Provided by Prince William County Schools (PWCS)
Kathryn Jett McVea, family and consumer sciences teacher and NTHS sponsor at Patriot High School, has been named a FCCLA master adviser by the Virginia Family, Career and Community Leaders of America. She will be recognized and awarded at the National FCCLA Conference to be held this summer in Atlanta. The Master Adviser Award recognizes advisers “who have been successful in advising an affiliated chapter for a minimum of three years, promoting the organization, operating an integrated chapter with a balanced program of work, facilitating youth-centered activities, and keeping abreast of new happenings within the organization.”
Cathy Hailey, creative writing teacher at Woodbridge High School, and her students who publish the Woodbridge High School literary magazine, “Eddas,” received the rank of Recommended for Highest Award in the National Council of Teachers of English Program to Recognize Excellence in Student Literary Magazines. The NCTE letter recognizes Hailey’s contribution, saying, “You have inspired a love of writing and built a community around the written word that your students will remember for the rest of their lives.” View the list of ranked magazines on the NCTE website.
Gail Charnick, instructional technology coach at Swans Creek Elementary School, and Kristina Stark, instructional technology coach at Marshall Elementary School, have earned the Innovative Educator awards from Tech4Learning. The award recognizes educators who work passionately to use technology as a means for students to creatively and rigorously demonstrate their content knowledge and understanding. Charnick and Stark have used Wixie, a cloud-based Tech4Learning learning tool aimed at increasing student engagement and building literacy and critical thinking skills.
For the seventh year, Joyce Chastine, English teacher at Brentsville District High School, has been invited by The College Board to read for the AP Language Composition exam. She will head to Florida in June for the annual AP Reading to serve as an expert exam reader. AP exam readers are selected after a layered review process, are thoroughly trained, have their expenses paid, and receive a stipend for their work.
Nathan St. Pierre, chorus teacher at Reagan Middle School, recently graduated from George Mason University with a PhD in Music Education. His dissertation, titled “Using Achievement Goal Theory to Investigate Pre-Service Music Teachers’ Attitudes Toward Grading Practices,” found possible psychological reasons why some teachers like standards-based grading and some do not.
Jayne Sherman, first-grade teacher at Occoquan Elementary School, has had her proposal accepted by the Academy in Educational Studies for presentation at the Critical Questions in Education Conference (CQIE) held in Portland, Oregon in March. This is Sherman’s seventh conference presentation. Her presentation is on “Professional Development in Conferencing during Writer’s Workshop to Promote Self-Identity and Cultural Appreciation among Second Language Learners.” Sherman is a third year PhD student at George Mason University with a specialization in literacy and teacher education. Miss Angela Naggles, assistant principal at Kerrydale Elementary School, will co-present.
Thanks to a project to stop soil erosion begun by Ramona Richardson, kindergarten teacher and chair of Coles Elementary School’s flourishing Garden Club, students at Coles Elementary School are accomplishing great things and the world is noticing! From its original outdoor garden/classroom, the school’s grounds now boast nine school gardens, are recognized as a Schoolyard Habitat, and its butterfly garden is registered as a Monarch Way Station and is certified through the North American Butterfly Association. This is the second time, the school has been featured on a national website, Project Learning Tree (plt.org).
