Teaching

The 2022 Summer Case Institute for Curricular Innovation and Excellence (ICIE) funded 16 faculty working on two curricular efforts that provided innovative educational experiences for Maret students.

The summer institute included ICIEs to refine and enhance the Lower School Wellness curriculum and to research standards-based grading in the Mathematics Department.

The 2021 Summer Case Institute, in its thirteenth year, included 13 faculty members working on two different institutes.

Humanities Upper School
Faculty Participants: 6

This summer’s work completed phase two of Maret’s concept-based Humanities curriculum for Grades 9–10. The team:

• Finished the Passport of Humanities Skills for Grade 10
• Created a common content and skill foundation for each unit in US History and Accelerated US History
• Differentiated content and assessments in US History and Accelerated US History
• Created a document detailing what content will and not be covered in preparation for the AP exam
• Wrote, edited, and streamlined concepts and principles for all units in English 10, US History, and Accelerated US History
• Added content and assessments to both history classes and to English 10 to ensure diversity of voices, and depth and breadth in the curriculum; new content includes a history unit on the Great Depression of the 1920s, Native American History units, a Choice Novel Unit in English 10, and a Short Story Unit in English 10 focused on Gender, LGBTQ, and East Asian voices

Wellness V
Faculty Participants: 7

The purpose of this ICIE was to review the Wellness curriculum, K-12, and make necessary adjustments in response to feedback solicited throughout the year. The full team of Wellness teachers participated in the ICIE so they could refine their own courses and assist one another in thinking about scope and sequence.

The 2020 Summer Case Institute, in its twelfth year, included 32 faculty members working on four different institutes.

Humanities 9
Faculty Participants: 8

In this ICIE, teachers continued designing a concept-based curriculum using an innovative, interdisciplinary approach. The goal of the curriculum is to foster critical thinking, intellectual risk-taking, and creativity. New assessments ask students to grapple with increasingly diverse opinions and voices from around the world. The team completed the following:

• Editing, revising, and adjusting our concepts and generalizations to allow students easier access into the conceptual framework of the courses
• Realigning the concepts and generalizations in English and history
• Rewriting assessments to better mirror the Humanities concept-based curricular design that asks students to do the following in each unit: understand text, respond to/critique text, and produce text
• Creating the combined, Humanities Grade 9 passport of skills in the following categories:  analysis, creativity, listening/speaking, reading, research, and writing

Wellness IV
Faculty Participants: 6

This institute continued the work of designing a Wellness curriculum for students in Grades 7–12. The curriculum promotes students’ health and well-being, the fourth pillar of Maret’s mission. It covers the essential prongs of wellness—identity, social-emotional learning, mental and physical health, human development and sexuality, and digital citizenship. The curriculum also considers how these prongs intersect with students’ academic health and provides ample space to be both proactive and responsive to issues in students’ lives and the world, all of which are goals of Strategic Directions.

The ICIE successfully created 32 developmentally appropriate, scoped and sequenced lessons for each grade, 7–12. Each lesson runs 45 minutes and is taught once a week by Maret health professionals. It works in conjunction with other elements of Maret’s program, including Advising and other co- and extracurricular activities.

Humanities Middle School
Faculty Participants: 13

In this ICIE, teachers began designing a concept-based curriculum using an innovative, interdisciplinary approach. The goal of the new curriculum is to foster critical thinking, intellectual risk-taking, and creativity. New assessments ask students to grapple with increasingly diverse opinions and voices from around the world.

Teachers from the Humanities, Technology, and Library and Research departments came together to:

• Determine the concepts and generalizations that would allow students easier access into the conceptual framework of the courses
• Create the MS Humanities (Grades 5-8) Passport of Skills in the following categories: analysis, creativity, listening/speaking, reading, research, and writing
• Enhance connections between seventh and eighth grade Technology and Library curricula and specific Humanities assessments (history and English)
• Enhance connections between fifth and sixth grade Technology and Library curricula and specific Humanities assessments (history and English)

Interdisciplinary Skills Assessment (ISA)
Faculty Participants: 5

This ICIE was convened to design an Interdisciplinary Skills Assessment (ISA). As conceived by the Exam Committee, an ISA is a scenario-based activity that students complete in groups that requires them to apply specific knowledge from related disciplines and demonstrate proficiency in Essential Skills. An ISA should not have a single correct solution, and excellent work should be able to look different based on the strengths of the participants. Students should complete an ISA and receive feedback in a single day. Our group was charged with designing the first ISA, a STEM ISA for 7th and 8th graders.

