The O’Neal Quarterly •
•
Through nomination of its members, the Sandhills Branch of the English Speaking Union awarded O’Neal Upper School English Teacher Henry Hamilton a scholarship to participate in the ESU’s Teachers Learning Abroad program this summer. He used this scholarship to study literature at the University of Edinburgh. The two week long course he took was called “Text and Context: Modernism” in which he got the chance to read and study modernist novels, stories, and poems from authors such as T.S. Eliot, Virginia Woolf, James Joyce, and Ford Madox Ford. Middle School English Teacher Matt McMurray spent two weeks at Columbia University Teachers College Reading and Writing Program. There he worked with other teachers from all across the USA, exploring a workshop method of teaching both reading and writing. He will be using his training in his classroom and will also be a part of the team implementing Writer’s Workshop from K-8.
•
•
Middle School math teachers participated in an online course from Stanford University and are implementing what they learned about mathematical mindset in their classrooms. Lower School teachers attended a writing workshop to learn a new writing curriculum, subsequently called “Writer’s Workshop” as well as a one day conference on the new “Bridges in Math” Program also being used this year.
•
O’Neal Summer Fun ended with its highest number of registrations to record at 521 filled by 250 different campers.
•
The first day of school was Tuesday, August 15th with 462 students filling the desks.
•
O’Neal welcomes a tremendous 121 new students this year.
•
A second PreK3 class has been added.
SUMMER 2017 •
Assistants have been placed in all four PreK classrooms.
•
Mini assemblies, including the Lower School song, announcements, and the Pledge of Allegiance are held in the Lower School every morning for students in grades 1-5, before they go to class.
•
The Upper School has redesigned its advisory program where the students’ advisor covers social guidance, communication, emotional intelligence, academic success and inclusiveness by way of reviewing the eight keys to success, current events, student-led discussions/activities and surveys.