This article was originally published in the summer 2013 Harker Quarterly.
Diane Main, the upper school’s assistant director of instructional technology, has been named one of the “100 Top Experts in eLearning and Technology Education” by a blog called The .Edu Toolbox.
“I didn’t know about [the honor] until someone congratulated me on Twitter and provided a link!” said an incredulous Main, who was ranked number 94 on the list by the site, a learning and educational resource.
The blog writes: “Diane Main is passionate about students receiving the skills they need to succeed, and so she took up an interest in educational technology. Her website highlights various presentations and handouts that are helpful for Ed Tech-related activities.”
While most of the experts honored by the blog’s list are very active in the field of educational technology through social media such as Twitter, Google+ and Facebook, those listed in the top 10 are extremely well-known “edu-bloggers” and speakers who are also educators themselves.
Main helps organize local educational technology events through professional development activities she helps run. She also presents on the topic at a number of conferences each year. She began working at Harker last summer and currently teaches one class (Digital World) while simultaneously working with faculty at the upper school on their own technology integration and other ideas. She is also an adjunct faculty member at San Diego State University, teaching an online educational technology course.
Before coming to Harker, she worked at the Milpitas Christian School for about 14 years as a teacher in computer technology. A member of Phi Kappa Phi, Main is a Google certified teacher, Google apps certified trainer and SVCUE board president.
She is also the director of the Making Education Relevant and Interactive through Technology (MERIT) program of the Krause Center for Innovation at Foothill College. MERIT is a yearlong professional development experience for teachers, with a two-week summer institute.
This article was originally published in the summer 2013 Harker Quarterly.
Middle school history teacher Andrea Milius loves spending her days speaking about events from the past. Last month the inspiring instructor made a little history of her own after being selected as the first Harker faculty member to travel to Turkey on an impressive two-week historic and culturally-based teacher training trip.
Milius heard about “this wonderful opportunity” through a resource she had been working with for professional development called ORIAS (The Office of Resources for International and Area Studies). Sponsored by the University of California, Berkeley, ORIAS provides scholarly resources and professional development for K-12 and community college educators.
Her application to be considered for the trip consisted of a series of essay questions focused on the incorporation of global education and international perspectives into her curriculum, especially in reference to the Middle East and Islam.
The unique travel program was offered through the Middle Eastern Studies Center at Ohio State University, which strives to peacefully bridge gaps dividing people along cultural, ethnic and religious lines.
Aided by a Turkish guide named Serkand, Milius and nine other lucky trip recipients (including teachers, curriculum writers, librarians and even an international lawyer) gained firsthand knowledge of the Middle East, its past and current economic, social and political developments.
The goal of the trip was to enable participants to return to their work in the United States better equipped to promote teaching, learning, research and public awareness of the diverse array of Middle Eastern languages, cultures and peoples.
“The trip achieved its objectives. I feel honored to have participated, and I am so thankful that Harker supported me in this endeavor. I learned so much about Turkish daily life and culture as well as the many intricate details about the actual practice of Islam, even though this was one of my major areas of research in graduate school,” reported Milius.
This article was originally published in the summer 2013 Harker Quarterly. Read the complete issue at http://bit.ly/10W17nX.
As Harker’s “Cornerstones for Success” campaign continues to gain momentum, the school’s advancement team is proud to announce that Jeffrey and Marieke Rothschild (Isaac, grade 11) have made a generous visionary level gift to the campaign.
The celebrated purchase of the Union Avenue campus accelerated the need for Harker to swiftly address the cross-campus improvements outlined in its strategic plan. Now, thanks to the generosity of current parents like the Rothschilds, several much-needed facilities will be in place for the upcoming generation of Harker students.
Involved with Harker since 2010, Jeff and Marieke Rothschild have been very supportive of the capital campaign to build a sports and performing arts complex on the upper school campus. After meeting with Joe Rosenthal, executive director of advancement, to first learn about the benefits of Harker purchasing a third property and building the proposed complex on the upper school campus, the duo have offered valuable input on the process.
Jeff Rothschild began his career as an engineer working on operating systems and mainframe storage systems with Honeywell and Intel. In 1994, he joined Accel as an entrepreneur-in-residence, which later led to his initial involvement with Facebook as a consultant. After his consultancy via Accel ended at Facebook, he was asked to stay on as a staff member to assist in maintaining the resiliency of their expansive system of servers. He currently serves as the vice president of technology at Facebook, a role he has held since 2009, and continues to maintain his relationship with Accel as a consulting partner.
He and his wife have long supported a variety of educational institutions both locally and across the country. The Rothschilds sponsor a scholarship for undergraduate students in financial need at Vanderbilt University (Jeff’s alma mater), and earlier this year he participated in the 2013 Harker TEDx conference as a guest speaker.
