"To get good performance from your kids, you have to get good performance from your teachers. The education field does not stand still. The only way to get to the point where you reach the highest academic achievement levels for all students is for teachers to study together and learn together."
~ The New York Times, June, 2000
In this picture, front row: Debby Chang & Jamie Oakley Back row: Andrew Carlson-Lier, Kate Dickman, Claudia Ovalle, Rachel DeStefano & Tim Creamer Absent: Adrienne Frautten, Dan Lord, Emily Luongo & Cindy Perreault
At Harborlight Montessori School, professional development is interactive and sustained, assisting teachers in meeting professional status requirements and Program development goals. Those goals include:
* Long Range Plans
* Program Professional Development Plans
* Professional status requirements
* Harborlight's Curriculum Scope and Sequence
* Common Core of Learning & Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks
* Department of Education Regulations, Licensing, Program Quality Ratings, Teacher Qualification Registry
Since the fall of 2000 when the Teacher Enrichment Fund was created, nearly $120,000 in Lighthouse Scholarships has been awarded for professional development. Harborlight remains committed to the underlying principles of the Fund and the core belief that great teachers make great schools. By supporting its teachers, Harborlight has advanced initiatives that are both Program specific and School-wide that affect the practices in the classroom, which ultimately promotes high standards and expectations for student achievement. In 2011, the Fund was renamed the Susan E. Egan Teacher Enrichment Fund honoring Harborlight's Founding Head of School, and in celebration of Susan's 38 year legacy at the School.
Teacher-centered professional development provides a targeted, consistent model that empowers the faculty and staff by helping them choose and initiate professional growth activities according to their strengths, needs and schedules. This model has tremendous potential as a tool to differentiate individual professional goals, support faculty at all levels of professional status meet their most salient goals. Professional development at Harborlight is not funded by tuition. It is made possible by the incredible generosity of the School's families and friends through direct contributions to the Fund.
Adrienne with a few of her Toddlers
This year's Lighthouse Scholarship recipients are: Andrew Carlson-Lier, Debby Chang, Tim Creamer, Rachel DeStefano, Kate Dickman, Adrienne Frautten, Dan Lord, Emily Luongo, Jamie Oakley, Claudia Ovalle, and Cindy Perreault. Below are some personal reflections offer by some of the recipients...
"I am so thankful for this opportunity to work toward completing my master's degree. I am excited to take what I am learning in my classes and bring new work to my students as well as share what I am learning with my Peers." ~ Cindy Perreault, ECE-1 Head Teacher, pursuing a graduate course in Montessori Education
"Being a Lighthouse Scholar, I plan on completing my master's in Montessori Education in 2012-2013, and being able to further implement my teaching philosophy in 'Follow the Child' and the Confucian teaching of "Yin Cai Shi Jiao', which means to give appropriate guidance and encouragement adaptive to each individual talent and personality. With this newly acquired knowledge, I'm confident to expand my skill sets beyond integrating Language, Chinese and Math into Montessori plays to include additional subject area expertise such as special needs and child development. Being a life-long learner, I also plan to visit and witness other bi-lingual (Chinese/English) classroom settings. I firmly believe the experience will not only widen/inspire my visions of a bilingual Montessori learning environment, but also enrich my teaching perspective to better off to my class." ~ Debby Chang, ECE-2 Head Teacher, graduate study at Gordon College
"I will be using my TEF Scholarship to take a graduate-level course at Plymouth State University. I have been pursuing my Master's of Education at PSU for over a year, and hope to complete the program by December 2012. Upon graduating, I plan on continuing my education by matriculating in a C.A.G.S. (Certificate of Advanced Graduate Study) Program in Educational Administration. I very much appreciate being selected by the committee to receive a scholarship named after our Founding Head of School, Susan E. Egan. Susan has always been a proponent for my pursuit of a graduate education, and I hope that I am making her proud." ~ Tim Creamer, Middle School Math & Physical Education Teacher
"It's an honor to be chosen as a SEETEF recipient. Thank you for your support! As a C.A.G.S. student at Salem State University, it is my goal to continually home my understanding of the educational process. Although I believe children to be our best teachers, it is always positive to connect with the wisdom of professional educators. My long-term goal is to obtain a Doctorate in Education." ~ Dan Lord, Art Teacher
"To become an educator has given me a great satisfaction to be able to observe students at different stages and aspects of their growth and development. It has always been my pleasure to know that I am contributing in some small part that which will shape their future and the future of our society. For this reason, being part of the Harborlight Montessori School makes me feel a high level of gratitude and compromise, since it has given me the opportunity to grow and become a better professional and educator. I have the opportunity to become a professional educator, which will provide me the means to reach higher goals, more so with the knowledge of the Montessori philospphy at NCME-NE. Furthermore, it is an opportunity to attain a master's degree at Gordon College toward my licensure in Education and Spanish. Thanks so much to the Lighthouse Scholarship committee and this award for the opportunity." Claudia Ovalle, Spanish Teacher
