selected as part of a digital co-hort for the 2019-2020 school
year. The school joins 10 elementary schools in the region by
leveraging connections and engagement in maker learning with a
goal of amplifying its impact on student achievement. In an effort
to enhance lessons for students, Burleson and Rynn addressed
the shift from project-based learning (PBL) to service-based
learning (SBL) to gain a more global perspective by promoting
sustainability and equity within the school community. The
training from the challenge institute has already been introduced
and shared with educators in the building and students are taking
these lessons to a new level.
Kristen Fischer and Wendy
Steiner were invited to
participate in a film titled
“HundreED” to spotlight
educational initiatives in
the Pittsburgh region. In the
video, Fischer and Steiner
discussed the benefits
students are seeing by using
Mrs. Foltz captured a photo of a
Finch Robots, designed in
mosaic, part of the slavery exhibit
at Montpelier. The artwork is
the CreateLab at CMU by
a portrait of an enslaved brick
Birdbrain Technologies. The
maker. It was created from
Finch Robot is designed
fragments of bricks found on the
plantation.
to engage students of all
ages and abilities through
coding projects that can be integrated into everyday lessons.
Students across the district are using the Finch Bots and Steiner
has witnessed creativity as individuals learn at their own pace.
Fischer and Steiner’s involvement in the Fluency Project has
triggered invitations to speak at local and national symposiums.
In March, the pair traveled to Atlantic City, New Jersey to share
District initiatives in computer science and STEAM resources
with educators at the Mid-Atlantic Professional Development
Conference.
Some teachers devoted part of the summer break to
volunteering in the community. High school English teacher
Tonilyn Jackson and her licensed therapy dog, Virginia Woof,
spent Tuesdays mornings at the Carnegie Free Library reading to
young children. Jackson said the interaction between children
and her pet was heartwarming and it also gave her the chance to
convey her love for books with youngsters.
Social studies teacher Rachel Foltz stands behind the Lincoln statue
located outside of the Gettysburg National Military Park Museum.
High school social studies teacher Rachel Foltz was selected
to participate in a professional development opportunity at
Montpelier, the home of former President James Madison, located
in Virginia. Joining other secondary teachers from Pennsylvania
and Dr. Jason Jividen, an Associate Professor of Political Science
from St. Vincent College, the three-day colloquium provided the
opportunity to discuss primary source documents relating to the
writing of the United States Constitution. The group also toured
Montpelier and the exhibit “The Mere Distinction of Colour,” which
honors the lives of the enslaved who worked on the Madison
plantation. The exhibit examines the influence of slavery on the
founding of our country. Foltz also traveled to Gettysburg and
Philadelphia in the summer to tour historic locations linked to the
Civil War and the American Founding. “These experiences will help
me to incorporate more primary sources into my teaching,” Mrs.
Foltz said. “Through the study of primary source texts, I hope my
students develop a more in-depth understanding of past events by
examining history as a series of human events,” she added.
As part of the district’s ongoing partnership with the Fluency
Project at Carnegie Mellon University, high school teachers
Tonilyn Jackson and pet Virginia Woof, pictured with children at the
Carnegie Free Library, enjoyed reading to youngsters at the library.
There is a knack to discovering approaches to connect with
students and make them receptive to learning. Because of its
size, educators in the district are approachable and available to
students to strengthen that connection. When teachers learn,
students learn, attaining an education that will take them beyond
the walls of a school building and prepare them for the future.
Note: Teachers attending or invited to the professional development
trainings mentioned in this article did so at no expense to the district.
CARLYNTON-MONTOUR
❘
WINTER 2019
33