Williams Announces 2013 Olmsted Awards to Local Schools

Media contact:  Noelle Lemoine, communications assistant; tele: (413) 597-4277; email: [email protected]

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass., April 8, 2013—Williams College has announced its 2013 local Bicentennial Olmsted Awards for Faculty Development to McCann Technical School, Mt. Greylock Regional School, and Williamstown Elementary School. Three $4,300 awards will fund professional and curricular development projects. A ceremony will take place on Tuesday, May 21, on the Williams College campus.

For McCann, the award was granted to physics and math teacher Kim Bennett and math teacher Jessica Tatro, who submitted a proposal to certify two current McCann instructors to teach McCann’s existing Principles of Engineering course as part of the school’s Project Lead the Way (PLTW) pre-engineering program. PLTW allows McCann students to receive college credits for successful completion in these courses. PLTW was introduced at McCann during the 2005-2006 academic year and comprises a sequence of four courses in the engineering field. The grant money will be used for Bennett and Tatro to train for PLTW at Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

At Mt. Greylock, the award will be used for three projects. The Digital Media and Learning Speaker Series will support a cross-disciplinary speaker series regarding the significance and use of educational technology today. The series, proposed by Richard Scullin, digital media specialist, will be archived for future access. The award will also support the development of formative assessments and the use of data surrounding instruction and curriculum. Mary MacDonald, coordinator of curriculum, instruction, and assessment, Christopher Barnes, assistant principal, and Mt. Greylock’s Data Team will lead the project.  The Olmsted grant will also aid English teacher Katherine Brown’s proposal to develop a collaborative writing project between Mt. Greylock and the Williams Center at Greylock. Mt. Greylock will design curricular lessons to improve college and career readiness for all students.

The projects that will be funded at Williamstown Elementary School are “Teaching the Teachers in Order to Enhance Student Learning: Continuing the Quest to Infuse Technology into the Classroom” and “Teaching All Students by Differentiating Instruction.” Principal Joelle Brookner proposed both projects. The first project will allow three teachers, the principal, and the technology coordinator to attend the International Society for Technology in Education conference in San Antonio, Texas. The conference will cover a variety of topics regarding the relationships between education and technology.  The second project will provide the entire staff of Williamstown Elementary School a professional development day featuring a workshop on “grouping for success,” led by teacher, researcher, and author Vicki Gibson. This workshop will explore the challenges and importance of teaching children with a wide range of comforts and abilities with personalized instruction plans.

An endowment from the estates of George Olmsted, Jr. ’24 and his wife Frances fund the local Olmsted Awards. The awards were established during the 1993 Williams Bicentennial Celebration as an extension of the national Olmsted Prizes, which are given each year to secondary school teachers from across the nation, nominated by members of Williams’ senior class. Olmsted, a lifelong advocate of superior teaching, was the president and chairman of the board of the S.D. Warren (Paper) Company.

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Founded in 1793, Williams College is the second-oldest institution of higher learning in Massachusetts. The college’s 2,000 students are taught by a faculty noted for the quality of their teaching and research, and the achievement of academic goals includes active participation of students with faculty in their research. Students’ educational experience is enriched by the residential campus environment in Williamstown, Mass., which provides a host of opportunities for interaction with one another and with faculty beyond the classroom. Admission decisions on U.S. applicants are made regardless of a student’s financial ability, and the college provides grants and other assistance to meet the demonstrated needs of all who are admitted.

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Published April 8, 2013