The team of teachers planned the core mechanics and schedule for the ISA, created most of the handouts and materials for the students, and designed a rubric. The model is based on a group of about 10 students (mix of seventh and eighth) working with a faculty member (teacher or advisor). Specific STEM skills would be self-assessed during the ISA; when students implement these skills correctly, they make progress in the scenario.

The premise of this ISA, laid out in an assembly at the start of the day, is that the Earth is no longer habitable and humanity must seek a new home on a different planet. Students break into their groups and receive data about three different candidate planets, each of which have a different set of properties along dimensions like atmospheric pressure, UV exposure, etc. Their first group decision is to disqualify one of the three planets. With basic data analysis, it should be obvious which of the three planets should be cut.

Students must then select which of the remaining two planets they would like to choose. The two remaining planets are holistically equal but offer different sets of pros and cons. Each group can choose how much data they “research” about these planets, and there is flexibility in how much information the group will procure before making their decision.

In the last phase of the ISA, the groups must design a house for their planet. They do some work in the lab to learn about the different properties of the building materials available to them. They then have to select materials that address the challenges inherent in their planet’s environment while also trying to minimize costs and maximizing the volume of their dwelling. The specs for their design are fed into a simulator that gives the students instant feedback about how well their design performs.

A central dynamic in the ISA revolves around generating and spending a “currency.” Some of the activities available for the groups to do generate currency while other choices deplete currency.

On one level, students will be executing tasks related to STEM skills. On a higher level, groups will be making project management decisions about how many people are tasked to resource generation and how many are working on “research and design”/spending tasks. The currency dynamic diversifies the range of activities students can productively engage with during the ISA and implants a fundamental tension in the group dynamic that they will have to negotiate. Students are required to come together as a group at specific points during the ISA to assess and adjust strategy. The faculty member is primarily focused on observing and giving feedback about these group discussions and also assesses how well the group as a whole demonstrates proficiency with cross-discipline Essential Skills.

The 2019 Summer Case Institute, in its eleventh year, included 38 faculty members working on five different institutes.

Humanities 9-10
Faculty Participants: 9

Participants in this institute set out to create an integrated Humanities curriculum that would meaningfully and intentionally link the content, skills, assessments, and critical thinking objectives in the ninth and tenth grade classes. Feedback from students and alumni helped to focus the team’s efforts.

Curriculum development was based on concept-based teaching and curriculum design models, which push students to think more deeply and understand the conceptual framework that connects content across units and disciplines. The team of English and history teachers first worked on establishing the principles to guide the curriculum; from there, they selected content and then chose the principles around which they would center their units.

All of the units focus on text sets that bring multiple voices into the conversation about a singular topic. Some texts will be studied in both English and history providing a reinforcing link between the courses and also a common vocabulary list.

New assessments ask students to not only analyze texts and events of history but also grapple with concepts such as equality, justice, fairness, and opportunity and draw their own conclusions. More opportunities for timed writing were added, and two summative projects were also created, one for ninth grade and one for tenth, that link content and skills developed in the history and English classes.

Wellness III
Faculty Participants: 6

Teachers in this institute developed a curriculum and lesson plans on identity for students Kindergarten through Grade 4.

The topics of identity that are covered in the lessons include race, gender, stereotypes, socio-economic status, family structure, prejudice and discrimination, empathy, equity, privilege, and conflict resolution. Students participate in one 25-45 minute class every week, which consists of classroom lessons, group discussions, and analysis of stories, film, and other forms of media focused on an identity related issue or topic.

In addition, the teachers developed a scope and sequence for a yearlong Wellness class for students in Grades 5–12.

The six prongs of Wellness that covered in these classes are: mental health, physical health, digital citizenship, identity, social-emotional learning, and sexuality. Students attend one 50-minute class every week, which consists of lectures, group discussions, and analysis of articles, film, and other forms of media focused on a wellness related issue or topic.

