February 6, 2013
This weekend, The Independent School of Winchester is privileged to host local and national education and business experts for our Re-envisioning High School event. Building on the foundation of ISW’s elementary and middle school, the group is charged with creating a model for ISW’s progressive high school program, which will open Fall 2014.
The group includes ISW Board members, who are responsible for charting the long term trajectory of our school, as well as many of our fabulous teachers who are in the trenches every day–inventing and often reinventing our program. We have professors who are leading the charge toward experiential, hands-on learning in subjects from math to music. We have people with experience in the business world, in theater, in science education, and in school administration.
It promises to be an exciting weekend. Stay tuned for more details!
Curious about who is attending? Check out the list!
Our Facilitator:
Lynne D. Myavec is well into her third decade of working in schools – the great majority of those years spent in independent schools in North Carolina, Massachusetts, Missouri, Michigan and Pennsylvania; she has taught grades 1-11 and served in administrative roles for grades PreK-12. While her academic background and classroom experiences have been largely in the sciences (pre-med) and English, she has enjoyed work in social studies and math, as well. Lynne has twice served as Assistant Head of School (Community School in St. Louis and University Liggett School in Grosse Pointe, Michigan), allowing her to gain a perspective on the academic, physical and social-emotional development of children from their early childhood years to college entrance. Lynne is currently serving as Middle School Head at The Agnes Irwin School in Philadelphia; she is the very proud mother of adult twins and housemother to five high school girls from China.
Presenters:
Bob McDonald has worked in business, technology, and education for over 20 years. He taught at an alternative high school in Baltimore and later became Chair of the History Department at the prestigious Cranbrook Schools in Michigan. Bob has been involved in educational technology since the early 1990s–wiring classrooms, bringing the internet to students, and beta-testing interactive technologies. Most recently, he has worked for Moodlerooms and Kaltura, organizations that provide educational technology to colleges, universities, and corporations worldwide. Bob earned a BBA in finance from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and an MLA from Loyola University Maryland. He is married to Claire McDonald, and together they live with their three daughters, all ISW students, in Gainesboro.
Claire McDonald, Ph.D. is ISW’s Founding Head of School and the architect of ISW’s innovative structure. Claire’s entire adult life has been spent working with students, families and schools. She has worked in independent schools in Maryland, Michigan and Virginia, co-founded two non-profits, consulted on college placement, and taught history and economics to students of all ages. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the College of William and Mary, Claire holds a doctorate in economics and brings to the retreat many years experience in high school administration. She served as the Dean of Students at The Bryn Mawr School in Baltimore, Head of the Upper School at University Liggett in Grosse Pointe, MI, and College Counseling Consultant at Cranbrook Schools. Claire is married to Bob McDonald and is the mother of their three daughters, all of whom attend ISW.
Tom Murdock holds a BA in English from Princeton University. For 15 years he engaged students as a classroom teacher, a boarding school adviser, a wilderness expedition leader, and an English department Chair at Cranbrook Schools as well as St. Paul’s School. He has also served as administrator of a number of writing and art programs. Tom is Co-founder of Moodlerooms, an organization that provides Moodle, an open source learning management system, to schools, universities and corporations worldwide. He is currently VP of Marketing. Tom and his wife, Faith Shearin, have a daughter who attends ISW.
Participants:
Charles Todd Apple is an 11 year veteran of the Air Force and Air National Guard and a graduate of the University of Maryland University College with a BS in Management Studies. Over the past 25 years, he has lived in numerous countries and has been a director and participant in community theater all over the world. In 2005, Todd had the honor of being the PK-5th grade music teacher and the middle and high school drama and music teacher for two years at the International School of Panama. After Panama, Todd dedicated 4 years as a Science, Technology, Engineering and Math instructor for 5th grade with the Department of Defense Starbase program both in West Virginia and Hawaii. Since 2008, Todd and his wife, Theresa, have run their own youth nonprofit, Apple Creative Theater, focusing on theater by children 10-18 years old. He and his wife, Theresa, have two children who both attend Admiral Byrd Middle School.
Laura Champe Mitchell is the Co-Director of The Meadow School, a private, progressive preschool and elementary school located on a small suburban microfarm in the close-in suburbs of metro DC. The Meadow School uses arts and environmental science as its primary contexts for its project and inquiry approach to learning. Laura’s career has always included direct or indirect connection to the world of education, from her early years as a high school teacher for the Close Up Foundation to many years spent in the world of adult education and training, to her current role co-founding and managing all aspects of running a school. Laura has a BA from William and Mary. Laura, her husband, and two sons (who both attend the Meadow School), live in Annandale, Virginia.
