The Faculty Room

Patton Teachers at AMLE2017

noreply@blogger.com (John Walsh) — Sun, 10 Sep 2017 01:44:00 +0000

Ms. Ballard and Ms. Hisler are presenting at the upcoming AMLE 2017 Conference in Philadelphia. Their session is on STEAM and The Patton Garden Project. Why STEAM? The addition of the A is not just semantics! It has been proven that the addition of the arts into STEM initiatives result in a more meaningful program. STEAM integrates art, design and is more inviting to girls. Harvard Business Review stated that knowing how to make a product is no longer enough. "How A product is designed, it's a statics, and have seamless and integration it makes into a persons life is what allows us to distinguish one product from another, and one industry competitor from another.

Mr. Lewis is also presenting at AMLE2017. His presentation discusses many different ways that teachers can increase the number sense and reasoning skills in their students in less than 5 minutes per class period through the use of warm-ups. The participants will be shown a series of free, engaging online resources. #PattonProud!

Mr. Walsh Receives Award

noreply@blogger.com (John Walsh) — Tue, 15 Aug 2017 17:03:00 +0000

Congratulations to Patton technology teacher, John Walsh, on being presented with the Pennsylvania Association for Middle Level Education's William Alexander Award at the end of year Awards Assembly. The award is given to an individual who has made a significant, positive contribution to middle level education in the state of Pennsylvania. Schools to Watch Director and former Patton principal, Bruce Vosburgh presented the award at the assembly.

Summer Institute 2017

noreply@blogger.com (John Walsh) — Sat, 24 Jun 2017 17:53:00 +0000

Patton staff members are busy presenting at conferences this summer! Mrs. Kropp and Mr. Kelley will be at the PAMLE Summer Institute, June 26-27 in State College. Their session is called, "Writers Day: Engaging the Community to Harness the Writer Within" and will share with attendees about Patton's Writer's Day initiative. Mr Kelley will also be presenting a session titled, "Generation Z: How Might a Deeper Understanding of Generation Z Impact our Schools?" We are #PattonProud in State College!

Mrs. Scott at the Mann Center!

noreply@blogger.com (John Walsh) — Sat, 24 Jun 2017 17:45:00 +0000

So what are you doing this summer? Well, Patton Orchestra teacher, Lauren Scott, will be at the Mann Music Center this Saturday -- with members of The Philadelphia Orchestra! That's right - with the Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia and the Philadelphia Boys Choir, performing the score to The Lord of The Rings: The Return of the King, carefully synchronized to the film. Check out The Lord of the Rings – Live to Projection, this Saturday at 7:30 PM and look for Mrs Scott!

Mr. Kelley Published!

noreply@blogger.com (John Walsh) — Tue, 31 Jan 2017 01:25:00 +0000

Congratulations to 8th grade Creative Writing teacher, Brian Kelley! His article, "Developing as a Writer, Growing as a Teacher" has been published in the January 2017 issue of the NCTE's award-winning English Journal. Check out the article right here.

Presenters in State College

noreply@blogger.com (John Walsh) — Thu, 30 Jun 2016 12:21:00 +0000

Mr. Kelley and Mr Walsh both presented at the Pennsylvania Association for Middle Level Education's Summer Institute event on June 27 and 28 in State College. Mr. Kelley was the Keynote presenter on Tuesday and his topic was "Getting Students Excited About Writing." He also presented a session on Monday entitled "Conferring with Digital Devices." Mr Walsh co-presented a session with Dr. Joe Johnson of Edinboro University entitled,"Technology Tools To Engage Middle School Learners." ‪#‎PattonProud‬!

Keynote at Longwood

noreply@blogger.com (John Walsh) — Thu, 17 Mar 2016 16:52:00 +0000

The weekend of March 5th, Family and Consumer Science teachers Betsy Ballard and Kimberly Hisler were keynote speakers at Longwood Garden’s School Gardening Event and Kick-Off for the spring growing season. The Patton Garden project was showcased and former students, Brendan Boyle and Declan Boyle, were introduced to talk about how the Patton Project inspired them to create their successful Brown Bag Lunch Program. As the premier school gardens in Chester County with 30 raised beds yielding over 10,00 pounds since the inception less than six years ago, Patton remains the inspiration for many other programs both state and nationally. With over 49 schools and 121 sites in Chester County Patton’s Gardens have become the model for the Chester County Food Bank and were huled to have so much attention focused on our program. The Brown Bag Lunch program was inspired by The Patton Project FCS class, which showcases giving back to community and beyond.