1.  Mental health lessons teach students about their brains, symptoms of common mental health disorders, mindfulness techniques, and different treatment modalities. 

2.  Physical health lessons address sleep, nutrition, exercise, drug and alcohol abuse, and infection prevention. 

3.  Digital citizenship lessons teach students different ways to respond to cyberbullying, digital drama, the addictive nature of technology, how to manage devices and online life. 

4.  Identity lessons are based on the “Big 10” social identifiers: gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, age, religion, ability, body image, family systems, and socio-economic status. Students reflect on their own identity, how their identity shapes their experience with the outside world, intersectionality, and how their identity is shaped or impacted by current events. 

5.  Social-emotional learning lessons address conflict resolution, self-care techniques, how friendships shift and develop over time, how to navigate romantic relationships, making healthy decisions, and how to communicate and self-advocate. 

6.  Sexuality lessons teach students the beginning stages of puberty development, how bodies change, how families are created, sexual intercourse, making healthy sexual choices, preventing STIs, birth control options, and minimizing sexual risks.

Math Programming
Faculty Participants: 8

The purpose of this ICIE was to develop a programming curriculum that is segmented, woven throughout, and differentiated through Geometry, Algebra 2 and Trigonometry, and Precalculus courses at every level (regular, advanced, and accelerated). Beginning in the 2019-2020 school year, math classes in the Upper School will follow a curriculum that has programming projects and activities incorporated into it.

Quantitative analysis is no longer simply the work of paper and pencil or even the work of graphing calculators; it is the work of computer software, artificial intelligence, and machine learning algorithms. In line with Maret’s Strategic Directions [LINK], students will expand their technological and quantitative literacy by problem-solving through programming. They will also prepare for future advances by learning lessons on coding syntax and nomenclature. By integrating programming into our mathematics curriculum, students will acquire the tools to help them become innovators in the 21st century.

Outcomes:

1.  Four to six differentiated projects were created for each of the following courses: Algebra 1, Geometry, Algebra 2 and Trig, and Precalculus Courses

2.  Student resources for programming were developed, including an Algorithm Planning Document, a style guide with descriptions of best practices, and a list of webpages students could access if they needed help.

3.  Teacher resources for programming compiled, including a master list of projects with descriptions so teachers can see the sequence of projects and a cheat sheet of programming commands and when they are taught in the curriculum

K–5 STEM
Faculty Participants: 12

The STEM team began the process of integrating, for K–5 classes, the math, science, and technology disciplines into a cohesive learning paradigm—one that is based on real-world applications using computational thinking, the scientific method, and new and pertinent technologies as a foundation. Work included:

1.  Itemizing current elements of K-5 Science/Math/Tech that should be eliminated/highlighted using national standards in each discipline

2.  Indexing current resources available to K-5 classes and considered additional resources needed

3.  Drafting initial lesson plans connecting Science/Math/Tech for the 2019-2020 school year

Publications
Faculty Participants: 3

The Publications ICIE teaching team included Bill Crandall, photo teacher, Tom Raneses, art and graphics design teacher, and Marie-Elise Diamond, language teacher. The goal of this teaching team was to design a curriculum for a course entitled “Advanced Publications Design” for an art credit. This course relates to several of the goals articulated in the Strategic Directions, but aligns most closely with Guiding Principle 4C, that is, “ Our students are equipped with a set of iindispensable skills such as analytical, critical, and creative thinking; problem-solving; oral, written, and digital communication; and the ability to seek, understand, and engage productively with differing opinions.”

In this ICIE, the teaching team created a curriculum and structure for a new Art elective that will teach and implement all aspects of the interdisciplinary nature of the publications process. This will include the use of technology, the development of visual and literary competencies, analytical and creative thinking, problem-solving, and practical skills such as digital photography, writing, editing, page layout, and art appreciation/critical analysis. During the week, broad curricular goals were created, as well as specific units of study, such as how to use a digital camera, the interview process, the basic history of design. Furthermore, we created lists of field trips and guest speakers to support our curricular goals. From the broad outlines of the curriculum, we determined how specific school publications, the yearbook and the literary arts magazine, would be real-world places the students could practice the skills learned in the course.

