MKA Teachers are Leaders on a National Stage
On October 22, MKA's Director of Technology William Stites was in New York attending Technology and Learning's annual technology forum where he presented on "Acceptable Use Policies and Filtering: What we Should be Doing" and moderated a round table discussion on Social Media. This was followed up by a guest appearance on EdTech Talk's "21st Century Learning" where Stites discussed MKA's 1:1 Laptop Learning Program and its use of the Evernote application.
Three days later, at the New Jersey Association of Independent Schools one-day conference "Teaching in the 21st Century" held at the Lawrenceville School, MKA Director of Educational Technology Jenny Zagariello, together with tri-campus System Technician Steve Frantz, presented "21st Century Skills: Empowering Student Technology Leaders," a session about MKA's student technology leadership program where technology and educational technology staff support the growth of student leaders to promote the effective use of technology as a learning tool throughout the school. At the same conference, Upper School History Department Chair Dr. Louise Maxwell and fellow-department member Gillian Branigan presented "After the AP: Authentic Learning Experience through Historical Research" a workshop on the philosophical and practical components of MKA's rigorous Junior History Thesis project.
Later that week, on the other side of the country, Pre-K-12 Director of Curriculum and Professional Development Karen Newman, together with Upper School history teachers Kerry Verrone and Carol Spencer were in San Francisco attending the CEP's (Character Education Partnership) National Forum on Character Education conference. Newman, together with national character education expert Dr. William Wians, presented "Aiming at Virtue" designed to help teachers empower students to take responsibility for their own learning and development of good character, while Verrone and Spencer presented "Ethics and Leadership: Shaping Identity and Community," that talked about the methods used at MKA to help students assume ownership of their own character development and serve as leaders in the school community.
The fact that these teachers are show-casing MKA's "home grown programs on a national platform is tremendously exciting," notes Upper School Assistant Head of Campus Steve Valentine. Valentine, who has just been nominated to the Editorial Board for the Columbia University Klingenstein Center's Klingbrief publication, was a key member of the team that redesigned the faculty professional development process at MKA, sees the proliferation of faculty as leaders as evidence that the school is becoming a formidable force for innovative teaching and learning. "Our teachers not only work to fulfill MKA's mission to promote their students to become leaders, but also model that behavior themselves. When I heard from a friend of mine who teaches in an independent school in Maryland that his administration had been shown the MKA Trustee Dashboards by a national consultant as an example of effective Board governance, I knew MKA was continuing to extend its influence as a leader in independent school education!"