Inspiring Minds THE FACULTY OF THE BALDWIN SCHOOL
FACULTY fac facts FACTS ulty
%
77
hold advanced degrees:
15
% hold a PhD
by the numbers
Faculty/student ratio:
Lower School: Middle School: Upper School:
62
%
hold a master's degree Diversity:
Average years experience
12
1/9 1/8 1/9
15PEOPLE of %
COLOR
20
%
Over
100
Workshops Attended
of our faculty are in supporting roles such as librarians, learning specialists and counselors
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Every day, The Baldwin School faculty inspire our girls, providing a top-tier education while also feeding their passions and sparking their love of learning. Experts in girls’ education, our teachers maximize each student’s experience through a personalized and research-based approach to how girls learn best, for our youngest learners in Pre-Kindergarten through our ready-to-take-on-the-world Seniors. Take for example, our 20th century literature elective, where each girl studies a Baldwin student from that era – digging through the School’s curated archive of primary materials to understand and write about a historical period, seen through the eyes of a fellow Baldwin girl. Or the biology class when our students learn anatomy through the hands-on study of skeletons and bone fragments, building their forensic science skills along the way. Or in the Lower School DREAM Lab®, when we introduce our girls to female race car drivers who help our students practice, first-hand, the engineering and science of their professions, opening up the hood of their race cars for our girls to explore the engine and other equipment. These are just a few examples of how our faculty bring their classrooms and subjects to life. They teach our girls to be curious about the world around them, to follow their passions and take risks and to be kind and compassionate members of any community. Very special educators fill Baldwin’s classrooms and labs. I hope you enjoy the following stories of their exemplary work and are inspired by our faculty’s passion for every Baldwin girl’s learning.
Warm Regards, Marisa Porges ’96, PhD Head of School
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LAURA BLANKENSHIP, PhD (P ’17) Dean of Academic Affairs Years Teaching: 28 Years at Baldwin: 9 BA, Rhodes College MA, University of Arkansas PhD, University of Arkansas
Laura Blankenship came to Baldwin from Bryn Mawr College where she was an Instructional Technologist and she single-handedly started Baldwin’s Computer Science department. Since inception, it has grown into a vibrant and integral part of Baldwin’s Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) commitment and provides critical foundational skills for girls interested in coding, programming, web design, application development and creating user-centric technology that works. Girls are taught the concepts and constructs of computer design and how to apply various computer languages as they evolve. In an ever-changing field of study, a firm understanding of foundational technological knowledge is crucial. Laura has a deep-rooted passion to help girls in technology. For those students who feel daunted by learning computer science, she applies the same advice she would give to an athlete or musician: the way to improve is to keep at it, develop your skills and practice tirelessly.
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As Dean of Academic Affairs, Laura’s focus is
Laura recalls being the only woman in her college computer science classes, so she knows the importance of technical skills and that confidence is necessary for the classrooms and workplaces of the future.
applying big-picture thinking to curriculum development for the entire school. External reviews of every department have been revelatory about the arc of academic programming, and Laura is helping faculty connect curriculum across grades and subjects. Through open communication, cross-curricular collaboration and sharing insights, the entire faculty is able to develop and maintain the best possible academic experience for students.
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PETER GREENHALGH Grade 3 Teacher Years Teaching: 11 Years at Baldwin: 5 BA, Gettysburg College MEd, Cabrini College
Third grade teachers Kathy Gates and Peter Greenhalgh encourage their students to work hard, have fun and be passionate about learning in a collaborative environment. Their classrooms are brimming with busy and energetic girls learning math, reading and social studies. In 2016, Kathy was recognized with Baldwin’s Reed Fellowship Award and used the funds to celebrate the National Parks’ Centennial by visiting multiple parks, including The Grand Canyon and The Petrified Forest. Upon her return, she developed a National Parks program that enhances the Grade 3 curriculum on the 50 states. One year later, Peter was recognized with Baldwin’s Agnes and Sophie Dallas Irwin Fund, and he used the funds to visit even more National Parks so he could enhance the program.
