched by the insights and inspiration. “

 

Cyndy Jean attended a Diversity Workshop in June on "Advancing the Work" held at the Calhoun School in Manhattan. She also traveled to Musha, Rwanda with the Rwandan Education Assistance Program (REAP) where she both taught and engaged in teacher training. She also began training in the SIOP (Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol) model for teaching ESL.

 

Bria Judkins attended the American Library Association annual conference in Washington, DC where she attended meetings, toured other independent school libraries, heard some amazing speakers including Toni Morrison and John Grisham, and visited publisher exhibits to learn about the new hot books for the fall. She also participated in the Making Diversity Count online course where she learned new strategies to deal with name-calling, bullying, and bias. Finally, she participated in several webinars for school librarians on various topics but her favorite was "Teen Book Buzz" that highlighted books that will be published this fall.

 

Seth Karpinski did a Pre-Residency Program under Pediatric Anesthesiology at Columbia Presbyterian in which he was in the OR everyday observing surgeries and assisting the Anesthesiologists. He reports, “I got to see everything from open heart surgery to brain surgery. I also got to sit in with Dr. Zitsman and Dr. Gallin, both parents of Hackley Alumni.”

 

Andy King attended the NYSAIS Workshop for Diversity Practitioners at the Calhoun School in June.

 

Danny Lawrence attended the 4-day National Conference of the American Association of Teachers of French (AATF) and attended workshops, demonstrations and lectures relating to developments in pedagogy and resources for teaching Modern Languages at all levels. The formal sessions and informal contact with colleagues from all the USA and from several foreign countries were both invaluable.

 

Dan Lipin’s PhD thesis was accepted in June 2010. The title of the thesis was “Processing of Virus-Like Particles” and it included four first author papers that had been published in international science journals.

 

Jared Liu attended two workshops this summer. The first, sponsored by the Association of Independent School Admissions Professional (AISAP), was a good reminder of best practices and current thinking in the field of admissions, retention, and enrollment management for independent schools. The real benefit, however, was being able to network with peers from many of the other ISAAGNY schools. Even though we strive to enroll many of the same students, there was a tremendous amount of collegiality and sharing predicated on the notion of helping families to find the best fit. The second conference Jared attended was sponsored by The Association of Boarding Schools (TABS), and was for new boarding school faculty.

 

Laura Pearle contributed two chapters to the book Independent School Libraries: Perspectives on Excellence, published this past June. This is the first book offering insights into best practices in library services for school communities since 1985. She wrote about the importance of creating a network of colleagues both within and outside the school community, and how to survive the evaluation for accreditation process.

 

Adrianne Pierce and Rowena Fenstermacher participated in a webinar about our new (we used it for the first time last year) textbook Latin for the New Millennium. The webinar was given by a teacher who has used the book for a couple of years, and the other participants were all Latin teachers; lots of great ideas were exchanged!

 

Merideth Maddox was enrolled in an online workshop called "Making Diversity Count." The workshop gave her ideas for integrating diversity into her theatre classes and provided solutions of how to deal with issues like name-calling, bullying and insensitivity. Merideth also spent time this summer modifying last year's drama curriculum and creating two new classes for 2010-2011: All Things Theatrical and Acting Intensive. Merideth was able to try out some new lesson plans and keep her teaching skills fresh by teaching classes for the Theatre Arts Center's teen summer program in Queens.

 

Dan McElroy went to the AP ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE workshop offered at the Taft Education Institute this summer. Because AP Environmental Science is a multi-disciplinary course that incorporates elements from a number science disciplines, the laboratory component of the workshop focused on how to complement the classroom through appropriate laboratory and field investigations. These diverse field investigations stressed scientific principles and analysis through first-hand studies of and visits to local ecosystems, forestry management areas, air pollution monitoring, water quality analysis, sewage treatment, bioassays, and soil examination, capped landfill methane reclamation/electricity generation and a freshwater stream study. During this workshop Dan also reviewed the APES exams and their scoring, with special focus placed on this year's essays, and was able to develop an appropriate APES syllabus to satisfy the College Board audit process.


