The Evolution of a Teacher

Celebrating Retirement

The Evolution of a Teacher

By Jackie Pisani

It’s no exaggeration to say that Middle School Science Chair Judy Lindsay Bailey ’82, P ’18, ’22 has been at KO most of her life, with 31 of those years as a faculty member. Some of her first memories were as a four-year-old gamboling on the lawn in front of the four houses while her father, the legendary Stew Lindsay, served as a faculty member and later as interim head of school, among other roles. “In my mind, it was a small neighborhood,” she said. “I didn’t realize it was a school.” With a small road running through the campus from the back of the Soby Gym toward the front gates on Kingswood Road, plus the easy familiarity of heading to her dad’s office to write on the chalkboard, it’s easy to see why.

fig.1 fig.2 fig.3

When her dad served as dean of students, Bailey entered the KO Upper School and played field hockey, basketball, and lacrosse. Having a parent work at the school you attend has some perks, but Bailey remembers an instance when her math teacher shared with her father that she scored poorly on a test before she had the opportunity to tell him herself, and that she was sometimes on the receiving end of student’s ire for being reprimanded by her dad. Graduating in 1982, Bailey admits that, at the time, she didn’t appreciate the value of what she had learned at KO. Only upon heading off to Wheaton College to study biology and studio art did Bailey recognize the foundation she had received. She is grateful that she was able to give her own children, Maitland ’18 and Lindsay ’22, the same opportunity at KO. After college, Bailey took a job at Rocky Hill School in Rhode Island, where she taught math and science, and coached in the middle school. Admittedly, Bailey said she was very green as an educator. “I was not a great teacher, and I didn’t know what I was doing,” she said. “I didn’t have good classroom control.” She turned to her father for advice, and he recommended that she observe teachers at the KO Middle School to learn how other teachers taught so she could improve. Eventually, KO offered her a job, and Bailey honed her skills over her 31 years at KO, learning at the knee of master educators like Marie Bernatchez, Dave Emery, Directors of the Middle School Muddy Waters and Ted Levine. Learning from the best, Bailey was awarded the Robert B. Swain III Award given to that continuing teacher in his or her first five years of teaching who inspires students, and she is now a world-class educator and role model for younger teachers. Her other accolades include the Lazear Chair, the Collins Award for Excellence In Teaching, the Joe and Jo-anne Alissi Coaching Award, and most recently, The Founders League Archibald A. Smith III Award for her commitment to coaching. “Judy Bailey is the epitome of what we mean when we talk about loyalty to the school and ‘caring beyond self,’ ” said Associate Director of the Middle School Kathy Dunn. “She is an expert teacher, advisor, and coach, and she works with new members of the faculty to pass along all that she has learned to those who are new to KO. I know that, whichever students are on her class lists or whichever advisees are in her group, she will shepherd the kids through their middle school experience with wisdom and caring. Judy understands middle school

Judy Bailey is the epitome of what we mean when we talk about loyalty to the school and ‘caring beyond self’. She is an expert teacher, advisor, and coach, and she works with new members of the faculty to pass along all that she has learned to those who are new to KO. ”

- Kathy Dunn Associate Director of the Middle School

kids, and she helps them to navigate their lives at school with honesty and empathy by telling them the truth and helping them learn from their mistakes and their victories. I count myself privileged to have had the opportunity to work with her for so many years.” Teachers who teach middle school are a breed apart, and Bailey acknowledges that “you have to be a little bit crazy” to be up to the task. “I love the energy,” she said. “I love the enthusiasm the students have for learning. I love seeing the transition from sixth to eighth grade and see them grow and mature.” Recognizing that middle school can be difficult socially and emotionally, Bailey offers her students unwavering support and promises students that they will come out on the other side. One aspect of her time at KO that she cherishes is witnessing and being part of the evolution of the school’s philosophy about teaching students of this age. When she began her career at KO, she said, the school curriculum was very traditional, teacher-centered, and scripted, with the faculty teaching at the board in the front of the classroom. “As time went on, we realized that’s not what is best for our kids,” she said. “Even the transformation I’ve seen in my own teaching has evolved. It took time. It doesn’t happen overnight. In the mid-90s we were thinking, ‘What are we doing?’ ‘Why are we teaching this way?’ Now I am fully projectbased learning and student-centered. The students are the ones doing the procedures and figuring out what materials they need. In the labs, the students are looking at the data and reading and figuring out what they are learning.” She described a recent Upper Prep project in human biology that brought the students to the Connecticut Science Center to learn what makes an educational exhibit. After reviewing the displays, the students were assigned a biological system to represent in an exhibit form and explain it to their parents. She marvels at her students’ capacity and joy for learning. “Just watching the students engage with their families, being the experts, running through the labs and activities,

and explaining their visuals – that to me was amazing,” she said. “They know their stuff, and they can teach it to other people. The capabilities of our students are extraordinary. If you give them a chance, they can do anything.” Bailey says her job as a teacher is to get her students excited about what they are learning and to make the learning process as engaging as possible, with the outcome that the students understand and master the material. Noting that teachers are never quite certain of the impact they are having on young minds, Bailey recollected a time when she was in the dining hall at Harvard University, and a former KO student approached her and said that she remembered what a virus looked like because of her middle school science class.

“I have no expectation that they will remember everything from my class,” Bailey said. “What I hope they walk away with is learning the skills to keep moving forward as a person and as an individual and to have a love of learning. When there is something that excites you, dig deeper, figure it out, and enjoy it. I hope I’ve instilled in them a love of science.”

Bailey has also been a standout on the KO fields and courts, coaching girls’ varsity lacrosse and assistant coaching girls’ varsity basketball,

with patience, warmth, and expertise to ensure that each player reaches her true potential. Bailey is not ready yet to walk away from KO entirely and plans to continue coaching girls’ varsity lacrosse next year. She hopes to move to Coventry, Conn. with her husband to grow a sprawling vegetable garden, spend time in Nova Scotia where some family members reside, read, collect sea glass, and return to the artwork that she pursued in college. In many respects, Bailey grew up at KO, and KO grew up with her, and if she will pardon the science analogy, she and KO are as intertwined as a Watson and Crick DNA strand.