Hi, I am Moira Messick, a Communique team teacher at Bala Cynwyd Middle School.  Communique is an interdisciplinary seventh grade program based on the theory of multiple intelligences and communication skills.  It is an optional program in which sixth grade students apply and forty six students are selected by lottery for the following school year.  I am responsible for science, english, and art.  My partner, Denny Dool, teaches history and english.  We are a great team and love breathing life into the curriculum together.    It is a marvelous job.

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Ed Bujak - Mathematics Coach - HOPE Charter School, Philadelphia

HOPE Charter School is a grade 9-12 high school serving at risk students, limited to 440 students.

My primary hopes and goals for our STUDENTS is to become caring, responsible citizens with an appreciation for lifelong learning.

The most pressing issues/obstacles in our CLASSROOM are lack of equipment, no money, and student apathy.

I am Jack Marine. My legal given name is Jacob, but everone calls me Jack. No one in my family was a Marine, but my father was one of the few Marines in the Army!

I graduated college in 1978 and worked in the Apparel Industry for nearly twenty years.  In 1996, I went back to school at Cabrini College to study elementary education. After I earned my PA K-6 certification, I started teaching in The Philadelphia School District. I've been teaching for eleven years, teaching elementary science at two different charter schools for the past seven (years). I am currently seeking a new position for this fall.

I think some charter schools are very successful and work great. But I haven't worked for any of these schools yet, in my brief career in education.

 Issues in

the classroom:  the daily grind of getting/keeping the students interested, given the incredibly multi-sensory, instantaneous gratification environment they live in.  Because of all they are exposed to, web, mobile communication, multi-media, they feel themselves more sophisticated and mature than they really are..

our school:  as a private school with a 34K tuition we are fighting for students every day, other private schools are claiming to educate our population of LD students and that has forced a change in the demographics of our school..

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I'm participating in the Summer Institute as a parent and an educator.  I currently work in the Information Technology group at Bryn Mawr College. I taught K-12 teachers about technology for 9 years at Philadelphia Univeristy (formerly Phila College of Textiles and Science).  My educational background is engineering and computer science and the liberal arts.  I'm also an amateur clarinetist.

My name is Syreeta Bennett and I teach at Pastorius Elementary School. This year I am moving from fifth grade to Kindergarten.  I am excited about my new position and is looking forward to introducing Science to my students. I enjoy using inquiry in my classrooms. I am always amazed at what my students develop and learn through their own questions and ideas.  My biggest challenge this year is becoming familiar with a new curriculum and learing how to introduce and incorporate inquiry into a kindergarten classroom.