Teachers' Summer Travels

This summer, more than 70 faculty and staff members traveled across the United States and the globe, furthering their own education with experiences they will bring back to the classroom. In the 2015–2016 school year, St. Mark’s educators were collectively awarded more than $200,000 in professional development funds to attend workshops, camps, classes, and conferences from Vancouver to London, where they got up close with the subjects they teach.

 

Scott Hunt, photography instructor and Arnold E. Holtberg Master Teaching Chair, spent two weeks traveling across the American Southwest to experiment with some new photography techniques. Stopping at several National Parks and many of the same Modernist landscapes photographed by Ansel Adams and Edward Weston, Mr. Hunt worked on a technique for producing breathtaking panoramic photos. In order to capture the true feeling of a “Great American Road Trip,” Mr. Hunt traveled by motorcycle, ultimately covering 4,387 miles, seven states, five National Parks, and one Tribal Park in 15 days.

 

A few states over, Lower School art teacher Suzuko Davis traveled to the Anderson Ranch Art Center in Snowmass Village, Colorado, where she attended a class titled “Artists are Teachers/Teachers are Artists.” Learning alongside other art teachers, Ms. Davis explored new techniques in ceramics, including marbling. “I can’t wait to use these projects with the boys. This class also helped me create bonds with other art teachers from across the country and I already have some collaboration ideas in the works.”

 

On the other side of the world, history teacher Michele Santosuosso spent a week in London, visiting the same locations she teaches about in Foundations of World Societies and The Modern World. At the British Museum, she viewed some of history’s most important artifacts, including the Rosetta Stone. To enhance her World War II unit, she explored Winston Churchill’s War Rooms, where the Prime Minister made crucial international decisions. Mrs. Santosuosso finished her time in England at the location where her two history courses meet: the Tower of London, whose earliest parts were built by William the Conqueror after the Norman Invasion of 1066 and which later earned an infamous reputation during the Tudor dynasty.

 

“Traveling and seeing things first hand is experiential learning, which is something that you cannot get from reading a book,” Mrs. Santosuosso said. “Being in a foreign land completes the entire historical picture. I look forward to applying my experience in the classroom.” 

Other destinations that St. Mark's teachers traveled to this summer include:

• International Boys Schools’ Coalition summer conference at St. George’s School in Vancouver, British Columbia
• National Convention For Differentiated Instruction in Las Vegas, Nevada
• Anglican Musicians Conference in Stamford, Connecticut
• NOLS Wilderness Medicine Wilderness First Responder course in Sausalito, California
• Kingswood Oxford Leadership Institute for Educators of Color in Hartford, Connecticut
• AP Summer Institutes at UTD in Dallas
• American Aliance for Theater & Education Summer Conference in Boston, Massachusetts
• Courses at the Universidad de Salamanca in Spain