The 2018 Summer Case Institute, in its tenth year, included 35 faculty members working on five different institutes.

Attention and Learning Challenges: Lower School
Faculty Participants: 9
The goal of this course was to learn more about the most common learning and attention challenges our Lower School students face. Our teachers often seek more information on the signs and symptoms, as well as strategies to support students, in order to make our classrooms more equitable and inclusive learning environments. Over the course of the week they learned about dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, ADHD, and anxiety. Through readings, videos, discussions, and guest speakers they increased their background knowledge of these topics. Additionally, they looked closely at Maret’s curriculum and teaching practices and made changes based on our newfound knowledge.

Two big initiatives grew out of this work: a new Kindergarten language program (Fundations) and a new K-4 reading assessment (Fountas and Pinnell Benchmark Assessment). Teachers have been receiving training in these programs and will continue to throughout the school year.

Academic Anxiety: Across All Three Divisions
Faculty Participants: 13

The goal of this institute was to continue the work being done around Wellness, focusing specifically on academic anxiety. We seek to continue to strengthen the program in terms of identifying, educating and managing student anxiety, which includes work with our students, faculty, and families. By gathering key educators from all three divisions, we were able to make decisions about how to move forward, both for next year and in the long term.

Elements of Faculty training, Parent Communication and Education, K-12, and division specific work were determined and put into place. This work is ongoing.

Adapting the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines to the Lower School Spanish Program
Faculty Participants: 3
The intent of this institute was to improve student engagement and success in foreign language studies through the learning process in the Lower School Spanish program, focused on the following:

• Customizing the performance descriptors in order to fit the student’s developmental stage, while reviewing the content of the learning, and the targeted proficiency level of the Lower School students.
• Implementing a strategy and plan for the use of the customized performance descriptors to promote student proficiency, motivation, and self-assessment.
• Creating rubrics to guide students as they learn how to self-assess and take ownership of the learning process.
• Revising the report card checklist to reflect the proficiency benchmarks that were established.

Community Engagement and Partnership
Faculty Participants: 6
This institute provided an opportunity for the Lower School homeroom teachers to develop Community Engagement and Partnership grade-wide programs with a focus on how to develop a shared understanding about applying social justice and racial identity development lenses to community engagement work.  Work was also done to build the 7th grade service program and deepen the 8th grade science program and the climate conference, through the development of a community engagement program. Additionally, it was a good opportunity for Maret’s outgoing director to transfer knowledge of the current K-12 Community Engagement and Partnership programming to Maret’s new Director for Community Engagement and Partnerships.

Human Development: Middle School
Faculty Participants: 4
This institute took an in depth look at the Middle School Human Development curriculum. Broken down by grade, participants addressed the key issues to be discussed with the students moving beyond a traditional curriculum to include a study of gender identity, bullying, race and racism, privilege, anxiety, and mental health awareness.

The 2017 Summer Case Institute, in its ninth year, included 45 faculty members working on six different institutes.

Technology Curriculum: K-8
Faculty Participants: 4
The goals of this institute focused on technology in Kindergarten through eighth grade. The group began by examining the existing technology curriculum scope and sequence. As gaps and needless repetitions were discovered in the curriculum, a determination was made regarding what should be added and what should be removed. A comprehensive plan for all K-8 technology classes for the 2017-18 school year was established.

Lower School Writing
Faculty Participants: 7
Grade level teams worked together to examine the new Writing Workshop Units of Study for their grade levels and then worked together across grade levels to ensure vertical alignment. The group additionally studied the different structural components of Writing Workshop in order to deepen their understanding and strengthen their practice.
Teachers have been implementing units this fall and will soon reconvene to reflect upon the implementation. The group shared their work at a homeroom teacher language arts meeting in the beginning of the school year.

Chemistry: Grades 8 and 10
Faculty Participants: 5
The goal of this institute was to reimagine what Chem Study—the general introductory level chemistry course at Maret—should look like, in order to better engage the full spectrum of students enrolled. During this institute, the participants worked to develop a new

Sequence and overall content focus for Chem Study based on their evaluation of what chemistry topics all students should learn to be informed citizens and to prepare them for more advanced science courses. A new sequence of chemistry topics was created that more evenly develops the various quantitative, conceptual, laboratory, and theoretical skills of students throughout the entire year.

