Our Journey Forward

Innovative Practices

Scarsdale's excellent teachers are known for their passion and creativity. The pandemic has also put their innovative spirit on display.

In this video, Scarsdale teachers talk about the transition to virtual and hybrid learning, and what they see working well. They love seeing students happy and engaged!

Art in Action at Edgewood

Edgewood Art Teacher Matthew Fitzpatrick has long been known as an innovative teacher, and is an active member of the District's Maker Space team. As he transitioned to online teaching, he could see his students were hungry to see more of what he was doing.

So when Mr. Fitzpatrick was able to return to teaching in his classroom, he set up his desk with multiple cameras--one focused on his face, and two more showing his desk and hands from different angles. He logs each camera into his zoom classes separately, so kids are always able to see his face or hands when they need, and he doesn't need to stop teaching to switch camera angles.

"The kids like being able to look at the screen and always see my hands," Fitzpatrick said. "It's a more effective teaching method, and it's more fun."

Science & Friendships at Heathcote

Heathcote teacher Christine Boyer has long lead the District's GEMS club, which encourages girls to study science and engineering. Each month, Scarsdale High School science students teach a lesson to fourth and fifth-grade students and conduct an experiment. Ms. Boyer wasn't going to let a pandemic stop that.

"Kids are learning on Zoom, why not move the club to Zoom," Boyer said. "The girls get so much out of learning from each other, and the younger girls really look up to their counterparts in the High School. They aspire to be more like them."

In October, the GEMS club returned, via Zoom. Together, high school and elementary girls discussed and built mini volcanoes. Not wanting to make the kind of mess exploding volcanoes do, in this experiment students put a rubber glove over their vessel to capture the gasses. Instead of creating a mess- they waved at each other.

Speech & Debate Grow and Thrive

The Scarsdale High School Debate Team’s track record of success is continuing, despite a radically different program structure with not just online competitions, but online practices as well.

“One of the good things that came out of the pandemic is that a lot of the travel costs have been eliminated, so we can go to tournaments we didn’t go to before. Already this year we’ve competed in tournaments in Texas and Illinois,” Senior Curtis Chang said. “We just paid the entrance fee and there was no jet lag.”

Tournaments now are hosting a much bigger pool of competitors than in the past. Debaters said they are exposed to more styles, new argument structures, and ultimately tournaments have become more competitive.

And while Zoom practice has its challenges, without the need to catch a school bus home students say they now enjoy complete practice rounds instead of the abbreviated ones of the past. (Read more.)

K-2 Full Day

The transition to virtual learning was a challenge for all age levels, but has been a particular challenge to our littlest learners. In November, the Scarsdale Schools fulfilled a commitment to return children in kindergarten, first and second grade to full-day, in-person learning.

The move followed weeks of planning, with District officials working closely with teachers, parents, doctors, architects, and other experts. To accommodate the students, certain large group spaces like gymnasiums and multipurpose rooms have been reconfigured to create classrooms. These spaces allow for a full class to convene while maintaining proper social-distancing. The rooms vacated by those teachers and students were used to create classroom pairs. A teacher’s AM cohort will occupy one space, and the PM cohort the other. While the teacher is in one room, a teacher aide will direct activities in the other.

Creative Writing With aTwist

Students in grades 3-5 across the District engaged in creative and meaningful story writing with author and PD leader Angela Stockman. Over the winter break, students submitted writings to be published in her ebook. The ebook will be published soon, and shared here shortly thereafter.

Improving Virtual Phonics

Fox Meadow's second grade teachers engaged in professional development with Teacher's College Staff Developer, Alyse Bader. In a labsite environment, teachers observed Alyse virtually working with 2nd grade students on phonics via Jamboard. Teachers learned new ways to translate lessons and theory to a virtual world.

Gamifying Learning

Greenacres Kindergarten teacher Catherine Herlihy is getting creative with space, furniture, and "gamifying" lessons to create socially distant small groups with her students. Children look at pictures of short vowel images and then write the words to match. What fun!