Carole Pugliese spent June immersed in the study of watercolor painting at the Hudson River Valley Art Workshops near Albany. Her travels in July took her to Seattle, Oregon and then San Francisco where each stop included painting, and many museum visits.

Beth Retzloff spent the summer preparing a new writing workshop model for her kindergarten class, reading a number of professional books to support her efforts. She also worked on her third quilt inspired by the art of Eric Carle.

Susan Reynolds participated in a week-long program at Teachers’ College to develop skills, strategies and practices for teaching reading. Using a balanced literacy approach, the Teachers’ College Reading and Writing Project helps educators refine and improve their methods, to ensure that their students become strong, attentive and responsive readers and writers.

Roy Sheldon, while in Beijing with the Hackley China Trip in June and July, met with members of the Beijing Culture and Language University and the Confucius Institute to review Chinese language curriculum and study materials recommended by both groups. He also visited the campus of the Beijing National Day School and met with the principal, along with Danny Lawrence and Wen Hui, to discuss a possible sister school relationship as well as a National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS)-sponsored student-to-student cooperative program involving water usage and sustainability. In addition, Roy commenced ADL's "Making Diversity Count," a 15-hour online course, in August.

 

Alona Scott completed coursework at the Klingenstein Center at Columbia University’s Teacher’s College towards a Masters in Private School Leadership. During the summer she, along with 46 other independent school administrators, studied Educational Law, Instructional Leadership (better described as Human Learning), Leadership of Private Schools, Marketing, and best practices in school finance and professional evaluation in a seminar entitled “Professional Practices.” The program challenged participants to study leadership practices by evaluating case studies from independent schools and simultaneously learn from other industries, notably business, through readings and “field trips” to Google and Whole Foods. Alona returns to Hackley with the energy that results from a summer of new ideas and rich conversations.

 

Jessica Spates returned to Venezuela to immerse herself for two weeks in Spanish language and Venezuelan culture. She revisited the same family who had hosted her during her time abroad in high school. While in Venezuela Jessica not only sharpened her Spanish skills but took the opportunity to collect quite a bit of realia, objects and articles that she will use in her classroom.

 

Erick Storckman played “a lot of great music with many wonderful musicians this summer. Some of the highlights were being a headliner with my jazz quartet on the Med Flory Jazz and Blues Festival in my hometown of Logansport, Indiana, and playing a concert with my quartet at the Indy Fringe Theater in Indianapolis.” Closer to home, Erick also on the Jazz Forum Arts Summer Concert Series with The Brooklyn Big Band, and was a featured soloist on a new album recorded this summer by The Hudson Valley Swing Exchange.

 

Oshon Temple took an online course, Foundations of Education, through Pace University during the first half of the summer. He also volunteered at the Breakthrough New York summer program, observing classes with professor Ainsley Adams of Pace University, and offering feedback on how the organization could better serve its students. Breakthrough New York is a year-round enrichment program for motivated middle-school students with limited educational opportunities; it aims to prepare students for the rigors of high school and college.

Lesley Turton completed a course in 20th Century United States History at Westchester Community College. She also did Smartboard Training at Hackley.

Heidi Wolfgang spent the summer researching materials and planning curriculum for the new lower school orchestra program. She interviewed string teachers about their approach to young beginners and attended six string orchestra performances by young students to get a feel for what is possible with this age group. She also spent time learning basic emergency string instrument repair techniques from a noted violin luthier to allow her to assist students with equipment problems and minimize lost instructional time. Heidi also spent time learning about and volunteering on an organic CSA farm.

 

Andrew Ying defended his dissertation, “A rigorous analysis of the applicability of kinematical X-ray diffraction to nanostructure characterization,” on July 16th, and passed with distinction (top 10). His work demonstrated the accuracy and precision with which current X-ray diffraction techniques can be used to characterize nano-scale materials. These results were used to analyze data from a novel instrument at a national laboratory (Argonne National Lab) and also for examining metals used in the future generation computer chips in collaboration with research scientists at the IBM Yorktown research center.