NOTES FROM
ACADEMIA
A Quarterly Newsletter from the Office of the Assistant Head of School for Academics
LOWER SCHOOL I was walking to lunch during the first full faculty in-service day this August when I heard my name called in cheerful greeting. I turned to see Dr. Mark Martin, with whom I had recently experienced FWCD’s Teacher Induction Program (TIP) for new faculty. Dr. Martin approached, eager to introduce me to Joan Massey, Mar y Kay Varley and Karen Davis, all members of the fourth-grade team. They were jovial and welcomed me warmly. Little did I know exactly what was transpiring. At the core of the FWCD Lower School is the grade-level team structure. When a new classroom teacher enters the Lower School, the team will rally around that person to ease his or her transition. What’s interesting about the fourth-grade team is its unusual demographic makeup. With outstanding veteran teachers like Ms. Varley and Ms. Davis providing guidance, it would be common to bring in a couple of new teachers for them to shape in their
image. Instead, Ms. Massey moved up from second grade, and Dr. Martin joined the School from Hurst-Euless-Bedford ISD. Both, like Ms. Varley and Ms. Davis, have more than 20 years of experience in the classroom. By all professional accounts, without any formal hierarchy, four master teachers democratically sharing authority should have been a disaster. Instead of a battle of egos, however, something quite special has taken place. “We agreed that we would leave egos at the door,” Ms. Varley asserted. “We all looked at it as a brand new start.” Ms. Massey added, “Luckily, we all do have different areas of expertise, so it has come together very well for us”—and for the kids, as well, based on all accounts. Continued page 2
Fall 2014
It is with pleasure that I share the first of what will be a quarterly newsletter highlighting some of the wonderful phenomena I observe around the Fort Worth Country Day campus. Each edition will have a theme that traces through the three divisions. This month’s theme is faculty collaboration. Please understand that the focus on the fourth-grade team in Lower School is but one example of the way all grade-level teams work together, that Robin Willis’s peer leadership in Middle School is but one example of the way our teachers help one another evolve as educators, and that the work of Andréanne Annis and her working group in the Upper School is but one example of the way faculty meet challenges collaboratively. I hope this newsletter gives you a little bit of an insider’s peek into the work of our FWCD faculty. In addition to this print newsletter, be on the lookout for a short video on the website highlighting the contents. You can also follow me on my newly created Twitter, @BradPhilipson, where I’ll try to describe some of what I see when I see it.
Bradley S. Philipson, PhD Assistant Head of School for Academics
When I visited Working Group F in action, Ms. Annis was at her desk, serving as scribe as her computer projected the group’s report on the board. Around the table sat Maggie Philpot (English), Alison Robinson (Spanish), Paula Weatherholt (math), Bruce Quinn (math), and Jon Shipley (computer and creative electives), all workshopping the details of the final report as they sipped the French press coffee Ms. Annis had made for the occasion. They narrowed down their report to what they would present to Mr. Arnold, and, eventually, the faculty. Each teacher was respectful and encouraging of the others’ opinions as they winnowed down their verbiage to a bulleted list of recommendations that they knew would be considered very carefully by their peers. Across the division, for several weeks, similar reports have been prepared. When they are all complete and presented, they will provide a self-generated resource that the faculty can use for
their own professional development and for the betterment of their classes. Though teachers throughout the division have been consulting outside resources, it is this collaborative work that will likely discover the most directly applicable practices and procedures for our unique community.
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