Cross-Cohort Conversations

To encourage the community and allow students opportunities for engaging conversations, Greenacres third grade teacher Jaime Deppert connected her AM & PM cohorts in a cross-cohort Book Club using google's JAMBOARD. Club members posted ideas and thoughts about their book, and read/responded to thoughts from their classmates. They loved the idea of collaborating and connecting with their friends.

Scarsdale Teachers Institute Pushes Virtual Learning Forward

Despite the significant challenges faced by teachers during the sudden transition to remote learning, the Scarsdale Teachers Institute has not missed a beat. In furtherance of a long tradition of excellence, the institute began offering courses on virtual learning very shortly after the shutdown began.

They also created an innovative project sharing database, allowing teachers to share successful lessons and exercises with each other, and find them according to grade level. Now, classes focus on how to elevate digital learning and drive student conversation forward.

A small sampling of STI course descriptions are below:

Adapt and Elevate

The entire world was forced to stop as Covid-19 wreaked havoc across multiple countries. It dismantled many institutions and most importantly forced educators into emergency online learning. In spite of all of the damage that has taken place, we have been presented with a prime opportunity to reimagine education from a new perspective! In this keynote, Michael Bonner will highlight 3 strategies educators can implement today that will increase efficiency within their respective spaces.

Calling In The Calling Out Culture with Prof. Loretta J. Ross

Join long-time activist, author and current Associate Professor at Smith College, Professor Loretta J. Ross, on a journey to transform the Calling Out Culture into a Calling In Culture. Professor Ross teaches courses on white supremacy, human rights and calling in the calling out culture and is set to release her latest book, Calling In the Calling Out Culture, this year. Loretta is committed to changing our national dialogue and improving our work on human rights by inviting us to take a deep exploration into how we can most effectively impact change in our communities. She asks the hard question: Is Calling Out culture preventing us from fighting the real challenges before us?

This public course spans 4 sessions of 2 hours each. These sessions can be taken individually for ST@C hours. Additional ST@C classes with Nicola and Elizabeth will build upon this work and focus on establishing a foundational understanding and vocabulary regarding inclusive language, identifying and addressing microaggressions and embedded biases, and providing study group and workshop opportunities.

In Prof. Ross words, “Calling-in is simply a call-out done with love… It is not tone policing, protecting white fragility or covering up abuse. It helps avoid the weaponization of suffering that prevents constructive healing. Calling-in engages in debates with words and actions of healing and restoration, and without the self-indulgence of drama.” Join us as we engage in constructive dialogue and work to affect change through our classroom environments.

Classroom Norms and Routines for Building Student Agency and Equitable Mathematical Environments (Math: General Interest)

How do teachers support students to build agency for mathematics and foster positive mathematical identities? In this session, participants will learn how to develop classroom norms and routines that create emotionally and socially safe spaces for students to engage in problem solving through productive struggle, risk taking, and metacognition.

Creating Interactive Videos Using Ed-Puzzle

Learn how to create an asynchronous lesson using videos from YouTube or videos you have created. Ed-Puzzle allows you to insert questions and trim portions of the video. Ed-Puzzle connects to your Google Classroom and provides you feedback on student responses and the amount of time students watched.

Culturally Responsive Teaching

Culturally Responsive Teaching is a practice of creating the opportunity for meaningful connections between what your students are learning in school, their cultures, languages, interests, and life experiences. This effective pedagogical approach into our daily instructional practices is the only way to cultivate and increase student engagement in and out of classrooms. This segment will focus on ways to pique the interests and curiosity of students by engaging in strategies that foster a sense of cultural relevance. We will dive into activities and interdisciplinary learning tasks, which can be used in all class settings remote, in-person, and hybrid.

Early Lessons from Elementary Zooms with Paul Tomizawa

Early Lessons from Elementary Zooms

Having Conversations about Race in Foreign Language Classrooms

As we return to classes this fall—in-person or virtually—as educators we must address the crisis of structural racism. In this session, we’ll examine the most effective ways to have conversations about race and social justice in world language classrooms, focusing on strategies to prepare students to interrogate and challenge misconceptions and untruths that lead to structural inequality. We’ll discuss activities and strategies that promote critical thinking and agency for social change, using seminal texts by Tiffany Jewell, Ibram X. Kendi, and Maboula Soumahoro, as well as a rich variety of on-line resources, among others. Examples will be in French, but the topic is applicable to all.

