2018
Annual Report

Jesse Stonewood

Knowles Senior Fellow
Seventh-year Science Teacher
Ashland High School
Ashland, Oregon

The Oregon Department of Education recommended that all school districts fully implement the Next Generation Science Standards during the 2017–2018 academic year, in preparation for the 2018–2019 academic year, when it will be included in statewide testing. 2012 Knowles Teaching Fellow Jesse Stonewood and his colleague Todd Hobein recognized wide variation in the knowledge and skills of southern Oregon teachers as related to NGSS. They also noticed a lack of relevant professional development available in their area. Desiring to build a cadre of NGSS-skilled teacher leaders in southern Oregon, 2012 Knowles Teaching Fellow Jesse Stonewood applied for a Knowles Seed Grant to fund the cost of these efforts. Jesse and Todd designed a series of four professional development trainings and recruited a small network of 10 high school science teachers from eight different local schools to participate in the Southern Oregon Next Generation Science Standards Working Group. The pair facilitated the first two of their four training sessions in April and June of 2018. The four-hour working group meetings are modeled after Knowles cohort meetings, including their use of strategic groupings, groupworthy tasks, protocols, embedded time for reflection and follow-up surveys. Participants in the group leveraged their learnings on several projects, such as improving classroom instruction, networking with department colleagues and aligning curriculum between grades at the district level. Jesse and Todd received overwhelmingly positive feedback from participants, including several who have reported that the group is the most productive and meaningful professional development work in which they have ever participated. Looking forward, Jesse and Todd will facilitate their remaining training sessions during the 2018–2019 academic year.

Zoe Masters

2015 Knowles Teaching Fellow
Fourth-year Physics Teacher
Community Charter School of Cambridge
Cambridge, Massachusetts

Started by 2015 Knowles Teaching Fellow Zoe Masters and her colleague Ulana Ainsworth, Boston Educators for Equity (BEE) brings together a racially diverse group of teachers from urban public schools, charter schools and suburban public schools in the Boston area to examine issues related to race and equity. With financial support from Knowles and Teachers4Equity, the pair attended SEED (Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity) New Leaders Week in Seattle, Washington, in July 2017. This seven-day, peer-led, residential workshop equipped the pair to lead SEED seminars in their own context. Zoe and Ulana recruited 19 teachers to participate in BEE during the 2017–2018 school year. Over the course of the year, BEE participants met on a monthly basis from September 2017 to May 2018. In their meetings, they discussed a variety of topics related to equity and racial justice, including the United States educational system; and wealth, income and social class. Engaging in rigorous discourse on these important topics empowered BEE participants to become change agents for equity in their respective schools—one teacher created a working group for teachers to question and investigate their racial identity and bias in the classroom and another is advocating changes to her school’s attendance policy. Their collective efforts have impacted more than 300 students. Zoe shared learnings from this experience with the Knowles community in the form of a presentation on school segregation during the 2018 Knowles Summer Meeting. During the 2018–2019 school year, Zoe and Ulana will facilitate BEE discussions with two groups of teachers—the continuing cohort and a new cohort.

Sophie State

Knowles Senior Fellow
Sixth-year Biology Teacher
Westlake High School
Westlake Village, California

Sophie State, a 2012 Knowles Teaching Fellow, received a Knowles Leadership Grant to start a three-minute club in her school during the 2014–2015 academic year. In its first year, approximately eight teachers conducted observations and met on a monthly basis to debrief, with the goal of becoming more critically reflective through a practice of guided observation and peer feedback. Another Knowles grant funded the expansion of the club into a second year. Building on these efforts, Sophie was awarded a Knowles Seed Grant to introduce the use of protocols—tools used to structure collaborative conversations between teachers—during the 2017–2018 academic year. The Seed Grant provided funding for a planning meeting to engage staff members interested in this type of work, as well as funding for subsequent meetings. The team hosted four pilot meetings between February and May 2018. The meetings provided opportunities for more than 40 teachers to experience the use of protocols to structure school-wide conversations and build trust. Conversations among teachers following these meetings were overwhelmingly positive: not only did participants return for subsequent sessions, but they drew in their colleagues by sharing what they had gained. The next steps in this initiative involve training a group of teacher leaders to facilitate the use of protocols with the rest of the school, an effort that will be partially funded by Knowles. During the 2018–2019 academic year, teachers will work in groups to improve instructional practice across the school.

