Focus on Pedagogy Karen Weiland, Chair College of Teachers The past year has been an exciting and fruitful year for the school culminating in a successful accreditation visit. Meetings in the College of Teachers have been lively and productive with a look to the future. Beginning with our Long Range Plan, we embarked on a review of our Foreign Language Program to clarify and enhance the goals of the curriculum to be brought to completion in the 2012-13 school year.
If you’ve had the experience of binding a book, knitting a sock, playing a recorder, then you feel that you can build a rocket ship or learn a software program you’ve never touched. It’s not bravado, just a quiet confidence. There is nothing you can’t do. ~ Peter Nitze CEO & President, Martek Biosciences Rudolf Steiner School Alumnus
Discussions in the College of Teachers have focused on the question of what students we can best serve, what services we can provide for a variety of learning differences, and what key elements contribute to a student’s success. We began to look toward improvements in our admissions process as well as the current practices for supporting those already in our student body. Other work of the College of Teachers this past year included the hiring of Elizabeth Reading as our present first grade teacher, clarifying the process of rehiring after a sabbatical, and approving an evaluation process for teachers conducted by our Professional Development Committee. We also approved and supported the extensive research and work of the Compensation Review Committee. In August we hosted a two-day workshop, attended by the full faculty and staff, on consensus decision making with Lysbeth Borie. This workshop, coming to us from the Quaker tradition, has greatly improved our meeting culture with clearer and more timely agendas, facilitated meetings, and a three-step structure to arrive at decisions. With new-found capacities for collegial working, we will continue on the path we forged for ourselves in the past year.
Faculty Kumi Akiyama Kathy Aluia Leah Bartell Lisa Berland Stephen Bloomquist Tudor Bota Ralph Brooks Elinor Brown Kristen Butler Kirsten Carr Lily-Rakia Chandler
Christa Clark Susan Cody Megan Curtis Tara DeNatale Glenn Dickson Christopher Eastburn Andrea Faber Andrew Freeburg Julia Galginaitis Irina Goncharov Karen Graham Anshin Higashibaba
Deb Kunhardt Nan Lawson Wendy Margo Mary Beth Melton Helena Niiva Leah Palumbo Marilyn Pelrine Elizabeth Reading Magnolia Rios Maureen Ryan Jane Sheena Lauren Smith
Catherine Steiner Leslie Svilokos Julia van Daam Paula van den Broek Jeanette Voss Karen Weiland Camille Whitener Brigitta Witteveen Shari Yudis Liaat Zehavi
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Practicing math in First Grade
Studying botany in Fifth Grade
Learning algebra in Eighth Grade