Summer Professional Development - Always Learning, Always Growing!

This summer, school was in session for our faculty! While June and July are filled with rest, travel, and family time, it is also a season for learning and growing. Many of our teachers took advantage of professional development opportunities all over North America. Various seminars, conferences, trainings, and sessions help faculty hone skills, enrich pedagogy, and enhance classroom strategies. Professional development is critical to advancing student success in and beyond the school building. Saint James teachers know we are always learning and always growing. #wearesaintjamesschool

• Mr. Jeremy Turner, middle school STEM teacher, attended The Vex IQ Workshop in Auburn, AL in July.

• High School English teacher Dr. Catherine Winn visited Western Kentucky University’s AP Summer Institute. Dr. Winn will be teaching our brand new section of AP Psychology this 2023-24 academic year.

• High School AP teacher Dr. Amanda Ousley served as an AP Chemistry reader in Salt Lake City, Utah. Grading AP exams allows faculty to see the other side of the AP Exams process and were able to offer their expertise in their subject fields.

• High School history teacher Kiki Hughes attended the AP Summer Institute at Howard University. Mrs. Hughes will be teaching our brand new section of AP African American Studies this 2023-24 academic year.

• Venna Everett, Middle School history teacher, presented at the Innovative Schools Summit in Atlanta. This K-12 conference focuses on transforming school climate and innovative teaching strategies.

• Dr. Amanda Ousley attended the ChemEd Conference at the University of Guelph in Guelph, Ontario. This biannual conference for chemistry teachers focuses on innovative teaching methods, critical thinking, and collaboration.

• Elementary music teacher, Mr. Will Reese, led sessions during the Alabama Institute for Education in the Arts Music Institute in June.

  #wearesaintjamesschool

Dr. Catherine Winn visited Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, Kentucky for the AP Summer Institute.

“Offering AP Psychology is such an exciting opportunity for me and for all of the Saint James students, and learning more about the course through the AP training seminar has only made me more eager to get started! In addition, Kentucky was a beautiful state with incredible people, and I am so grateful that I was able to explore Mammoth Cave and visit the Corvette Museum while I was there.”

— Dr. Catherine Winn, at the AP Summer Institute at Western Kentucky University

Mrs. Hughes at the AP African American Studies Summer Institute at Howard University in Washington, DC.

Mr. Jeremy Turner at the VEX IQ Coaches Refresh Workshop at Auburn University.

Mrs. Venna Everett was a session leader at the Innovative Schools Summit in Atlanta.

“I presented “Are There Any Humanities Growing Amongst The STEM’s?” at the Innovative Schools Summit in Atlanta. In this presentation, I took the opportunity to discuss the importance of teaching history in our schools because it is lacking! We need to bring history to life for our students because that is how they learn wonderful life lessons from people in the past and events from the past. They can learn what to do and what not to do. it was an exciting opportunity!”

— Venna Everett, MS History Teacher

Dr. Amanda Ousley at the ChemEd Conference at the University of Guelph in Guelph, Ontario.

Mr. Will Reese led sessions during the Alabama Institute for Education in the Arts Music Institute held on the Saint James School Campus in June.

Teachers Shelly Taliaferro, Mallory Green, Savannah Partin, Bonnie Capps, and Lauren Young at the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts for Education in the Arts Institute.

Summer Professional Development - Never Stop Learning!

Mr. Will Reese with a puppet telling the story of Peter and the Wolf from a character’s perspective.

Ms. Studdard and Dr. Ousley in Salt Lake City serving as AP Exam readers

Ms. Ramsey at the Nuts and Bolts Symposium in Mobile, held June 9-10.

• Elementary music teacher, Mr. Will Reese, led the Alabama Institute for Education in the Arts Music Institute in June. This summer institute is held on the STJ campus each year.

• High School English teacher Mrs. Brittnee Ward attended the inaugural “Teaching The Great Gatsby” conference at Huntingdon College on July 15th and 16th. Attendees from all over the U.S. learned about Fitzgerald’s novel and the history of the 1920s, including the people in Scott and Zelda’s lives.

• High School AP teachers Dr. Amanda Ousley and Ms. Michelle Studdard served as AP Chemistry and AP Government readers in Salt Lake City, Utah. Grading AP exams allowed these faculty members to see the other side of the AP Exams process and were able to offer their expertise in their subject fields.

• Kindergarten and first grade teachers, along with targeted instruction teachers, completed 30 hours of Orton-Gillingham training over the summer. Orton-Gillingham is an explicit multi-sensory approach to phonics and reading.

• Mrs. Venna Everett, middle school history teacher, presented “Are There Any Humanities Growing Among the STEMs?” at the Making Schools Work Conference in Orlando, FL.

• Shelly Taliaferro, new Anatomy and Physiology and AP Biology teacher, attended a four-day AP Summer Institute for Biology, held at Auburn University. At this training, participants learned about the College Board's Big Ideas, Enduring Understandings, and Learning Objectives for AP Biology, as well as instructional resources available to teachers. Participants discussed course content, format of and preparation strategies for the AP exam, and they engaged in many hands-on and lab activities. 

• Middle School English teacher, Ms. Annie Ramsey, attended the Alabama for the Nuts and Bolts–Never Boring Conference in Mobile. She attended a variety of panels on furthering engagement in a classroom and how best to approach middle school teaching.

• Our own Head of School, Dr. Larry McLemore, presented “What Matters Most? Balancing Roles and Responsibilities in Leading Our Schools” at UMS-Wright Preparatory School’s Fifth Summer Leadership Conference in June.

  #wearesaintjamesschool

Mrs. Brittnee Ward, HS English teacher, at the Fitzgerald museum during the inaugural F. Scott Fitzgerald conference in Montgomery.