Sarah DiMaria

2014 Knowles Teaching Fellow
Fourth-Year Math Teacher
Highland High School
Salt Lake City, Utah

After being introduced to practitioner inquiry through the Fellowship and her graduate studies in education, 2014 Knowles Teaching Fellow Sarah DiMaria desired to bring inquiry to her school. During the 2017–2018 academic year, she was placed in charge of managing professional development for her campus. In this role, she proposed a year-long plan to focus on school improvement through the use of inquiry. As proposed, Sarah led four groups of three teachers through six cycles of inquiry aimed at designing effective collaboration (amongst teachers and students) and supporting English language learners during the 2017–2018 academic year. Their inquiry work was supported by a Teacher Action Research Grant from the New Technology Network that provided funds for the purchase of texts that furthered participants’ understanding of inquiry. In a post-inquiry survey, the mean score for participants for the statement “I found value in examining my teaching practice through inquiry” was 4.6 out of 5. With some minor modifications, inquiry will continue into the 2018–2019 academic year. Sarah shared learnings from this experience with the Knowles community in the form of a poster on inquiry during the 2018 Knowles Summer Meeting.

Laura Wang & Camden Hanzlick-Burton

Knowles Senior Fellow (Laura)
Sixth-year Chemistry Teacher
School of the Future
New York, New York

Knowles Senior Fellow (Camden)
Sixth-year Biology Teacher
Summit Public Schools: Sierra
Seattle, Washington

2012 Knowles Teaching Fellows Laura Wang and Camden Hanzlick-Burton, along with 2013 Teaching Fellow Bernice O’Brien and 2014 Teaching Fellow Lauren Kline recognized a need for science teachers across the country to utilize teaching strategies that increased student access to learning. Fellows in these cohorts had previously learned about Complex Instruction at a Knowles Cohort Meeting. Upon looking for additional courses and supports to help with implementation in their classrooms, they were disappointed to find these resources existed only for mathematics. Camden and Laura were awarded a Knowles Seed Grant to extend this work into science, creating a community of educators interested in enacting the practices of Complex Instruction through the development of a Knowles Academy course. To kick off this work, Camden and Laura spent three days planning the course with Knowles Senior Program Officer Michele Cheyne in January 2018. Next, Camden and Laura learned more about Complex Instruction alongside the 2015 Cohort of Knowles Teaching Fellows at their Spring Cohort Meeting. On this same trip to the San Francisco Bay Area, Camden and Laura visited San Francisco International High School, where they observed Complex Instruction in action in biology and chemistry classrooms. In July 2018, Camden and Laura piloted a three-day Knowles Academy course—Establishing an Equitable Classroom Culture: An Introduction to Complex Instruction for Science Teachers—to a group of 12 teachers in Moorestown, New Jersey.

Latoya Clay

Knowles Senior Fellow
Sixth-year Math Teacher
Hillside High School
Durham, North Carolina

Despite National Board Certification being highly valued in North Carolina and by her district, 2012 Knowles Teaching Fellow Latoya Clay was dismayed when she realized that no teachers from her school had achieved National Board Certification in recent years. Facing a lack of funding and other structures that support preparing certification materials, several Hillside teachers tried unsuccessfully to achieve certification. Latoya and several colleagues were awarded a Seed Grant from Knowles to form a National Board support group. The Seed Grant funded release days that freed the five teachers in the group from their classroom duties, granting them time to write for their National Board submission, analyze each other’s submissions and provide feedback, and seek support from a National Board certified coach. The grant also funded a weekend retreat that allowed participants to put the finishing touches on their submissions, in ways that none had been able to accomplish on their own in previous years. Each support group member submitted all or a portion of their certification portfolio during the 2017–2018 academic year, something that hadn’t been done since district funding for supporting certification ended. The long-term goal of this group is to establish support for all teachers wishing to build the professional culture of the school through pursuit of National Board certification.

