• The Brookline Education Foundation @ PreK-8
• The Brookline Education Foundation @ BHS
• New Board Members Elected
• 2005 Gelfand Fellow Will Travel with Steinbeck
• Teacher Grant in Action: Exploring Mongolia
• Notes from the President
• Spreading the Word: Brookline Foundation Forums

2005 Caverly Award Recipient: Mary Sodano

In recognition of her exemplary teaching and outstanding contribution to the Brookline Public Schools, Mary Sodano, a 5th grade teacher at the Lawrence School, received the 2005 Caverly Award this May.

Over the span of almost three decades, countless numbers of students from the successful to the struggling, leave Mary’s classroom buoyed by the power of her gifts and talents, believing what she believes–that they are worthy and important. As Theo Epstein told current Lawrence schoolers, “When I was a kid, I was shy about what I didn’t know and I bragged about what I did know. Ms. Martin (now Sodano) taught me that it was important for me to just be myself.”

Mary’s colleagues extol her versatility and commitment to each student, describing her as “the consummate professional, a lifelong learner who always seeks to perfect her teaching skills, and to find ways to meet the individual academic needs of her students.” Both students and parents value Ms. Sodano’s creativity, enthusiasm, passion and compassion, warmth, sense of humor, intelligence, and curiosity about the world. One parent explained: “Mary went out of her way to get to know us as parents and to make us feel like she was our partner in helping our child thrive in school. More astonishing, that didn’t stop after he left fifth grade; Mary still watches our for him.”

At Celebrating Teachers, Mary shared what teaching means to her. “We have an opportunity to touch children’s lives each day...The art of teaching happens when we take time to know our students as unique individuals.” Clearly, judging from what others have to say about her,, Mary does that every day.

2005 Caverly Award Recipient: Margaret Metzger

This year, those attending “Celebrating Teachers” on May 17 were, once again, amazed and grateful to know that remarkable faculty members remain part of the Brookline tradition.

Margaret Metzger, the recipient of the 2005 Caverly Award, has had a remarkable 34-year career at Brookline High School where she is known and esteemed as a great English instructor, a wise mentor, and a scholar in the art of teaching. Mary Burchenal, teacher and Curriculum Coordinator for English—and Caverly Award winner in 2003—wrote: “Margaret Metzger is, quite simply, a teaching icon. …I think it fully fair to say that Margaret has had more effect on classroom teaching that takes place at Brookline High School than any other individual.”

Beth Thompson, once Margaret’s student teacher, former BHS teacher, and another Caverly winner, describes Margaret as “a teacher’s teacher. She lives to teach, to talk about teaching...Margaret never turns away from teaching challenges. Thinking about teaching is her hobby, her passion, her life...Margaret meets all students where they are and then challenges them to move and grow.”

In her address at Celebrating Teachers, Margaret was both self-deprecating and profound. “Teaching is my creative outlet, my form of self expression, my only talent….On the best days, when classes sing, I sense that my teaching has moved to an art form. It is rich and vulnerable and tough and gentle. It is creative and transforming. On those rare days, I think about the class as a whole, each individual, my own presentation, the material. At the risk of sounding arrogant, this is my creative and artistic work.”

Margaret has touched the lives of her students and colleagues. No school system could ask for more.

At its Annual Meeting on May 17, the Brookline Education Foundation introduced new board members:

• Jeffrey Freilich is a Baker School parent of two young children. He is the Vice President of Business Development at Psyche Systems, a healthcare software company.

• Ken Maloney is a Heath School parent of two young children. He founded a software company called LaborMetrix, which focuses on innovative productivity-management tools for large companies.

• Mary Lynn Pergantis is a Driscoll parent of two young girls. She has a Masters Degree in Early Childhood Education and spent 10 years teaching in the Early Childhood Learning Lab at Boston University.

• Kay Schlozman is the J. Joseph Moakley Professor of Political Science at Boston College. She has two children who attended the Lincoln School.

• Deanne Urmy is a former Lincoln School and Brookline High School PTO co-president. She has two sons, one in college and one at Brookline High School.
  

Patricia Rigley, 7th/8th grade Language Arts teacher at Lincoln School, is the fifth recipient of the Adam Russell Gelfand Fellowship. This annual award honors the life of Adam Russell Gelfand, his respect for community, and his love of learning, especially geography and mathematics.

The Gelfand Fellowship and a Foundation grant will fund Ms. Rigley’s “Travels with Steinbeck” this summer. As background for expanding and enhancing the 7th/8th grade Steinbeck and “Facing History and Ourselves” curricula, Ms. Rigley will visit Salinas, Monterey, and Soledad, California, and other key locations from the literature of John Steinbeck.

Sue Zobel, 7th/8th grade Science teacher at Lincoln School and Brookline Foundation teacher grant recipient, traveled to Mongolia last summer with the Geographical Society of Amercia to study the region's geology.

President Richard Kazis and Superintendent Bill Lupini

In today’s cultural and political climate, our support for the town’s schools and teachers takes on additional urgency. Plutarch wrote, “The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be ignited.” …We hope that the support the Brookline Education Foundation provides teachers and administrators in this town fosters risk-taking and professional daring that will pay off over and over for our town’s young people. We hope that our resources and activities replenish the supply of matches that will ignite the fires of learning in Brookline.

—Richard Kazis, Brookline Foundation President at Celebrating Teachers

The Gifted Child: Superachiever or Underachiever?

On May 5th, the Brookline Education Foundation co-sponsored a forum entitled “The Gifted Child: Superachiever or Underachiever – Parents and Teachers Make the Difference,” with Challenge for All Children Today, a Brookline parents’ organization. The forum featured Sylvia Rimm, noted child education author and parenting expert. Dr. Rimm shared many ideas concerning how families and schools can provide realistic challenges and guidance for gifted underachievers.

Learning Together: Children, Teachers, and Parents in Pre-K to Grade 3

A fascinating roundtable discussion entitled “Learning Together: Children, Teachers, and Parents in Pre-K to Grade 3” was sponsored by the Brookline Education Foundation on May 11th. Participants addressed the theory and practical application of an impressive collaborative learning model pioneered in Reggio Emilia, Italy, and now being implemented in a several Brookline classrooms. Panelists were Mara Krechevsky, Researcher at Harvard University’s Project Zero; Melissa Tonachel, Devotion School Kindergarten teacher; Vicki Milstein, Brookline Public Schools’ Early Childhood Education Coordinator; and Jennifer Fischer-Mueller, Deputy Superintendent for Teaching and Learning.