“We learned how the AP exams are graded and how you can take that information back to your students. It also allows you time to talk to other AP teachers about what they are doing in their classes. It’s the best AP Chemistry professional development out there, I feel. ”

— Dr. Amanda Ousley, on the AP Reader experience in Salt Lake City, UT

Saint James Kindergarten, first grade, and targeted learning teachers participating in Orton-Gillingham training.

Responsive Classroom: Furthering our School Culture

Last week, Kindergarten and first grade teachers participated in Responsive Classroom® training. Responsive Classroom® is a program designed to train teachers to better integrate academic and social-emotional learning in an experiential, informative, and supportive environment. Creating safe, joyful, and engaging classrooms leads to a healthy school community. Saint James School embraces these ideals and is excited to further offer this professional development opportunity to other grade and division levels in the future. Our values of character, courage, community, and commitment are central to our ethos, and this training supports our mission. #WeAreSaintJamesSchool

Responsive Classroom is a student-centered, social and emotional learning approach to teaching and discipline. It is comprised of a set of research, and evidence-based practices designed to create safe, joyful, and engaging classrooms and school communities for both students and teachers.

More Than A Garden

by: Jeremy Turner, Community Garden Co-Coordinator

The Paideia School in Atlanta, GA

This fall, Saint James garden co-coordinator Carissa Gibbons, middle school principal Dr. Shelaine Taylor, and I traveled to Atlanta to visit the Paideia School. The purpose of our trip was to tour their farm and see how they were able to use their farming and gardening areas to enhance the curriculum taught at their school. This trip also helped us see what ideas and methods we as STJ faculty could incorporate into our own garden at school.

Our farm tour guide was Tania Herbert, a 20 year teaching veteran. She was able to make the farm a place where both students and the community could work together. She explained how sustainable farming was the key to the continuation of a community as well as offering skills to others that could be implemented into their own daily living.

gardening tools at Paideia’s on-campus garden

One thing that we saw at the school was how the farm not only helped others, but also worked with the community to bring in foods and items that were shared across the board with those outside of the school. They kept track of what they grew, how much was harvested, and how much was donated to others within their shared garden storage. They had on-site refrigerators to store any crops that were harvested and planned to be given out to the community.

We also learned how the school utilized the farm in their curriculums. For example, Paideia’s AP Biology students raise a chicken and as part of their final exam, students process the chicken utilizing the information they learned while going through the course.

Ms. Gibbons and Mr. Turner, Saint James Community Garden Coordinators, with Paideia’s goats on their school farm

One thing that was heavily stressed was the link with the community on the farm. Mrs. Herbert discussed how they worked with food-insecure communities as well as local prisons to assist in distributing healthy foods. She discussed how many in their region may not have good access to nutritional, healthy food so she wanted to find a way to help them learn their own growing skills but also turn around and donate the food to others who might also be in need.

They also invited children from nearby local schools to plant and engage in the process of growing food. Everything about their farm and garden was about working together to ensure that whenever things were left to the next generation, they would have items in place to continue this wonderful endeavor.

We are excited to evaluate the wealth of knowledge shared with us and work to implement new initiates with our own community garden. We are in the early stages of our garden journey, but we know Saint James School has the potential to “grow” our program to be just as impactful.

#WeAreSaintJamesSchool

Faculty Inservice: Let's Put Good Into Action Today

Saint James School faculty, staff, and support personnel gathered together to learn, grow, reflect, and plan for the 2021-22 academic year at our two-day summer inservice meeting. Dr. Larry McLemore opened the meeting with a reflection of the historical 2020-21 year and the lessons we learned and triumphs we experienced, despite unthinkable challenges we and all schools in our country faced last year. The theme for the upcoming year is “Let’s Put Good Into Action.” Dr. McLemore challenged us to notice the good around us and to in turn, put that good into motion. The opening invocation was delivered by Rev. Courtney D. Meadows, 2011 STJ graduate. He prayed for guidance and wisdom for our faculty and administrators and encouraged us to all promote community and unity in the months ahead. The STJ Board of Trustees addressed our faculty and Col. Dex McCain, Ret.,Board Chairmen, shared school-wide initiatives and goals for 2021-22. Parent Association president, Ms. Mary Pool, Esq., provided updates and plans for Parent Association events and fundraisers for the coming year.

“Let’s Put Good Into Action”

— Dr. Larry McLemore, Head of School

New faculty were introduced and departmental and division-level updates were addressed. Mrs. Susan Atkins, Academic Dean, provided an overview of our school’s reaccreditation and action plans. We also heard from our maintenance and custodial staff and recognized the hard work of the teams who keeps our facilities and grounds running smoothly. It truly takes a campus to run a campus!

The Trojan Operational Plan (Top 2.0) and safety protocols were reviewed and additional health and wellness initiatives were discussed. During the summer months, the STJ leadership team painstakingly monitored and assessed our local and state-wide reports in relation to Covid-19. When making decisions about policies and safety standards, the health of our students was always, and will continue to be, our number one priority.

Finally, Dr. McLemore led our faculty and staff through thoughtful discussion of one of his favorite poems, “Sermons We See,” by Edgar Albert Guest. We reflected on ways that we can be “sermons” daily for our school family. The poem and its message beautifully illustrates the core values of Saint James: character, commitment, courage, and community. We are ready to welcome our students back to campus tomorrow for the first day of school! We are Trojans, 24/7!

#WeAreSaintJamesSchool

Parent Association President: Mary Pool, Invocation Speaker: Rev. Courtney D. Meadows c/0 2011, Head of School: Dr. Larry McLemore, Board Chairmen: Col. Dex McCain, Ret.