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KATHY GATES Grade 3 Teacher Years Teaching: 33 Years at Baldwin: 28 BS, West Chester University MS, West Chester University
Kathy and Peter encourage students to work cooperatively to infuse prior knowledge with new concepts. Their girls work together to solve problems and create meaningful projects. As part of the Grade 3 National Parks Project, students are sworn in as Junior Park Rangers by fellow Middle School Baldwin teacher Bridget Doherty - who just so happens to be a National Park Ranger. Each girl is assigned a state to research as well as a National Park that is located in her state. She writes to a park ranger asking for information and favorite park stories, researches her park and then designs a “Visitor Center� for a National Park Fair held at school. Both Kathy and Peter value teamwork, for themselves and their students, and begin each year with several team-building activities to help students build a sense of community. Their passion and commitment to collaboration establishes a caring environment that values all perspectives and opinions in the pursuit of academic and social growth.
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ANDRE TEIXEIRA Chair of Visual Arts Lower School Art Instructor Years Teaching: 9 Years at Baldwin: 6 BA, Holy Family University MA, Arcadia University
Andre Teixeira’s goal is to help young students find their creative voices and build connections between the arts and other core subjects. His pedagogy embraces the notion that visual and performing arts are the concrete images and sounds of the past and present, and he believes that understanding the arts and how they relate to past and present cultures compliments and completes a child’s education. Andre includes a variety of mediums in his instruction. A clay-firing kiln for the Lower School studio was recently added that provides Lower School girls the opportunity to work with sculpture as part of their art program. A highlight of the year is the collaboration between grades to create props and scenery for the Lower School play. As art field trips are also vital in building cultural knowledge and art appreciation, the Grade 5 trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City is the perfect companion to their humanities studies on Egyptian art, culture and mummification.
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Andre believes that children are naturally curious and highly observant. The arts are full of beauty and wonder, giving students ample opportunity to practice observation, appreciation and awareness, and Andre works to help his students train their minds to continue these skills into adulthood.
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Anne-Mette believes the 5th grade year to be one of great transformation for Baldwin girls—a year in which they truly begin to develop a sense of sisterhood with one another and start to understand their role as citizens of the larger world.
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ANNE-METTE HANSELL (P ’03) Grade 5 Humanities Teacher Years Teaching: 19 Years at Baldwin: 17 N. Zahles Seminarium teaching degree, Denmark MEd, Eastern University
Anne-Mette Hansell teaches the 5th grade humanities course. This integrated language arts and social studies program covers ancient civilizations using a combined approach of studying history and literature. One of the most impactful projects in her classroom is a class trip to a naturalization ceremony in a federal courtroom under the judgeship of a Baldwin alumna’s mother. Her students prepare a choral reading of a poem about unique American holidays and perform for nearly 100 newly minted American citizens. This profoundly moving experience provides a platform for learning about other countries and cultures, understanding how and why naturalization processes happen and gives our students a back stage pass to a federal judge’s chambers. In a year of tremendous transition, Anne-Mette’s steady guidance and focus on creative freedom is key in helping Baldwin girls find and use their academic voices and assume greater personal responsibility. Whether it’s allowing them to select their own seats in class, walk to specials unattended or introducing assembly guests, 5th grade students learn to develop social interaction competencies. Even the smallest aspects contribute to their maturation as Baldwin girls and these leadership opportunities provide a foundation for the greater freedoms, responsibilities and privileges in Middle School.
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ANGELA BENSINGER Performing Arts Department Chair Lower School Music Teacher Director, Upper School Vocal Ensemble Director, Grade 3-5 Chorus Years Teaching: 28 Years at Baldwin: 28 BS, Indiana University of Pennsylvania MA, Boston University
Angela Bensinger brings music alive to Baldwin’s Lower School students. On any given day she can be found teaching a variety of music skills: singing, playing instruments, reading music, ear training, movement, composing, improvising and participating in ensemble work. Her musical tutelage is often in collaboration with classroom teachers on specific topics or subjects. For example, for the Grade 2 unit on Africa, Angela teaches the girls African songs and games, and introduces students to a variety of instruments from Africa. This collaboration is also evident in the Kindergarten unit about Mexico, the Grade 1 unit about France and the Grade 3 unit about Colonial American life.