Patton Knows Shrek!

noreply@blogger.com (John Walsh) — Tue, 15 Mar 2016 21:44:00 +0000

The Patton Hawks really enjoyed this year's UHS production of Shrek The Musical! And did you know that besides all the former Hawks involved in the this year's performance, Patton Music Teacher Yvette Stratton served as the Vocal Music Director? Mrs. Stratton worked with the high school students for months to learn the challenging music. Congrats on a fantastic and fun production!

Patton Presenters

noreply@blogger.com (John Walsh) — Fri, 19 Feb 2016 03:19:00 +0000

Patton will be well represented at the upcoming Pennsylvania Association for Middle Level Education Conference in State College at the end of this month. Sixth grade teacher Beth Nanis will be presenting a session entitled "But I Can’t Find It! Strategies for Going Paperless" while math teachers Stacy Remphrey & Megan Zimmermann will be presenting a session entitled "Using Manipulative to Meet Common Core Math Standards." Eighth grade teachers Josh Thomas, Hillary Brogan, Stacy Remphrey and sixth grade teacher Janice Lear will present a session about a popular eight grade activity, "Creating your own Amazing Race: Combining Fun with 21st Century Skills." Technology Teacher John Walsh will also be presenting and his session is entitled, "Start a Professional Learning Network (PLN) with Twitter." Good luck to all the Patton presenters!

Scott Stoltzfus and UHS TechEd teacher Mike Berkeheizer are presenting at the National ITEEA conference (International Technology and Engineering Educators Association) in Washington DC in March. The title of their presentation is "K-12 3D Printing in the Classroom". This is also one of the conferences that our TechEd program will be recognized for the "Program of Excellence" award for PA.

Book Love Podcast

noreply@blogger.com (John Walsh) — Mon, 08 Feb 2016 17:30:00 +0000

We are Patton Proud of 8th grade teacher Brian Kelley who was interviewed by teacher, author, and advocate, Penny Kittle, on her Book Love podcast. In it, Mr. Kelley had the opportunity to share a story about the impact of student choice in his classroom. His segment begins at the 12:20 mark and only runs for a few minutes. Follow this link if you would like to listen: https://goo.gl/aDlnTb

Miss Zimmermann on Desmos!

noreply@blogger.com (John Walsh) — Tue, 15 Dec 2015 17:21:00 +0000

Patton teacher Megan Zimmermann had one of her activities selected to be in the Desmos.com Hall Of Fame! She created an activity to help her students understand systems of equations. The Desmos team periodically searches through the activities that users create and select a few to be featured. Her activity will now appear in user searches at the site teacher.desmos.com with her name and collaboration from the Desmos team.

Grant Program Winner

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 16 Oct 2015 00:06:00 +0000

The American Immigration Council is proud to announce Brian Kelley as one of two winners of the 2015-2016 Community Grants Program. The grant program is an initiative to provide educators and/or community organizers with the resources they need to implement a successful immigration curriculum or community-based project. Both winners have developed student-centered storytelling projects that engage students and families in writing and sharing immigration stories, past and present, while also demonstrating the important and varied contributions of immigrants to our country. Congratulations to Brian! Read all about it here.

Patton Presenters

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 12 Oct 2015 11:51:00 +0000

Congratulations to Patton 8th grade Creative Writing teacher Brian Kelley as he co-presented on November 21 at the NCTE National Convention in Minneapolis. The presentation, "Seeking Authenticity: Student-Produced Media in a Participatory Culture" is a panel presentation to advance the composition and wide distribution of student-generated media. We are Patton Proud!

On October 16, Patton social studies teachers Janice Lear and Josh Thomas co-presented a workshop at the Pennsylvania Council for Social Studies annual meeting in Harrisburg. Their presentation is titled, "Using DBQ's to Drive Deeper Understanding". DBQ's are document-based questions, where students are given opportunities to practice analyzing primary source documents, and synthesizing what they have learned into a cohesive writing piece. Patton was represented at our state capital!

Patton math teachers Stacy Remphrey and Glen Lewis presented at the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Regional Conference on October 23. Their presentation was entitled "Desmos + Algebra 1 = Deep Understanding x Fun" and is all about the awesome Desmos graphing software they use in their classes. Patton Proud in AC!

Pie In The Face!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 10 Aug 2015 00:15:00 +0000

The annual Unionville Relay for Life raised lots of money to combat cancer and Team Patton Power raised close to $5,000. And 7th grade made a big contribution to that with the Pie A Teacher Contest! Here's how it looked -- up close!

