Unable to attend this year's Baccalaureate service? Don't fret. You can watch the full video of this year's service, including Bailey Duncan's ('98) keynote address, by clicking here.
World History Teacher Bailey Duncan ('98) talks about the Global Classroom cultural exchange program Darlington has developed with St. Ursula's Gymnasium in Dusseldorf, Germany.
Read the April 16 Rome News-Tribune coverage of the varsity tennis teams' region wins. Both teams swept the competition, and Darlington will host the first round of state next week.
Nine of the presentations on the docket for the Georgia Independent Schools Association’s annual conference will be led by Darlington faculty and staff members. The conference will be hosted Nov. 1-2 at Darlington.<br /><br />
Counselors Jill Pate and Chris Allen will lead a session titled “One School’s Response to Tragic Loss: Lessons Learned,” focusing on how Darlington coped with the loss of five students and two parents during a nine-month period in 2009.<br /><br />
Beth Wilson, chairperson of the English department, and Melinda Holmes, director of library services, will lead a session titled “Summer Reading: A Student-Centered Approach.” It will focus on Darlington’s unique approach to summer reading, which engenders buy-in, crosses boundaries between the English department and other disciplines and assesses reading based on what really matters – student engagement with literature.<br /><br />
Gordon Hight (’94), director of Upper School, will lead a session titled “Backwards Design: Planning and Assessment,” which aims to help teachers balance the enormous amount of material they need to cover in class with the specific information they want their students to understand and retain. He will focus on identifying the essential understandings and developing lesson plans and assessments that evaluate this knowledge.<br /><br />
Debra Myrick, chairperson of the math department, will lead a session titled “Sketchpad for All,” focusing on the use of the Geometer’s Sketchpad and ways that the teacher can use this tool to save time, increase student interest and participation, and provide depth of understanding.<br /><br />
Julia Dodd, chemistry teacher, will lead a session titled “Teaching Introductory Organic Chemistry to Seniors,” in which she will discuss the benefits of bridging the gap between high school chemistry during the sophomore year and college organic chemistry. Her presentation will include course prerequisites, selection of textbooks, course organization and information about laboratory activities.<br /><br />
Mitchell Maddox, English teacher, will lead a session titled “Writing a New Experience,” in which he will discuss the ways people have used writing to understand the world and how teachers can pass those skills along to their students.<br /><br />
Rob Hall, reading specialist, will lead a session titled, “Reading Specialists: A Paradigm Shift from Tutor to School-Wide Literacy Improvement.” He will focus on the expanding and ever-changing world of literacy and the role of the reading specialist – to integrate a comprehensive K-12 literacy program by developing programs, assessing struggling and advanced students, evaluating programming, and providing inexpensive professional development on site.<br /><br />
Craig Schmidt, chairman of the history department, and history teachers Brian Inman and Bailey Duncan (’98) will lead a session titled “Making History Interesting: Incorporating Technology in the History Classroom.” They will specifically look at the use of YouTube, Google Earth, Sketchup 7, OneNote, online forums and assessments and other programs that help bring learning to life.<br /><br />
Joe Montgomery, chief advancement officer, and Julie Lucas (’97), regional director of the Second Century Campaign, will lead a session titled “Executing a Successful Capital Campaign,” which will focus on planning and implementation as well as how to work with different constituents of the school community.
In March of 2007, Darlington School's Parents’ Association awarded Faculty Development Grants to 10 deserving faculty members. Grants ranged up to $2,000.<br /><br />
Each year, teaching faculty who have made a commitment to return to Darlington in the fall are invited to apply for Faculty Development Grants funded by the school’s Parents’ Association. This program is designed to enhance faculty effectiveness in the classroom, in campus activities and in the community; to encourage faculty to plan creatively for their own continuing professional development; to provide an incentive to aid in the retention of excellent faculty; and to involve department chairs in enhancing the faculty members’ enthusiasm in their particular area of education and involvement.<br /><br />
Several faculty members, like Joe Pieroni and Ivy Brewer, used their grants to attend educational seminars in preparation for the 2008-09 school year. Pieroni, who teaches Algebra II and Pre-Calculus, attended the week-long Anja S. Greer Conference on Secondary School Mathematics, Science and Technology at Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, N.H. “I took a class that focused on Geometer’s sketchpad and a new calculator, the TI-CAS Nspire,” he said. “I learned a great deal about these two technologies and hope to integrate parts of them into my classes this coming year.”<br /><br />
Brewer, associate dean of college guidance, is using her grant to take part in the Western Association for College Admission Counseling’s Summer Counselors’ Tour in Northern California, through which she will visit 15 colleges and universities and participate in several admission workshops. “Darlington’s international population historically has shown particular interest in the west coast colleges and universities, so the information I learn will be especially useful to these students in their college search,” she said. “It is vital for me to be knowledgeable about different institutions so that I may help our students find the school that is the right fit for them. Visiting different campuses provides me with the opportunity not only to learn facts about the schools, but also to get a feel for them and the types of students who would be successful there. Upon completion of this tour, I will have visited over 100 colleges and universities across the country. The Parents’ Association commits to the idea that together we – the members of the Darlington Community – must continue to learn and to challenge ourselves as a means to intellectual growth for the community as a whole.”<br /><br />
Bailey Duncan (’98), who teaches Ancient World History and Modern World History, used his grant to take an ASSIST trip to Prague, Czech Republic. “I learned a great deal about the history and culture of the Czech Republic and was fortunate to connect with 15 other boarding school teachers from across the United States,” he said. “Especially moving were the trips to the World War II concentration camp at Terezin and the former village of Lidice, which was decimated by Nazi aggression during the war… I would like to thank the Parents’ Association for helping make this trip possible. I have now experienced England, Scotland and the Czech Republic thanks, in part, to them. Such firsthand experience has helped tremendously in the classroom, providing me anecdotes and stories to make the class material even richer.”<br /><br />
Others, like James Hutchins and Angela Pieroni, use their grants to further their education. Hutchins, dean of studies at the Middle School, has used his grants to aid in paying tuition for his coursework at the University of Alabama, where he is finishing up his doctorate. Pieroni, a Middle School science teacher, has just started on her master’s in curriculum, instruction and assessment.<br /><br />
“If you’re not learning, you’re not growing,” Hutchins said. “Every member of an organization should continue to develop his or her craft. If you don’t, you can rest assure another organization is not far behind. I would like to thank the Parents’ Association for helping my dream come true. Without this financial assistance, I don’t know whether it would have been possible.”<br /><br />
Other Darlington faculty members who received grants for use this year include Reba Barnes, Will Camp, Gwen Gibbes, Chris Holloway and Mitchell Maddox.