The Harker TEDx program, run solely by students to foster and promote dialogue on youth entrepreneurship, began in 2011 and continues to grow each year with support from parent entrepreneurs who are willing to spend their time mentoring Bay Area students. Isaac Rothschild has also been active in youth entrepreneurship, representing Harker at the Entrepreneurship Leadership Conference this past March after being nominated by Harker faculty to attend.
The Harker School extends its gratitude to the Rothschild family for their charitable gift to the school and welcomes them to an exceptional group of capital campaign donors who have long supported the school’s growth across all three campuses.
Two more Harker students were named college-sponsored National Merit scholarship winners on July 15. Rebecca Fang and Joshua Bollar both received a scholarship from the University of Southern California, bringing the total number of this year’s Harker National Merit winners to 11. Congratulations!
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In April and May, nine Harker seniors were named winners of National Merit scholarships in this year’s National Merit Scholarship Contest. Erik Andersen was awarded a corporate-sponsored scholarship from the Lockheed Martin Corporation Foundation. These scholarships offer annual stipends to students, ranging from $500 to $1,000 per year for up to four years of undergraduate education.
Winners of the National Merit $2,500 scholarships are Paulomi Bhattacharya, Ashvin Swaminathan, Emily Wang, Pranav Sharma, Joy Li, Nayeon Kim, Kyle Roter and Wendy Shwe. These students will receive single payments of $2,500, which can be used at an accredited U.S. college or university of their choice.
This year’s winners are among 8,300 nationwide, who make up less than one percent of the approximately 1.5 million entries in this year’s contest. Students are selected based on their performance on the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test.
More winners are set to be named on July 15. Watch this space!
Toward the end of the school year, Harker’s lower and middle school faculty were treated to two delicious meals expertly prepared and served by both parents and students. The breakfast and luncheon events were a token of appreciation for all the teachers’ hard work.
Following a hearty breakfast in the multipurpose room, the middle school teachers enjoyed a moving presentation that thanked them for their dedication. Then, in the afternoon, middle school parents continued the festivities by hosting an elegant luncheon for the teachers.
The lower school also held a teacher appreciation luncheon with a special breakfast served by parents. The Bucknall event took place in the faculty lounge. Later, lower school teachers joined parents for an outdoor lunch held on the school’s front field. Parents thanked teachers for their unconditional dedication to their students. Attendees enjoyed the glorious weather, a wide variety of entrees and desserts and easy conversation.
The lower and middle school appreciation breakfast and luncheon events are a much-beloved annual Harker tradition, caringly organized by class grade level coordinators at each campus.
In May the middle school’s Enlight’ning Club held its annual magazine kick-off celebration. During the well-attended late-afternoon event, talented students featured in the literary arts magazine proudly read and discussed their work.
Created in 2002 as an opportunity for selected students to publish outstanding writing and art, the magazine is produced by the club, which, for years, had met weekly during the school day in the second semester to solicit and evaluate magazine submissions. Last year the club expanded to also meet once a week during the first semester to get a behind-the-scenes look into the process of putting together the magazine.
Enlight’ning is recognized by the National Scholastic Press Association (NSPA), American Scholastic Press Association and Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA) for its exemplary product. In fact, it has placed as a gold medalist by CSPA and a silver medalist by NSPA in previous scholastic literary journal competitions.
Middle school singers sang about ups and downs of being a kid at this year’s Spring Sing concert, directed by Mary Ellen Agnew-Place and titled “Just Kidding!” The show featured the grade 6 class and also featured middle school vocal groups Dynamics, Harmonics and Vivace, performing a series of songs about childhood from several famous Broadway musicals such as “Les Misérables,” “West Side Story” and “Hairspray.”
After the opening number of “Kids” from “Bye, Bye, Birdie,” the show entered its first set of songs, which followed the theme of famous orphaned characters of Broadway musicals. Grade 6 student groups sang the wistful “Castle on a Cloud” from “Les Misérables” and “Where is Love?” from the 1960 musical “Oliver.” The grade 6 show choir Dynamics, directed by Agnew-Place, finished the set with the “Annie” favorite “It’s the Hard-Knock Life” and “I Won’t Grow Up” from “Peter Pan.”
Adolescent angst was the theme for another stage of the show, which featured Vivace and the girls of Harmonics, directed by Dave Hart, singing Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman’s “Mama, I’m a Big Girl Now,” from “Hairspray,” and performances of the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic “Sixteen Going on Seventeen” by the male singers of Harmonics.
Director Monica Colletti and the entire group of Harmonics singers kicked off the next part of the show, dedicated to parents, with another Rodgers and Hammerstein piece, “The Other Generation” from “Flower Drum Song.” Vivace returned to the stage to sing Harold Rome’s “Be Kind to Your Parents” before grade 6 students performed “Never Say No” and “Plant a Radish” from “The Fantasticks.”
