Recent professional development undertaken by Green Vale faculty members:
Though a generous faculty enrichment program, they regularly attend local and national conferences and workshops on myriad topics.
They may also apply for extended study or travel. Through these activities, they maintain cutting-edge expertise in their respective grade level and academic discipline and become close-up role models for students expanding their own horizons and discovering their own potential. Because of Green Vale’s proximity to New York City, teachers also take advantage of cultural and other opportunities to enrich the knowledge and perspective they bring to students.
Harvard Graduate School of EducationJoanne Pappas
|
 |
Joanne studied with Project Zero; an educational research group at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Project Zero’s work includes investigations into the nature of intelligence, understanding, thinking, creativity, ethics, and other essential aspects of human learning.
Broadway Teachers Workshop
Kathleen Pries
5th Grade Teacher
Kathleen attended a 3-day intensive workshop on Broadway that included 4 shows with post show cast discussions; 8 workshops and master classes with Broadway performers, creative teams, and production staff; and peer sessions throughout, designed to inspire teachers and directors of middle school, high school and college theatre and arts with new teaching methods, enhanced production skills and an exchange of ideas with peers and professional Broadway artists.
The Institute for Teaching Diversity
and Social Justice
Aisha Daley
Upper School Science Teacher
Aisha attended a 3 day conference with The Institute for Teaching Diversity and Social Justice. She said " it was truly an inspiring, eye opening experience to be in the same room with different individuals from different schools and backgrounds; all there with the same purpose of learning and being able to bring back to our own schools different ways in which to teach and educate about diversity and social justice."
Karenn Ressa
Library Services Director,
Master Teacher
“Mindfulness is paying attention on purpose, in the present, and nonjudgmentally to the unfolding of experience moment by moment.”With this definition, Jon Kabat-Zinn launched a movement that has permeated the fields of business, medicine, education, and just about every facet of society. This summer, in order to fully experience mindfulness and ways to incorporate it into the classroom and among students, Karenn Ressa enrolled in an 8 week Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction course.
International Society for Technology
in Education
Valerie Field
|
 |
ISTE held its annual conference and expo in Philadelphia this year with more than 18,000 professionals in attendance. Valerie and Julie have presented at this conference in the past and were able to attend again to acquire information on some of the latest tools available for classrooms. They brought back lots of information to incorporate into GVS classrooms and to share with colleagues. Highlights included playing with Google’s new product, Expeditions, which are virtual reality field trips to places like museums, underwater, national parks, and the moon.
The Academy for Teachers
Nydia Aguirre-Calderon
Upper School Spanish Teacher
Nydia was inducted as a Fellow into The Academy for Teachers and was elected to participate in a Master Class with Rubén Blades, multiple Grammy Award-winner, musician, songwriter, actor, and activist. The Academy for Teachers Master Classes brings exceptional teachers together with leading intellectuals, scientists, and creative artists for a day of high-level instruction and inspiration. “Only 18 teachers are chosen for each Master Class,” said Sam Swope, president of The Academy for Teachers. “And of those, only four are from private schools. Being selected is a well-deserved honor for both teacher and school.”
Holocaust and Jewish Resistance Teachers Program |
 |
Rich Quinlan
Upper School Humanities Teacher
Rich was accepted to be part of a summer event organized by the Holocaust and Jewish Resistance Teachers Program, a group that conducts seminars designed for teachers who implement Holocaust studies in their classrooms. Rich’s group of approximately 30 teachers visited historic sites and heard from survivors and prominent scholars. The two week program took the group through Germany and Poland, where they visited numerous concentration camps. The program’s major goals are to deepen teachers' knowledge and strengthen their ability to implement Holocaust studies in their classrooms and to further educational activities which use the lessons of the past as warnings for the present and the future.