Angela believes that the Performing Arts are valuable to the development of the whole child because they improve learning and promote skills important to their academics and life in general. The arts provide opportunities for the students to build confidence, solve problems, express their emotions and creativity, collaborate with others and contribute to something bigger than themselves.
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Angela integrates music into grade level curriculum to further the girls’ understanding and interest in the topics they study.
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Erin Addis’s Grade 7 English class is bustling with blossoming writers. She strives to help girls become powerful, insightful and confident in their work. One of her signature projects is the Digital Writing Portfolio. Students create an online website at the beginning of the year where they store all their most meaningful pieces. This work includes required writing from Erin’s English class but can also include salient pieces that represent writing from various academic disciplines. Girls create a goal sheet and reflect on each assignment and revise former pieces, so that by the end of the year, their portfolio is robust.
Students create a media essay that answers the question, “How have I changed as a writer over the course of this year?” Their “evidence” comes directly from their own comments and writing produced over the year.
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ERIN ADDIS Middle School English Teacher Director, Upper School Writing Center Years Teaching: 11 Years at Baldwin: 7 BA, Trinity College MA, Middlebury College
This arduous project typically results in “aha moments� as students analyze their strengths and weaknesses as writers.This review empowers them to truthfully reflect on what they do well and what they can still work on in the years to come, which pushes their metacognitive understanding to new heights. Erin also oversees our Upper School Writing Center which provides writing support for all Upper School students at any stage of the writing process - from initial brainstorming, to thesis outlines to final revisions. A central focus of the program is the creation of peer tutors. This peer-to-peer support is emblematic of the Baldwin commitment to service and teamwork, and benefits all participants in the process.
GABBIE ÁLVAREZ-SPYCHALSKI (P ’20, ’27) Middle School Spanish Teacher Middle School Black Student Union Advisor Middle School Diversity & Equity Co-Chair Dean, Grade 7 Years Teaching: 13 Years at Baldwin: 6 BA, The Ohio State University MEd, The Ohio State University
Gabbie Álvarez-Spychalski brings her passion for teaching to Baldwin Spanish students with the larger aim of creating cultural bridges.
In addition to learning Spanish, she ensures students explore many different Latino cultures and gain an understanding of cultural nuances, and she assists students to become empathetic global leaders. She believes that an educator’s role is not to impose certain ideas or values onto their students, but to ask thought-provoking questions in an academic space and allow them to think critically and analyze ideas of their own.
Gabbie’s classroom is a fun and interactive place. Favorite highlights of the year include cooking (and eating) tostones and other traditional Puerto Rican foods, guest speakers from different Spanish-speaking countries, Salsa and Bachata dance lessons and performing Spanish skits and puppet shows.
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Gabbie leads Middle School Spanish immersion trips to various locations, most recently to San Antonio, TX, where she integrates service projects with learning Spanish.
As the Middle School Black Student Union advisor, Gabbie helps her students bring awareness about issues relevant to students of color at Baldwin and in society at-large. The club is open to Baldwin girls who identify as students of color as well as students who wish to engage in conversations about the experiences of people of color. Gabbie plays a critical role in creating a safe and thoughtful space for discussions around topics stemming from historical and current events.
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Maggie Harper Epstein encourages her science students to be bold risk-takers. MAGGIE HARPER EPSTEIN (P ’31) Science Department Chair Earth and Environmental Science Teacher Years Teaching: 16 Years at Baldwin: 3 BA, New York University MEd, CUNY Brooklyn College
Her classroom is an encouraging place to ask questions and form hypotheses, to question existing data and to develop critical thinking skills. She emphasizes the processes involved in conducting scientific research and employs a variety of texts in her curriculum, including articles, scholarly journal entries, documentary pieces, podcasts and more. Maggie keeps both a lab and a lecture space at Baldwin, and concentrates her units on the exploration of real world problems. She structures her year so that there is the flexibility to dig deeper into topics that students feel passionate about. For example, her unit on water evolved into a study of the impact of plastic water bottles on our planet. Students studied how plastics are manufactured, tested the safety and quality of the water in them and delved into their overall environmental impact. The conclusion of this unit resulted in the installation of a water bottle filling fountain right outside her classroom.