Math: Middle School
Faculty Participants: 5
The Middle School Math institute worked to develop a balanced, differentiated curriculum geared toward all of our students with built-in support and accelerated units providing an equitable system of access to our advanced and accelerated mathematics program.

A set of coherent, inquiry-based curriculum units were to be developed so that active, hands-on labs could be coupled with technologies (Desmos, data collection and other tech resources) that support the goals. Additionally, a wide variety of assessments were designed and created that are available and accessible to all students. The final goal was to create some skill-based remedial and accelerated co-units to complement our core seventh and eighth grade curriculums.

K–12 Tech Bootcamp
Faculty Participants: 7
The bootcamp was an intensive program for participating faculty to gain new technology skills, with an eye to using their newly gained skills to improve the use of technology in their classes.

Each day had a different focus with project-/problem-based learning to learn and practice the skills introduced each day. There was a “workshop” component as well, and each afternoon the individual participants presented to each other what they had created during the daily challenge period. Time was provided at the end of the first four days and most of the final day for participants to work on their individual technology projects/goals. On the final day, each faculty member presented their work on their individual projects during the workshop period.  

Wellness: K-12
Faculty Participants: 17
The goal of this institute were to build upon Maret’s current wellness programming to create a more comprehensive and cohesive wellness approach throughout the K-12 co-curricular program. The institute relied on key external expertise to inform, inspire, and guide out teachers work. These resources included:

• A detailed study and school report from leading school consultant and physchologist, Catherine Steiner Adair;
• A session with EAB’s national strategic researcher, Erin Rehel, on researched best practices on student wellness;
• A four-day Conference at Potomac School, which 13 faculty participants attended, with the aim of equipping a broader team of faculty with SEL training to bring back to Maret.

The 2016 Summer Case Institute, its eighth year, included 7 projects and approximately 60 faculty members, some of whom participated in multiple projects.

Refining Assessment in the French Program
(3 Faculty – 1 Week)
This initiative, made up of middle and upper school French teachers, explored innovative ways to assess students that focus on intellectual growth, excellent study habits, and academic achievement, and to establish a system in which our assessment practices align with the departmental goals of communication and proficiency.

Physics 9
(7 Faculty – 1 Week)
A team of physics teachers, including new Science Department Chair Reyna Pratt, created the curriculum for the new Physics 9 class, which offers an alternative entry point to the sciences for upper school students. The class will run for the first time in the 2016-17 school year.

Reading Across Curriculum: Grades 5-10
(7 Faculty – 1 Week)
The group was developed to reflect on where Maret can improve reading instruction in various grade levels and subject areas. The team was very successful in making modifications to their curriculum, reflecting on our teaching practices, and thinking through ways to improve reading instruction in our departments and school as a whole. The team also spent time thinking about ways to support next year’s theme "Reading." To prepare for this initiative, the group read When Kids Can’t Read by Kylene Beers and Reading Reconsidered by Doug Lemov.

Lower School Writing
(5 Faculty – 1 Week)
The goal of this initiative was to allow first and fourth grade teachers the necessary time to delve fully into the Writing Workshop resources to revise their current writing curricula to better reflect the structure and goals of Lucy Calkins’s Writing Workshop model. This involved breaking down and exploring particular writing units, such as Small Moments and/or Bringing History to Life, by organizing lessons into a specific sequence tailored to meet the particular needs of Maret students, as well as scripting lessons to ensure that common language is used in all classrooms.

Lower School Identity
Working with an outside expert, lower school faculty explored programming around identity. The goal of this initiative was to develop programming to help our students develop a strong sense of self and belonging, feel respected and valued, understand the value of difference, approach the world recognizing injustice, and build community based on equity and inclusion.

