Posted on June 17, 2009

About Our People

Penny McConnell* Penny McConnell, director of the Office of Food and Nutrition Services, served as the chair of the Global Child Nutrition Forum in Stellenbosch, South Africa, in May. In partnership with the World Food Programme, Joint Aid Management, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, representatives from 14 African nations were invited to attend. Each representative drafted a plan for implementing sustainable school feeding and home grown programs in his or her country and used the School Feeding Toolkit, coauthored by McConnell, as the working document. Future technical assistance and progress reports will be coordinated by the Global Child Nutrition Foundation.

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Connie Thiebault

* Connie Thibeault, ESOL assessment teacher at Devonshire, wrote an article titled “First Language Insights Into Second Language Acquisition,” which was published in the spring AccELLerate Newsletter for the National Clearinghouse on English Language Acquisition (NCELA). The article addresses the need for careful analysis and comparison of first and second language skills in considering the needs of English language learners who are experiencing academic difficulty.

 

 

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* Eleven FCPS teachers have been selected as Fellows of the Northern Virginia Writing Project (NVWP) Summer Institute. This year’s NVWP Fellows from FCPS are:

  • Zach Carter, math teacher, South Lakes
  • Angela Collins, music teacher, Willow Springs
  • Erin Crostic, second grade teacher, Wakefield Forest 
  • Charles Daly, social studies teacher, Lee
  • Julian Dotson, English teacher, West Potomac
  • David Friedman, English teacher, Chantilly
  • Laura Goodman, English teacher, West Springfield High
  • Lauren Jensen, English teacher, Lee
  • Bryan Pahl, English teacher, Fairfax
  • Alison Rockmann, English teacher, Lake Braddock
  • Kelly Worland, third Grade teacher, Wolftrap

Each Fellow will receive a $500 stipend and earn six graduate-level college credits to study the latest writing research and effective classroom practices at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va. After completing the institute, Fellows will become NVWP teacher consultants and provide in-service programs, workshops, and credit courses on the teaching of writing to professional school staffs throughout Northern Virginia. NVWP is part of the National Writing Project (NWP).

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* Mamiya Sahara Worland, teacher of Japanese in the Japanese partial-immersion program at Great Falls, is the 2009 recipient of the United States-Japan Foundation Elgin Heinz Outstanding Teacher Award. The award is given annually to exceptional teachers who further mutual understanding between Americans and Japanese and includes a monetary award of $2,500 in addition to $5,000 in project funds.

Worland proposed a Japanese garden for her project. Great Falls is currently undergoing an extensive renovation. Worland recognized that a Japanese garden would be a wonderful addition when the school completes renovation in fall 2010. It will not only serve as an educational resource for the students, but will also create a beautiful garden to be enjoyed by the community.

Worland, known to the students as Sahara Sensei, has been teaching Japanese n the Japanese partial-immersion program for 19 years, and has taught for 16 of those years at Great Falls. (view press release)

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Online Campus staff* Three FCPS staff members—Bob Lamons (middle), science teacher, Susan Socha (right), math teacher, and Sandy Todd (left), educational specialist, instructional technology—from the Online Campus school at the Sprague Center, presented a session at the Regional Elluminati Community Conference in Washington, D.C., hosted by the Pan American Health Organization in March.

Their topic, “Innovative Accountability Techniques for Online Conferencing,” was also shared in real time over the Internet with online conference attendees throughout the United States and with special gatherings in France, Columbia, and Brazil.

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How Do I Get Mentioned in About Our People?

Submit your good news for About Our People to Supergram editor Andy Grunig at andy.grunig@fcps.edu. We want to hear from you!

What Type of Information Is Used in About Our People?

The following categories of items will be published:

  • Employees who receive regional, state, or national awards for their professional accomplishments.
  • Employees elected to serve in regional, state, or national education organizations.
  • Employees who give presentations at regional, state, or national meetings.
  • Employees who publish articles or books.
  • Those who successfully defend doctoral dissertations.
  • Those who receive grants or are selected for scholarships that involve travel or the sharing of ideas.

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