Professional Development

• Middle School mathematics teachers Ginna Ezernack, Jennifer Rorabaugh, and Becky Green attended the Georgia Council of Teachers of Mathematics (GCTM) Yearly Conference and studied topics such as developing reading skills in math, teaching vocabulary and technical reading, integrating mathematics with other areas of study, teaching elements of geometry to middle schoolers, and moving middle schoolers from concrete to abstract thinking with fractions and decimals.

• English Department Head, Jeff Stachura, recently attended the American Studies Association’s annual meeting in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Jeff was part of a panel that included teachers from The Asheville School, Oyster River High School, and The Howard School. Their presentation, “Visions and Revisions: How to Build a High School American Studies Program” was sponsored by the ASA’s K-16 collaboration committee giving Jeff an opportunity to spend time working with high school teachers and college educators from across the country.

• Melton Weekley and Preschool teachers Libby Carson, Beth West, Deena Eberhardt, Ellen Cunningham, and Cindy Boerma attended the popular Handwriting Without Tears workshop, a handwriting program based on developmentally appropriate practices using a multisensory approach. Teachers learned about the developmental stages of the handwriting process, techniques to incorporate into their teaching, and the most effective ways to correct handwriting errors.

• Middle School Language Arts teachers Alice Ann Colley and Margaret Wellborn attended a workshop in Atlanta on the importance and craft of reading aloud to Middle School students led by nationally renowned author and speaker Dr. Jim Trelease. Because this presentation was part of his last public tour before his retirement, it has caused much interest across the country among educators.

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Congratulations to Mary Kline and Jeri Burnette, winners of a 2008-09 mini-grant sponsored by the Oconee Chamber Education Foundation. Their project will involve placing signs which identify various plants along Athens Academy's cross country greenway.

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Congratulations to Mike Callinan for being selected by the Teacher Services Committee of the Georgia Independent School Association (GISA) to receive a Loveday Foundation Summer Study Grant in the amount of $750. He plans pursue robotics education this summer at Carnegie Mellon University's National Robotics Engineer Center in Pittsburgh, PA.

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Congratulations to the following recipients of this year’s Pursuit of Excellence Awards!

Cindy Boerma and Deena Eberhardt will publish a book of quotations collected over a period of nearly twenty years of working with four- and five-year-old students at Athens Academy. Along with the memorable—and, don’t worry, anonymous—quotations will be illustrations and entertaining commentary provided by the teachers themselves.

Patsy Leamon will continue to develop her passion for writing French children’s stories set on and around the Athens Academy campus. While these stories are certainly an important part of her role as a teacher—and are already well known to her current and former students—the opportunity to purchase a new camera and explore opportunities to enhance the format in which she presents her stories will, as Patsy puts it, “make me [and others] more observant of particulars and refresh the imagination.”

Andy Simmonds will revisit several locations, friends, and former colleagues in Nigeria, where he served as a teacher in the Peace Corps in the mid-1960s. Returning to the sites of such memorable experiences, he feels, will provide time for reflection and re-dedication to the goals he established during the formative years of his vocation.

Patty Keith will follow two of her passions—great food and organic gardening—during a one-week workshop this summer at The Swannanoa School of Culinary Arts in North Carolina. Working on an organic farm, she will learn from chefs from all over the world about what it takes to be a good gardener and a good cook.

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Upper School Spanish teacher John Maddox presented a paper entitled “The Centaur in the Garden: The Narrated Body,” at the Kentucky Foreign Language Conference in Lexington, Kentucky, on April 19. It dealt with Moacyr Scliar’s novel on immigrant identity along the Brazilian-Argentine border, specifically how the centaur metaphor is used to express the joys and hardships of growing up as a misunderstood “half-breed” cowpoke. While Mr. Maddox is neither a centaur nor a cowpoke, he did attend lectures and panel discussions on language pedagogy, linguistics, literature, and culture relating to Spain and Latin America. Presenters were graduate students and professors from universities around the world. He also met fellow teachers and renowned poets. Who knew Kentucky would be such a great place to learn Spanish?

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Mrs. Jean Petrovs, media center assistant since 2000 and mother of Jeff ’02, was recently named the 2007 Volunteer of the Year by the Georgia Association of Museums and Galleries (GAMG). When she is not assisting students and teachers in Athens Academy’s Middle/Upper School media center, Mrs. Petrovs spends many hours each week volunteering as a docent at the Georgia Museum of Art. At GAMG’s Annual Convention held recently in Columbus, GA, she was honored for “devoting countless hours and unbounded creativity in magically inspiring audiences, fellow docents, and staff” throughout her twelve years of service to the Georgia Museum of Art. In addition to leading creative and thought-provoking tours for all age groups and interests, she is also committed to developing her skills and those of others by participating regularly in continuing education opportunities and playing an active role in the training of new docents.

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In early January, Dr. Anna Scott of Athens Academy’s Upper School biology department was selected to present a paper at the International Association for Science Teacher Education (ASTE) Meeting in St. Louis, Missouri. ASTE promotes support and leadership for anyone involved in the professional development of science teachers, and provides a forum for the dissemination of the latest research available in the effective teaching of science from elementary to the college level.

Dr. Scott’s paper was titled, “Using the Video Analysis Tool (VAT) to Prompt Critical Reflection in Student Teachers.” In her presentation she demonstrated the use of the VAT and described her current research which seeks to promote the development of teachers whose practice is in line with their goals for and philosophy of teaching. Dr. Scott found that student teachers who are able to watch video of their own and others’ teaching aided by the cutting edge technology the VAT provided are more likely to recognize discrepancies between what they outline as important in their teaching and their actual practice.

The Video Analysis Tool was developed by Dr. Art Recesso and the Learning Performance Support Lab at UGA using a grant from the Georgia Department of Education, with the aim of becoming a tool to help teachers make decisions regarding their teaching practices informed with evidence. It allows for video to be real-time or post-event upload. Once video is uploaded to VAT, it can be easily chunked into clips, and then viewed through a variety of lenses or rubrics. Dr. Scott’s students view video using the Layered Commentary Lens she developed, and also the NSTA teacher preparation standards. For more information please see the LPSL website at http://lpsl.coe.uga.edu/

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Mrs. Caroline Ridlehuber recently received the 2007 Leadership in Literacy Award, presented by the Georgia Branch of The International Dyslexia Association (IDAGA). Mrs. Ridlehuber was honored at the IDAGA annual conference in Atlanta in February.

Mrs. Ridlehuber joined the Athens Academy faculty in 1972 and has served in many leadership roles as a language arts teacher, Middle School Director, Director of Curriculum and Instruction, and currently as Academic Dean (grades PK-6). Her love of reading and her keen mission of literacy have driven her work. Throughout her career she has sought ways to enhance reading instruction and identify struggling readers, creating a culture where reading is valued and enjoyed.

The Leadership in Literacy Award honors educators who have “significantly improved adolescent literacy at his/her middle or high school; supported early intervention programs that have led to measured success at his/her school or school district; creatively engaged parents in school/home cooperative ventures to support early literacy; and supported excellent teacher training and professional development that has led to significant gains in student reading achievement in his/her school district.”

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