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Maggie believes that the all-girls’ education experience at Baldwin produces young women who are empowered to be inquisitive, articulate and informed, and who become their most genuine selves in the process.
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As the Grade 8 Dean, Matt’s number one priority is to give students opportunities to lead in a hands-on capacity. He empowers student leaders to step up with greater responsibilities, to seek input from peers and administration and make informed and bold choices for their grade. His steady guidance is critical as the Grade 8 girls ready themselves for Upper School.
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Teaching has been history teacher Matthew Bunn’s lifelong passion, and he brings a spirit of researchdriven creativity to the Baldwin community. MATTHEW BUNN, PhD Middle and Upper School History Teacher Dean, Grade 8 Years Teaching: 4 Years at Baldwin: 4 BA, Dartmouth College MA, University of Alabama PhD, The University of Texas at Austin
Baldwin’s block scheduling gives students the time to dig deeply into history topics and allows them to expand their study as their curiosity sparks. Matt approaches complicated material by using a compare and contrast pedagogical model—an ingenious paradigm with powerful results. Covering 5,000 years of human history in one year is no easy feat, but by dividing the curriculum into several distinct themes, students are able to analyze similarities and differences between two cultures. For example, in the Knowledge theme, students study Science and Philosophy in China and Greece. By finding the parallels and divergences between the beliefs of Confucius and Plato, students learn more than just history—they learn how to understand history as critical thinkers.
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Kathy England believes that it is the culture of Baldwin that allows for individual girls to have the freedom to be confident and display their best selves. KATHLEEN M. ENGLAND, PhD Physical Education Coordinator Grade 9 Advisor
By highlighting the importance
Years Teaching: 37 Years at Baldwin: 16 BS, Kent State University MA, University of Iowa PhD, The Ohio State University
of personal fitness and good nutrition, she builds knowledge in her students that will last a lifetime. Kathy’s approach to Physical Education is truly cross-curricular. She works closely with teachers from the Lower School to integrate relevant physical activities with academic course work. For example, the Kindergartener’s study of Mexico ties directly to gym class where they learn the steps of a traditional Mexican folk dance, which they perform for their parents. Kathy offers creative, current and flexible curriculum to Middle and Upper School students who have many activities to choose from for PE, including her popular Yoga Pilates class. As a coach, she strives to see her students soar as athletes and also as compassionate and caring teammates. In her coaching, she trains girls in high-level strategy and technique, and emphasizes personal character development in team interactions. Kathy believes that Baldwin’s PE and sports programs are an excellent extension of the School’s mission of developing talented girls into accomplished women, and is proud to be part of her students’ lives from PreK to their senior year.
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Kathy sees deep value in instilling students with the tools they need for lifelong wellness, and it is her goal that girls find joy in physical fitness and activity.
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As Director of Libraries at Baldwin, Lisa López-Carickhoff plays a key role in creating and sustaining a school culture of curiosity and excitement around learning. Beginning in Pre-K and extending all the way
Lisa sees Baldwin as a truly remarkable place — one where students revel in the joy of learning and thrive on the challenges put before them.
through Grade 12, the Libraries support and enrich Baldwin’s rigorous academic program, with a dual focus on research and literacy.
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Lisa and her team work closely with the academic departments to deliver learning experiences that challenge students to connect key concepts and content to the real work of research, centering on primary sources. Students are taught to infuse technological research in their learning by utilizing the collegiate-level resources available to them. Lisa has partnered with the colleges and universities local to Baldwin to develop a program whereby Baldwin girls are able to borrow resources from their rich collections.