Beverly Stuckwisch

Knowles Senior Fellow
Sixth-year Chemistry Teacher
Licking Valley High School
Newark, Ohio

Beverly Stuckwisch, a 2012 Knowles Teaching Fellow, is committed to acting as an advocate for her students. With advocacy in mind, she and a colleague helped students establish the first gay-straight alliance (GSA) at their school in 2016. At the outset, the GSA operated largely as a social group. In this capacity, they met little resistance. They began to encounter resistance when GSA members expanded their efforts to include activism. In response to complaints from parents and teachers, and a violation of a rarely enforced rule, the principal advised Beverly and her colleague that the compilation pride flag created by GSA members would have to be removed from where it hung in the hallway of the school. Unable to find a way to discuss the issue with her principal, Beverly avoided him for months. At a Knowles meeting, Beverly shared her fear of addressing conflict. Other Fellows who felt the same way decided to read and discuss Difficult Conversations as a group (Stone, et al., 2010). Using what she learned from the book, and discussed with other Knowles Fellows, Beverly scheduled a meeting with the principal that included stakeholders such as the superintendent, guidance counselors, school staff, GSA members and one parent. To ensure everyone was on the same page, she shared a document outlining the purpose of the conversation with all participants. The conversation proved to be extremely productive and informative for all in attendance. Leaving the conversation, the GSA chose to focus on programming designed to build an inclusive community for all students. Building on these efforts, Beverly lead a professional learning community focused on examining school culture and students’ experiences with harassment and bullying during the 2017–2018 academic year. PLC participants—14 staff members and four students—spent time analyzing data from interviews, surveys and focus groups they administered. The PLC also brainstormed ways to encourage school community members to think deeply about empathy and equity. As an example, PLC participants helped National Honor Society students combat bullying by preparing morning announcements to be shared during National Bullying Prevention Month; PLC members also worked with another student group to create a bulletin board displaying those announcements. The efforts of Beverly and her colleague led to the identification of other school-based allies for LGBTQ students—two other teachers who volunteered to advise the GSA after the departure of its founding advisers.

Heidi Park & Ian Caldwell

Knowles Senior Fellow (Heidi)
Sixth-year Physics and Chemistry Teacher
Jones College Prep High School
Chicago, Illinois

Knowles Senior Fellow (Ian)
Sixth-year Math Teacher
Arete Preparatory Academy
Gilbert, Arizona

In July 2017, 2012 Knowles Teaching Fellows Heidi Park and Ian Caldwell attended Critical Friends Group New Coaches’ Training facilitated by the National School Reform Faculty along with 12 other Teaching Fellows (funded by Knowles professional development grants). While they found the training inspiring and useful, they recognized that implementing the kind of collaborative leadership required of the Critical Friends Group model would require ongoing support not provided by the training. Funded by a Knowles Seed Grant, the group met virtually throughout the 2017–2018 academic year, where they practiced what they learned and supported one another as they took collaborative leadership into their school settings. During the year, three of the group participants presented work, four facilitated meetings, and 11 acted as critical friends virtually. Eight group members saw benefits in existing groups, two started new groups, and seven of them used Critical Friends Group strategies with students in their classrooms. One person used Critical Friends Group work to facilitate professional development at their school; and another developed a plan with three colleagues to run a pilot Critical Friends Group, provide Critical Friends Group training over the summer, and roll out Critical Friends Group work to their school at large during the 2018–2019 academic year. The project culminates with the group returning to meet again in the summer of 2018, where they will plan how to share what they’ve learned with the larger Knowles community.