Watkinson’s Head of School Teri Schrader regularly asserts that the true definition of being a progressive school is that you regularly make progress on how you deliver on your mission. One way that Watkinson does this is by annually offering faculty the opportunity to apply for summer Curriculum Development Grants. Working in cooperation with and explicitly endorsed by their department and division head, full- or part-time faculty members who intend to redesign a unit(s) of study in an existing course or who are developing a new course are encouraged to apply.
This year, 12 faculty members were awarded grants in order to create or redesign the following:
- Anna Alferi: redesign 8th-grade Shakespeare Unit and Upper School Globalization course
- Melissa Choleva: redesign Calculus
- Stacy Donovan: create Acting and Dramatic Literature
- Thomas Kothe: redesign Individualism
- Chris Kozey: two new Spanish 5/6 electives including Spanish Topics – American Geographies and Spanish Topics – Spanish Spoken Here
- Jean Kracke: create Robotics unit
- Dave Kroch: redesign Philosophy
- Erin McNamee: redesign Social Studies 6
- Jena McNerney: redesign 7th, 8th, and Upper School 3D Art
- Megan Milas: redesign 7th- and 8th-grade Science courses
- Rob Thomas: create 11/12 music elective
- Marcy Webb: redesign Spanish 6
This week, during our preparatory faculty meetings, these teachers will share their new thinking at Curriculum Roundtables, allowing teachers to connect over one another’s material and to surface feedback on this new work. Head of Upper School Ryan Reese adds, “Providing a mechanism for our talented faculty to reassess their best work keeps Watkinson’s courses relevant and meaningful to our students. When teachers are passionate and engaged, so are their students. We are excited to hear about all the work that these talented faculty put in over the summer.”
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