Each division at Baldwin – Lower, Middle, Upper – has its own welcoming space
LISA LÓPEZ-CARICKHOFF Director of Libraries and Information Services Years Teaching: 15 Years at Baldwin: 7 BA, Haverford College MA, Drexel University
and at least one dedicated librarian who is an expert for girls at each particular stage. Whether it’s weekly story times and lessons that build upon the classroom curriculum from Pre-K and Kindergarten, author visits where Lower School girls meet the authors they are reading, promoting interdisciplinary collaboration through thoughtful interaction with Middle School teachers, or promoting and supporting the use of electronic resources as tools for Upper School girls, Lisa and her team are promoting a love of learning and of reading through creative ideas, programs and activities.
MIRA RAMCHANDANI Middle and Upper School Jewelry Teacher Years Teaching: 7 Teaching at Baldwin: 5 BFA, Pratt Institute MFA, Temple University, Tyler School of Art
Mira Ramchandani’s work as a Jewelry Teacher in the Arts program is exciting and ever-evolving. Proud to be part of an Arts team full of dedicated, talented artists and teachers, Mira brings technical expertise, artistic vision and a can-do spirit of problem solving to her students. By providing students with technical skills, they are then able to realize their own artistic visions in her classroom. Mira recounts a student who told her that she was interested in training to be a surgeon. The student articulated her love for jewelry class perfectly: “I want to work in jewelry because I need to have good focus, work well under pressure and be detail-oriented and steady with my hands.” Mira’s program is a superb compliment to academic achievement at Baldwin. One of Mira’s favorite jewelry projects is based on Gustav Klimt’s work. Middle School students learn about Klimt, explore his paintings, examine his gold leafing technique and artistic process and apply what they have learned to the construction of jewelry. Students begin by laying a coat of crushed glass onto metal sheets, which are heated in a kiln. This produces a glossy glass piece to which students add gold leaf details. The results are a stunning and beautiful enameled piece of jewelry.
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Mira instills a passion and love of art in her students. A deep respect and fondness for artistic expression that spans time periods and media helps to create students who are culturally well-rounded—a vital component for social and intellectual engagement.
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Fred’s students often tackle emotionally and intellectually difficult material together, and he has been impressed at how Baldwin girls treat one another with positive, decent, friendly, inclusive and caring attitudes.
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FREDERICK KOUNTZ (P ’29) Upper School History Teacher Dean, Grade 11 Years Teaching: 11 Years at Baldwin: 7 BA, CUNY Brooklyn College MA, CUNY Brooklyn College
Fred Kountz believes that his role as a history teacher is teaching students how to approach new material, how to analyze a text in an informed way and how to ask the right questions. His emphasis is preparing Baldwin girls to become college-level scholars in any field. He crafts his classes so that primary sources drive every project. For example, when students learn about the history of slavery in the United States, they use slave narratives from the Federal Writer's Project to explore the daily lives of slaves in the late antebellum period.
Students in Fred’s class can expect to write intense research papers where they apply some aspect of creative research. Working in close collaboration with Baldwin’s award-winning Library and staff, students have access to the same databases utilized by colleges and universities. It is the norm that the top papers turned in by Baldwin Upper School girls are of the same quality of senior year college papers.
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LINDSAY DAVIS Upper School Chemistry Teacher Years Teaching: 17 years Years at Baldwin:Â 6 years Double BA, Washington University in St. Louis MA, Virginia Commonwealth University
Lindsay Davis believes that a good teacher can bring any topic alive, and her chemistry class is often a game changer for Baldwin girls. Central to Lindsay’s pedagogy is the laboratory, and Baldwin Upper School girls get a lot of time to perform experiments—nearly 20 per year. A favorite is the flame test lab. Students explore how different chemicals emit various colors on the light spectrum, and execute exciting, safe and interactive independent experiments. Authentic and appropriate hands-on learning enables students to move into college-level labs with confidence. Lindsay is passionate that her students become their own learning advocates and pushes them to become assertive and unapologetic on their academic journeys. For some students, the history, artistic applications and linguistics of chemistry are particularly interesting, and she differentiates her lesson plans for all kinds of interests and learning styles. For her girls who are advanced chemistry students, she offers higher-level course work and partners with area universities to connect passionate students with internships in local research laboratories.
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Traditionally, the field of science has been dominated by men, and there are even fewer women in chemistry—but not at Baldwin.
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