NCS Faculty Beyond the Classroom

Here’s a sample of recent professional development activities undertaken by NCS faculty and staff. Unless otherwise indicated, the activity took place in summer 2012.

Dance Program Director Vladimir Angelov participated in master dance classes, workshops, and seminars held at the American Dance Festival at Duke University, a national conference presenting the latest in dance education methodology.

Senior Chaplain the Rev. Stephen Arbogast was one of two presenters of an October webinar, “An Interfaith Framework for Teaching World Religions,” presented by the National Association of Episcopal Schools.

French Teacher Sylvia Bouvier is rewriting sections of the Barron’s French SAT subject test book; Barron’s asked her to review the 2012 (second) edition. Barron’s contacted Sylvia because they were looking for schools where students did well on the French SAT subject test.

Assistant Head for Advancement Jenny Chiang is serving as Campaigns Chairs for the forthcoming CASE (Council for Advancement and Support of Education)/NAIS (National Association of independent Schools) Conference, taking place in January 2013 in Washington, DC.

Science Teachers Nancy Ehrlich and Jennifer Lear attended a five-day workshop “Geoscience on the Big Island of Hawaii,” where they studied volcanic activity and landforms, geology, and the island’s unique habitat.

Teaching and Learning Center Director Alison Gammage addressed the diagnostic use of the ERB in a session entitled “Why Don’t Some Students Test Well?” at the ERB Conference in October.

Mathematics Teacher Susan Karpatkin took an online class on the flipped classroom with the Online School for Girls and is using the technique in one class this year.

Social Sciences Teacher Lydia Lewis has been working for several years with a national committee charged with updating the National Geography Standards. Entitled, “Geography for Life,” the standards have now been published.

Instructional Media Coordinator James Lucas attended a three-day Flip Classroom Conference in Chicago. He also attended a November forum at Harvard University for educators sharing their experiences with integrating iPads into the academic classroom.

In November Religious Studies Teacher Justin Maaia was a panelist for “Self-Reflection and a Trusting Relationship: The Indispensable Conditions for Spiritual Development in Youth,” one of the sessions at the annual conference of National Association of Episcopal Schools.

Lower School English Teacher April McDowell attended the Teachers College, Columbia University summer institutes on teaching reading and writing.

Science Teacher Mollie Morneau was one of a small group of educators advising the National Science Teachers Association about developing an e-newsletter on early childhood science education.

English Teacher Jessica North Macie served on NCS’s team at the Georgetown Day School Equity Collaborative. She is currently one of the organizers of the 2013 Middle School Diversity and Leadership Conference to be held at Sandy Spring in January 2013. NCS students are on the student planning team for this conference.

Major Gifts Director Elizabeth Owens attended the Women's Global Leadership Celebration at Smith College in October.

Associate Director of Admission Molly Price participated in the Stanley King Counseling Institute, a week-long seminar on counseling skills for those who work with students. The King Institute, now in its 50th year, draws independent school faculty from around the world.

Social Sciences Teacher Andrew Riely had an article published in Appalachia Journal in Spring 2012 about the history of Dean’s Long Pond Camp in Maine.

Information Technology Specialist Steven Rentz attended The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE®) Conference in San Diego.

Lena Sadowitz, assistant director of the Teaching and Learning Center, attended a workshop, “Applying Brain Research to Education: Practical Strategies,” presented by Dr. Tina Payne Bryson, co-author of The Whole-Brain Child.

Social Sciences Teacher David Sahr attended a week-long Gilder-Lehrman seminar at Stanford University, attended by 25 teachers from across the country. With Stanford Law School Dean Larry Kramer as lecturer, they learned about history-making Supreme Court cases and exchanged ideas about the best way to teach Court cases.

Latin Teacher Kate Sheeler was awarded a Woodcock Faculty Grant and a leave of absence in May-June 2012 so that she could travel to Jerusalem to translate a collection of Medieval Latin travel diaries. These pilgrims traveled between Gaza and Hebron (6th – 16th century CE) visiting and worship at various sites. Sheeler will present a paper about her research at the Annual Meeting of the American Schools of Oriental Research in November.

Drama Teacher Chris Snipe attended a two-week course, "Teaching Shakespeare through Performance," at Shakespeare's Globe in London. He was selected as one of 20 teachers/directors from across the US to participate.

English Department Chair Tony Speranza participated in a workshop at Harvard University called “Innovation by Design,” offered by Learning and the Brain©.

Chinese Teacher Rae Weeks participated in the following: a Chinese AP Class workshop; “Chinese Language Teaching for K-12 in the U.S.,” hosted by the Confucius Institute at University of Maryland; and in October, the 2012 Annual Regional Conference of the Chinese Language Teachers Association.

Art Department Chair Jennifer Zwelling, who is one of the Mitre advisors, attended the Herff-Jones Yearbook Conference for Northern Virginia. She also participated in an AIMS Art Share in Baltimore this November.

This school year (2102-2013), three NCS pairings of seasoned and beginning teachers are participating in the Independent Education Beginning Teachers’ Institute, four full-day sessions about classroom management, instructional techniques, inclusion, best practices for communicating with students and parents, and technology tools. Participants include: Middle School Director Jody Soja and Community Service Director Emily Fetting; Social Sciences Teacher Mary DiQuinzio and Assistant Coach/Teaching Intern Melisa Krnjaic ‘07; and English Teachers Paige Blumer and Courtney Centeno.