Eighth Grade Humanities
The goal of this initiative was to integrate the content, skills, and thematic approach of the English 8 and History 8 curricula. The work was guiding by the underlying philosophy that integration of humanities English and History courses would create a degree of synchronization with the following results:

• Allowing students to enrich their understanding of the content of both courses;
• Allowing students to engage in reading and writing skills that thoughtfully compliment each other;
• Providing students different entry points into understanding the larger themes which guide both courses;
• Creating a more equitable learning environment where students will be able to see clearly the connection between both courses to increase success in both.
• Providing a greater range of voices and histories in both curricula.

Deepening the Discussion About Race

(39 Faculty - 3 One-Week Sessions)
Three separate cohorts of Deepening the Discussion About Race met in June, July, and August. With these three sessions, 100% of the faculty—including new faculty—have now gone through the program. The unusual number of sessions also allowed Holly Hinderlie and Eliza Alexander, the creators and leaders of this, to train three new interns. This year's new internal facilitators proved invaluable as the school continues in this important work.

This summer initiative was designed to create an in-house, diversity training experience for Maret faculty. The primary goal of this experience is to have a sustained conversation about race and equity. Participants develop a deeper understanding of the history and context around race and racism in our country, in Washington, D.C, and at Maret. Activities center around an exploration of participants’ personal awareness of their own perspectives on race and how that shapes how they teach and lead. Additionally, faculty develop a common language, a shared framework, and a set of tools that impact their work at Maret.

The 2015 Summer Case Institute, its eighth year, included 5 projects and 66 faculty members, some of whom participated in multiple projects.

First Grade Integration
(8 Faculty – 1 Week)
Lead by Chris Appleby, Director of the Lower School
Participants spent a week developing ways to connect their various disciplines into powerful lessons that focus on building specific academic and intellectual skills. Their unifying theme—Community—will play out in all First Grade classes throughout the year.

Reading Across Curriculum: Grades 6 -7
(5 Faculty – 1 Week)
Lead by Amy Sheridan Potts, Lower School Learning Specialist
This group focused their discussion on the successful lower school Readers Workshop model and how it could be utilized in the Middle School to improve students' reading. As a result, the Middle School launched the DEAR event—Drop Everything And Read, when for an hour, every adult and student found something to read for pleasure.

Reading Across Curriculum: Grades 7-12
(10 Faculty – 1 Week)
Lead by Betty Sun, Upper School Learning Specialist and Aaron Cahn, Middle School Learning Secialist
Members of the science, mathematics, and humanities departments worked together to create lessons and teaching guides for faculty in grades 7-12 to incorporate reading concepts and skills across the curriculum. Additionally, the work of this group will provide in-house professional development for teachers this year through presentations and materials provided at department meetings by the participants in this institute.

Gender and Sexual Identity
(4 Faculty – 1 Week)
Lead by Lynn Levinson, Assitant Head for Student Life
Faculty worked together to create a scope and sequence for education about gender and sexual identity through our human development classes. The group created lesson plans that are being used in grades 5-10. This institute created significant changes in our grades 4-10 human development activities and introduced more intentional and careful language about both gender and sexual identity.

Deepening the Discussion about Race
(39 Faculty – 2 One-Week Sessions)
Lead by Eliza Alexander, Director of Service Learning and Holly Hinderlie, Director of Counseling
This summer initiative is designed to create an in-house, diversity training experience for Maret faculty. The primary goal of this experience is to conduct a sustained conversation about race and equity. Participants develop a deeper understanding of the history and context around race and racism in our country, in Washington, DC, and at Maret. Activities center around an exploration of participants’ personal awareness of their own perspectives on race and their impact on how they teach and lead. Additionally, faculty develop common language, a shared framework and set of tools that will impact their work at Maret.

This fall, Holly Hinderlie and Eliza Alexander shared the goals of the program and some activities of Deeping the Discussion about Race with our Maret Parents Association Diversity Committee. The event attracted over 100 parents and guardians. A recent meeting of the Board of Trustees focused on a similar program, and Marjo Talbott, along with a number of other faculty, presented at NAIS in 2016 on the subject of equity.

• Teachers submit project proposals for work spanning 2-4 summer weeks
• Faculty are compensated for summer work
• Selected projects must advance Maret’s curriculum goals
• Most projects are implemented the following school year
• Participants submit final project reports and evaluate their work during the implementation stage
• Participants share results with Maret's faculty, parents, and other educators