Dr. Angèle Kingué is a professor of French and Francophone Studies and Special Advisor to the Provost at Bucknell University. A writer and scholar of Francophone African culture and literature, she has published two novels (her second novel was translated in English) and a children’s book translated in English and four Cameroonian languages. She led the Bucknell en France program for fifteen years and has received numerous awards, including the University Medal of Honor from the Université de Tours, and the 2016 Best of NECTFL. Kingué holds a PhD in French-Foreign Language Pedagogy and Second Language Acquisition from Penn State University.

IXL - Analyzing Student Data

During this session we will discuss how to analyze and utilize the data from the diagnostic arena. This data can help you to pinpoint each student's level of understanding, allow you to customize assigned skills, and inform your instruction.

Project Zero Ideas in the Science Classroom

In this workshop, educators will learn about how PZ thinking routines and protocols have been adapted for science content and classrooms. Dolph Hardigree will share his experiences as a high school science teacher in a diverse Georgia (US) public secondary school working with and integrating Project Zero’s research and frameworks. Participants will explore some of PZ’s thinking routines to consider how they specifically support learning in the sciences and help students become more engaged in classrooms and more effective as independent and collaborative learners. This workshop will include specific before & after examples, as well as time to work in small groups to develop applications for educators own school setting. This workshop is designed to support educators teaching in the sciences with learners in middle and secondary school as well as science-focused instructional coaches and museum educators.

Raising and Educating Digital Citizens

Elizabeth is an international speaker, author, and consultant on internet safety, digital parenting, and digital family wellness. She founded Digital Parenting Consulting, which provides advisory services to the Council of Europe, UNICEF and e-Enfance, as well as provides support services to Internet Matters, the UK Safer Internet Centre and the Family Online Safety institute. She also founded DigitalParentingCoach.com, a website which provides resources for parents and caregivers, and she is host of the free, private, Facebook Group, The Digital Parenting Community. She has written several publications on digital parenting.

Screencastify for High School with Meredith Dutra

Together we will explore how Screencastify can work in an asynchronous learning environment.

The Struggle for Racial Justice and Voting

Free and fair elections are the foundation of all democracies. The US Voting Rights Act of 1965 established protections for all Americans, especially for Black Americans. However, the 2013 Supreme Court decision Shelby County v Holder dismantled key elements of the Voting Rights Act and voter suppression efforts are ongoing across the country.

Please join us for a dialogue with Dr. Carol Anderson; professor, historian, and National Book Critics Circle Award winner, exploring the history of the fight for African Americans’ voting rights as part of the struggle for racial justice in the United States.

Teaching Remotely with Read-Alouds, Songs, Movement and Mindfulness

Join Edible Schoolyard NYC to talk about strategies we've used to teach remotely. When we can't be hands-on with our students in the garden, we bring in children's books, yoga, music and sensory activities. Come talk about what's worked for us and what's working for you.

Unlocking the Power of Classroom Talk

Sue and Michelle will share examples of ways that teachers and students have taken high-level talk digital, and have employed similar games, mentors, and lessons to lift the level of talk. Participate in digital talk strategies so you can see what your students might experience when conducting book clubs, debates, and partnerships away from the face-to-face classroom. Teachers will troubleshoot and plan for digital components to their classroom talk repertoire, whether you’re in school or not.

“What Will We Say to Them Tomorrow?”: Tackling Tough Conversations in the Classroom

Philadelphia educator Matthew R. Kay’s "Not Light, But Fire: How to Lead Meaningful Race Conversations in the Classroom" provided practical, sustained strategies for talking about tough topics with students. In this interactive webinar, Kay demonstrates how his method can help teachers navigate conversations about current and emerging events as well. Guided prompts and a live Q&A round out the 60-minute session

Who's Hiding? Empathizing and Expanding Opportunities for All (Open to all, recommended grades 8–10)

Join us for a non-traditional math experience designed to open our eyes to the feelings and anxieties of our students. Hear the voices of Chicago Public Schools high school students, captured through a city-wide listening project. As a group, we will discuss and reflect on what resonates with us and what we can gain from their experiences.

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