For the finale, all of the night’s singers stood together onstage to sing “Happiness” from “You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown.”
Music lovers packed the Bucknall Theater on May 9 for a special performance by many of Harker’s youngest musicians, as several instrumental groups took the stage at the Spring Music Concert.
The show started fittingly enough with a performance of “The Harker School Song” by the Bucknall Choir, lower school orchestra and lower school string ensemble, led respectively by Kellie Binney-Smart, Jennifer Sandusky, Louis Hoffman and Toni Woodruff.
The show moved from group to group, demonstrating a wide range of material and versatility. The Bucknall Choir returned to sing several pieces, including an Irish folk song, a Schubert art song and a fun calypso number called “Shake the Papaya Down.”
Hoffman directed the Lower School Jazz Band, who appeared onstage multiple times, performing such tunes as “Tenor Madness” by Sonny Rollins and Charlie Parker’s “Now’s the Time.”
The first-year strings group performed “Can-Can” by Jacques Offenbach and the traditional song “Lightly Row,” while the first-year winds performed folk songs from the Australian, French and Czech peoples.
A special portion of the show was dedicated to student composers Paul Kratter, grade 4, and Jun Lin, grade 5. Kratter performed his piece, “The Crazy Dude,” on tenor saxophone, while Lin, a violinist, performed his piece, titled “Fight of the Fish,” with his mother, Sieun, on cello.
Lower school performing arts teacher Danny Dunn acted as technical director to make sure both the performers and the audience enjoyed a smooth run of the show.
On June 7, Harker hosted its ninth annual Teacher Institute, inviting teachers from schools all over the Bay Area to attend a wide variety of workshops intended to improve their teaching methods and their understanding of instructional technologies.
The event was organized by Harker’s instructional technology department and sponsored by Silicon Valley Computer-Using Educators (SVCUE). Each of the Teacher Institute’s three sessions consisted of a number of classes that visiting teachers were free to visit. In one class Diane Main, upper school instructional technology director, showed how a special educational version of the popular online game Minecraft could be used for teaching purposes. At another, teachers learned digital grading techniques from middle school English teacher Mark Gelineau. Other workshops included lower school history teacher Jared Ramsey’s class on different ways to assess history projects, a class on using Google Drive to improve creative writing classes, taught by middle school English teacher Patricia Lai Burrows, and a presentation on the use of Google Chromebooks by lower school instructional technology director Lisa Diffenderfer.
“There were so many things we are going to take back to our school,” said Julia Maynard, a language arts and social studies teacher at Parkside Middle School in San Bruno. “I have been to several tech conferences, and this was by far the most beneficial!”
“The sessions were much more informative than many tech conferences that I have been to lately,” said Kristy Simmons, a teacher at San Bruno’s Crestmoor Elementary. “The wide array of topics, the dynamic presenters, the beautiful campus and the fabulous lunch all made for an enjoyable day of learning.”
On May 24 at the Mexican Heritage Theater in San Jose, the graduating seniors in the Harker Conservatory certificate program performed selections from their senior portfolios at the 2013 Harker Conservatory Senior Showcase to an appreciative crowd of more than 500.
All 27 graduates of the program put on a diverse array of performances, from instrumental pieces to dance routines to reenactments of scenes from plays. The students have spent the previous four years in the program honing their talents in one of six fields offered by the certificate program.
Renee Tam, Apricot Tang and Michelle Christine Douglas, backed up by five friends,got the evening crowd going with their energetic dance performance to the Allstar Weekend song “Wanna Dance with Somebody.”
The show included several dramatic reenactments, including Alice Tsui’s performance of a monologue from Jessie McCormack’s comedy “Spine,” and Apurva Tandon delivering Lady Macbeth’s chilling “Out, out damned spot” speech from Shakespeare’s “Macbeth.”
As always, the musical talents of Harker’s Conservatory students were a treat, including vocalist Rebecca Liu’s stirring version of “Ave Maria” and Payal Modi singing the Kelly Clarkson hit “A Moment Like This,” in addition to the many great instrumental pieces from musicians such as Nayeon Kim, Katherine Woodruff and Albert Chen. Cecilia Lang-Ree’s jazzy number from the Broadway hit “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” came complete with backup dancers. Jazz, classical, pop and Broadway were all well-represented by this versatile group.
After the performances had concluded, the graduates lined up on stage and were called forward to receive their engraved plaques signaling successful completion of this intense arts program.
Congratulations to this year’s Conservatory graduates!
Instrumental Music: Tara Sheida Rezvani, Nayeon Kim, Katherine Woodruff, Albert Y. Chen, Wendy Shwe, Pooja Shah, Patricia Huang