Dan Feigelson, who spent 3 days at our school last week working with teachers, students and parents wanted to share the following feedback about our teachers with our school community:
H-Farm’s PYP teachers are a truly exceptional group of educators. I first became acquainted with them in early 2023, when eight staff members participated in an online professional development course I led for Chapters International. It was evident right away they were not passive participants. As we explored new ideas for teaching reading and writing, their comments and questions pushed the thinking of the entire group of teachers. When Jane Andrews reached out to invite me to do in-person work this school year, I was excited for the opportunity.
My visit in November of 2023 was filled with deep conversations and joyful learning. By the time I arrived, the H-Farm teachers had embraced the pedagogy we’d touched on in our course and made it their own. Already skilled at teaching grade specific content, the teachers had taken on the idea of a student driven literacy instruction designed to meet the strengths and needs of the learners in their classes. This allowed us to go deep, quickly. They were prepared with specific questions about balancing individual students’ reading and writing goals with the written curriculum, as well as practical, logistical concerns for linking the two. Our conversations became exciting explorations of new possibilities; in the course of our discussions, the H-Farm teachers not only made the new information I presented their own, but pushed it further. Indeed, I intend to share some of the resources they created to support the work with teachers around the world.
I work with many international schools, all with dedicated teachers. What makes the H-Farm staff exceptional is that in addition to dedication, they are inventive, intelligent educators who understand that for a teacher to be effective, she/he/they must also be a learner. Every single teacher I worked with at H-Farm was highly skilled but also eager to improve her/his/their practice, and every one of them contributed insightful ideas to our discussions. It was exciting and heartening for me to work with them, and I look forward to continuing our partnership.