AERO Summer Institute Faculty and Staff

AERO SUMMER INSTITUTE FACULTY and STAFF
JUNE, 2010

AERO PROJECT DIRECTOR

Naomi Woolsey has worked as a teacher and administrator, both in the United States and abroad. She brings a wealth of experience to this position, having worked at all three levels of schools. She has served as an administrator at the American Community School of Athens, the International School of Bangkok, the International School of Luxembourg and the Washington International School. She earned her doctorate from Teachers College, Columbia University. As AERO Project Director, she assists schools around the world as they work to become standards-based and develop strong academic programs.

ACADEMIC LEADERSHIP

Fran Prolman is an internationally recognized consultant specializing in educational leadership, school improvement and instructional strategies as well as communication skills, critical thinking and organizational development. She is known for her depth of knowledge coupled with practical application of content. Fran earned her Doctorate in teacher training and international education from George Washington University and a Master’s degree in educational administration and curriculum and instruction from the University of Pennsylvania.

Tom Oden has served in several international schools. Most recently, he was the Director and MS/HS Principal at the Uruguayan American School in Montevideo. He also worked for fifteen years as a high school English teacher and coach. Tom is a long-time member of the AERO Faculty, having worked closely with the project since its inception in 1998.

ENGLISH

Laura Benson brings over 28 years of teaching and consulting to the AERO Project. She has served as a teacher in both elementary and middle schools. She has also worked as a K-12 Reading Coordinator and Literacy Coach. She is currently an independent consultant collaborating with educators, students, and families around the globe. Laura earned her undergraduate degrees in education and psychology at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. She also earned a Masters Degree in Literacy Education from the University of Denver.

MATHEMATICS

Erma Anderson is a science and mathematics consultant working with several schools and organizations in the United States and abroad. She has served as the National Science Teacher’s Association Director of International Programs. Prior to her work with NSTA, she was an Einstein Fellow in the U.S. Senate and a Senior Program Officer with the National Research Council assisting with the development of the National Science Education Standards. She has been with the AERO Project for several years and led the recent work to develop the Mathematics Framework.

Peter Lee, a Grade 5 teacher at the American International School of Muscat (Oman) will also assist with the instruction and will provide many practical suggestions for implementation of the framework in the classroom.

SCIENCE

Erma Anderson will lead this new workshop. (See biography under Mathematics.) Dr. Gerald Wheeler will assist with the instruction. He retired as Executive Director of National Science Teachers Association in 2008. Prior to joining NSTA, Dr. Wheeler was Director of the Science/Math Resource Center and professor of Physics at Montana State University. He has headed numerous science organizations, and taught physics, chemistry and physical science at the high school level. Dr. Wheeler received an undergraduate degree in Science Education form Boston University and a Ph.D. in experimental nuclear physics from the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

Chad Johnson, a teacher at the American International School of Muscat (Oman) will assist Gerry and Erma and will provide many practical suggestions for implementation of the framework in the classroom.

Using MAP: Additional Data Sources and Instructional Strategies to Improve Learning

Kathy Stetson is a Senior Account Executive for International Partners at NWEA (Northwest Evaluation Association) in Portland,Oregon. She is responsible for coordinating enrollment and professional development activities, as well as providing project management services for international schools. She facilitates meetings for school improvement efforts with member school's leadership teams and conducts workshops on assessment and accountability. She has consulted at many international schools and has trained staff to effectively incorporate MAP into their assessment programs.

Fran Prolman will provide the link between data, its importance and meaning, and instruction and learning in the classroom. She will share a wealth of strategies designed to assist the teachers to analyze the data and develop successful ways to differentiate instruction to maximize student learning.

WORLD LANGUAGES

Christy Brown is the Assistant Superintendent for the Glastonbury (Connecticut) Public Schools. Previously, she worked as the Director of the Glastonbury Language program, one of the nation’s oldest and continuous, serving students in grades through 12. She has served as Chairperson of the K-12 Student Standards Writing Task Force for the National Standards in Foreign Language Education Project and is a past president of ACTFL. She is the author of articles on language teaching and learning and served as a consultant to the AERO standards writing project.

Kathy Morabet began her career as an educator teaching Spanish in California, then English as a Second Language in Moroccan high schools and finally French at the Rabat American School. She has taught all grades from Kindergarten-12, including world language and “core” classroom subjects. She is currently the elementary principal at RAS. She holds a B.A. in Spanish from the University of California at Berkeley, and an M.A. in secondary Social Studies from San Jose State College. She participated in the development of the AERO World Language Standards and has been working with her staff to use the standards to improve world language teaching.