Five Solvay Union Free School educators were recently awarded funding by Central New York Teaching Center, an organization that provides funding to public and private schools educators.
The Professional Development Grant, a sum of $3,000, was awarded to Doreen Merola, . Miori-Merola will attend the Adaptive Schools Learning Seminar this summer and work next year to incorporate the collaboration techniques at Solvay.
She said the seminar teaches how to work smarter, not harder, and will help improve communication and productivity.
Anyone who has every sat, (and I do mean sat), on an unproductive committee, he or she would benefit from these techniques, Miori-Merola said.
She, along with Director of Administrative Services Peter McCarthy, already a certified Adaptive Schools trainer, will co-present workshops in the district.
Judith Timmins, was awarded a $500 Literacy Grant to help fund the creation of the Transitions Book Club. The club will be open to eighth graders and their parents, and meet five times a year.
Timmins said students and their parents will read an age-appropriate book that will dealswith decision-making and other relevant issues, then meet with the club to discuss the book.
Timmins teaches Home and Careers, and had the idea for the club after coming to the middle school from the high school and teaching Adolescent Psychology to eighth graders.
I saw such a growth in them in that class, Timmins said. By the end, they had become very mature.
She hopes the club will have a similar effect on the students as they prepare to transition to the high school.
A team of three English as Second Language instructors, received a Creator Mini-Grant for $750. Kristen Schoonover, Beth Hylen, and Linda Vaught received the grant as a team. The money will go towards welcome bags, dubbed Bearcat Bags, for new students whose native language is not English.
The bags will include academic glossaries, student handbooks and other information translated into the student’s native language.