Brigitte DeHaven graduated from the University of Maryland Eastern Shore with a BA in music education and math education. She has worked in education in a variety of roles–classroom teacher, piano/vocal instructor, choral/theatre director and homeschooler–for more than twenty years. Brigitte is ISW’s Math Coordinator and Performing Arts Director. Brigitte lives in Cross Junction with her husband, John Britto, and their daughter, who is an ISW Middle School student.
Erin Gilbert earned a BA in Elementary Education from Fairmont State University, an MA in Special Education from West Virginia University, and a Virginia teaching license. She has worked as a teacher in many school settings as well as after-school and summer learning programs. Erin has also held several education leadership positions, including director of professional development at The National Summer Learning Association at Johns Hopkins University, Lead English teacher at a local middle school, and Site Coordinator for Energy Express. She currently teaches Upper Elementary Humanities, serves as Director of Summer Programs, is embarking on a new grant-writing position at the school. She lives with her husband and young daughter in Winchester.
Kate Gregori joined ISW’s Board of Directors in 2012. She has been working with non-profits for many years. Kate leads ISW’s development efforts, and she pioneered Clues and Blues in the Fall of 2012. She also volunteers with several local charities and civic groups and served as the Board President and Co-Founder of the Stillbrave Childhood Cancer Foundation. She currently resides in Winchester with her partner, Brendan McGowan, and their three children. Their son attends Kindergarten at ISW.
Rebecca Lloyd graduated from the College of William and Mary with a BS in geology. Becky has taught students of all ages, and she brings to ISW a background rich in hands-on, experiential learning. She served as a program presenter at Blandy Experimental Farms and at Oak Hart Farms, and she has worked in secondary schools teaching a wide variety of science classes. Becky teaches Middle School and Kindergarten science at ISW. Becky and her husband reside with their daughter, an ISW Kindergartner, in Inwood.
Susan Nyberg is the Chair of ISW’s Board of Directors. In addition to leading the Board, she also leads our marketing and external relations efforts. She holds a B.A. in International Studies from the University of Evansville and a Master’s in higher education administration from the University of Nevada at Las Vegas. Susan’s career has focused on education–from college admissions to continuing education to career development. As an ISW parent/teacher, Susan coaches Destination Imagination. She and her husband, Kurt Nyberg, have a daughter in ISW’s Middle School.
Bill Old’s involvement with education began almost sixty years ago with a job as a camp counselor in New Hampshire. He ultimately became the camp director of Kabeyun, a residential camp for boys. After graduating from college, Bill began teaching elementary school at Potomac School in McLean, VA. In 1968, he became headmaster of The Hill School, Middleburg, VA. He subsequently became headmaster of The Episcopal Day School, Jackson, Tennessee and then Powhatan School in Boyce, VA. In 1985, he left education and worked in the financial services industry as a financial advisor until his retirement in 2007. Since retirement he has returned to working with children as a swimming instructor with the City of Winchester. Most recently he has been running a swimming program for children at ISW. Bill holds a B.A. degree in English from the Virginia Military Institute and a Master of the Arts of Teaching degree from the University of Memphis.
Diane Sheehey holds a BA in International Relations from Tufts University and a JD from Hastings College of the Law. She worked for the Federal Judicial Center in Washington, D.C. before joining the Judge Advocate General’s Corps of the US Army. She freelanced as a legal writer while raising her three daughters and then made a career switch to teaching in 2003. Diane teaches Humanities and coordinates the Middle School program at ISW. Diane and her husband, Matthew Page Jones, MD, live with their daughters, one of whom is an ISW Middle School student, on a small working farm in Clarke County.
Stephanie Standerfer is currently an Associate Professor of Music Education as well as the Coordinator of Conservatory Assessment at the Shenandoah University Conservatory. She has given national presentations for the American Educational Research Association, the National Association for Music Education, the Society for Music Teacher Education, and the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards as well as other division and state conferences. Her research is published in several national journals. She received a Bachelor of Music Education from the University of Colorado in Boulder and taught in public schools for nine years. She also holds Master of Education and Doctor of Philosophy degrees from the University of Virginia’s Curry School of Education specializing in the Social Foundations of Education. While at UVa, she worked for the Thomas Jefferson Center for Educational Reform with Dr. Daniel Duke, and the National Center for Gifted and Talented with Drs. Carolyn Callahan and Carol Tomlinson.
Corrine Taylor earned a B.A. in economics from the College of William and Mary and a Master’s degree and Doctorate, also in economics, from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In 1998, she joined the faculty at Wellesley College, and for the last twelve years she has directed Wellesley’s Quantitative Reasoning Program. She served as President of the National Numeracy Network from 2007-2011. Professor Taylor has led QR workshops, given invited lectures and keynote addresses, and served as a consultant to college and universities that are developing new QR initiatives. She has also led professional development workshops for secondary school teachers who wish to employ a QR approach in their classrooms.