Masters Welcomes New Faculty and Staff
From thoughtful Harkness discussions to conversations with student leaders to a taste of the delicious dining hall fare, our newest community members got a firsthand look at life at Masters and doing it with thy might.
Welcome to New Faculty Institute (NFI), a five-day orientation for new teachers and staff held in August and led by Jason Hult, dean of teaching and learning, and Arlene Casey, upper school math teacher and pedagogical coach.
Jackie Telford, a new middle school English teacher, is ready to make the most of her first year. “Students have already started asking me whether I'm Team Delta or Team Phi,” she said. “I'm looking forward to the joy, spirit and spookiness of Halloween in the Middle School, and to WinterMission, where I can share one of my biggest passions outside of school: scuba diving.”
“This is an amazing group, with a broad range of talents,” Hult said of the new cohort. “In talking about WinterMission, their ingenuity was palpable. I am excited to see what they create.”
During the weeklong session, new faculty also had the opportunity to learn from their new colleagues. Eamon Goucher, upper school science teacher, presented an engaging and entertaining STEM lesson in the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center, and John-Alec Raubeson, middle school music teacher, led a “Creating Collaboratively” workshop that hit all the right notes.
Telford said of Raubeson, “He had us learning the drums, a few notes on the ukulele, and even tackling ‘Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star’ as an ensemble. It was definitely outside my comfort zone, but it was joyful and challenging in exactly the way that great teaching and learning are. I can't wait to bring that spirit into my own classroom this year, and maybe to sneak into one of Mr. Raubeson's music classes myself!”
Hult shared that this spirit is the very essence of NFI. “Masters is a mission-oriented school in a way that is really special,” he said. “Our teachers think deeply about how to transfer different parts of our mission into classroom practices. We are really excited to see how our new faculty bring new interpretations and possibilities to the classroom.”
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