Katy Pelletier, a Lower School Music Teacher and Middle School Chorus & Orchestra Teacher, attended the James Hill Ukulele Initiative (JHUI) Teacher Certification Program over the summer. Certification with JHUI, held in Vancouver, British Columbia, provides acknowledgement that Pelletier has the ability to teach music literacy though the ukulele. Singing, composing, and performing were all involved in the Phase 1, 2-day workshop, which allowed Pelletier to gain insight on how the ukulele can benefit students. She also met with other ukulele teachers from around the world. Learning the ukulele can provide a pathway to music theory and composition, it is also an excellent performance tool. Pelletier continues the program in Phase 2, a 10-month course, followed by an assessment in June of 2018. Katy is now working on incorporating what she learned from JHUI into an in-depth ukulele program for the lower school.

For her summer Pro-Gro experience, Brenda Kilgore, an environmental science teacher for Pre-K to 5th grade, attended the Responsive Classroom workshop in Orlando. The Responsive Classroom helps build the academic and social/emotional skills within the classroom. The workshop is broken down into seven parts: Establishing Rules, Interactive Modeling, Teacher Language, Responding to Misbehavior, Engaging Academics, Academic Choice, and Morning Meeting. Kilgore has had success in the classroom by incorporating Interactive Modeling into her routine in science class. This helps with student safety, academic skills such as note taking and discussion, using science tools, and emotional skills. She next hopes to incorporate Academic Choice into her classroom to help students express their choice in the topics they want to learn.

Dr. Jesse Bernstein is an Upper School Chemistry Teacher who attended and presented at the Chemistry Education Conference at South Dakota State University this past summer. Dr. Bernstein presented labs in two workshops: First Year Chemistry Labs and AP Chemistry Labs. The First Year Chemistry Labs workshop focused on the idea that students should think about the labs and plan for their experiments before arriving in the laboratory. The AP Chemistry Labs workshop presented the different labs that correlate with the College Board suggested or required curriculum. Dr. Bernstein also attended various presentations from field professionals, including Dr. Bassam Shakhashri, the President of the American Chemical Society, and an Advanced Placement Symposium. The Symposium overviewed the AP Chemistry Exam, and how to improve upon the student’s work.

The Lower School’s 3^rd and 4^th grade teachers, Daria Cirisano and Alicia Matho attended the Creative Problem Solving Institute Conference (CPSI 2017) at the University of Buffalo in New York. They learned how to generate and implement creative solutions to problems, and how to cultivate a forward-thinking culture of innovation. Their interactions with numerous attendees from outside the education field provided insight into learning and creativity that may be applied in the classroom. The conference presented tools and techniques on how to enhance the problem-solving abilities of not only the teachers, but the students, and also equipped the teachers with the ability to forge environments that provoke creativity and innovation.

Kimberly Jordan, a Lower School 5^th Grade teacher, attended the Project Based Learning World Workshop over the summer in American Canyon, California. The concept of Project Based Learning is to work in groups of 3 to 4 and begin with a driving question and work backwards to answer it, using many different resources and strategies. The initial workshop Jordan attended focused on using inquiry to design and create, or to solve a real-world problem. Jordan’s class is very community minded, with projects that benefit the school, and problem-solving techniques that go beyond the classroom. She hopes to incorporate Project Based Learning into the classroom in the coming years, and visit a school in the U.S. that uses Project Based Learning as a sole means of instruction.

Independent professional growth at Miami Country Day School continues to help faculty stay on the cutting edge of education trends. The teachers that attend these symposiums and conferences acquire insight into new and innovative ways to conduct their classrooms, hold discussions, and help students succeed, not only academically, but in preparation for the next steps in their life. This culture of feedback and professional growth is a great opportunity for faculty and ultimately benefits the students of our learning community.