Guest Blogger!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 28 May 2015 22:21:00 +0000

8th grade Creative Writing teacher, Mr. Kelley, was invited to be a guest blogger at "The Nerdy Book Club"-- a piece about the classroom novel the kids wrote. The post was published today! Check it out right here.

Inside The Dunk Tank!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 12 May 2015 23:43:00 +0000

A BIG thank you to all the Patton teachers, Mr. Hoffman, our elementary school principals and Dr. Sanville for taking their turn in the Dunk Tank at the recent Patton Spring Carnival. The tank was the place to be as lines formed as students from all over the district took a turn to dunk their favorite staff member. Want a closer look from inside the tank? Check out the video!

Mrs. Quinn at the Marathon!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 03 May 2015 15:12:00 +0000

Did you know that Patton Physical Education teacher, Mandi Quinn, finished first in her category at the Run for Our Sons? And, since she didn't get enough running in on Saturday she traveled to Boston to run in the BOSTON MARATHON on Monday!! The weather in Boston was terrible but volunteers and spectators enthusiastically lined the streets all day standing in the cold, rain and wind for hours to cheer on the participants. AND she got to meet Kathrine Switzer, the first female to run Boston in 1967 -- women were not allowed to run in the Marathon in 1967 and officials tried to pull Katherine off the race course! Since then, Katherine has championed equal rights for female athletes!! Mrs. Quinn got to meet her and was very excited. Way to go Mrs. Quinn!

Spring Break at Temple

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 01 Apr 2015 22:02:00 +0000

Spring Break? WHAT Spring Break?! Patton's Brian Kelley spoke with future teachers about his experiences as a writing teacher on March 31 at Temple University's College of Education. Brian spoke to more than 25 aspiring teachers at his alma mater about Nanci Attwell's Workshop Approach in a writing classroom. It was a great evening of sharing and learning. Patton Proud at Temple!

Who Are You?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 27 Mar 2015 14:30:00 +0000

Check out this latest edition of Fun Friday! It's a special "Who Are You?" featuring staff member photos using some awesome effects and filters! Want more photos? Check out the Patton Photos Page on Google+ as well as the Patton Instagram page -- we're Patton Hawks! To check out the latest Fun Friday, click here.

West Side Story - Mrs. Stratton!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 25 Mar 2015 17:55:00 +0000

One of Patton's own music teachers, Yvette Stratton, had a direct hand in this excellent production. Mrs. Stratton served as the Vocal Director for the show. She began working with the students at the beginning of the year as they learned the challenging and beautiful Bernstein music. Mrs. Stratton also helped with scene work and blocking work as the students finalized and polished their performance. The students put in hours and hours of hard work to pull off this masterpiece of a show. Congratulations on a fine production!

Congratulations, Dr. Fulton!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 17 Mar 2015 18:09:00 +0000

Patton staff member Jennifer Fulton recently earned her doctorate in Social Work from the University of Pennsylvania. Her dissertation was entitled "Evidence Based Social Skills Interventions for Young Children with Asperger's Syndrome and the Montessori Educational Method: An Integrative Review." Jennifer, a Unionville High School alumnus, is the mother of three UHS grads as well! Way to go!

Patton Teacher at Temple!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 11 Mar 2015 12:25:00 +0000

Dr. Joseph Haviland, a Temple University associate professor of Teaching/Learning in the Education Department, has reached out to 8th grade teacher Brian Kelley to speak to undergraduate and graduate education students about the teaching of writing. Specifically, Dr. Haviland asked the Patton teacher to talk about the influence of Nanci Atwell's In the Middle on his classroom. Mr. Kelley will lead a mini-lesson of the writer's workshop method and then will field questions from the students and faculty. Atwell's research-based and evidence-based methods stress the importance of developing student choice, conferring with students on a daily basis, and taking the approach of teacher as mentor. Mr. Kelley will be sharing his classroom experiences with Temple University on March 31st.

Patton Math at NCTM!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 07 Mar 2015 01:16:00 +0000

Mrs. Remphrey and Mr. Lewis will be presenting "Desmos + Algebra 1=Deep Understanding x Fun" at The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Regional Conference in Atlantic City this October! Spreading the love for Desmos -- and representing our school! Patton Proud!

Empty Bowls

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 02 Mar 2015 22:16:00 +0000

Mrs. Schultz and Mrs. Ferron L-O-V-E the bowls they made with the art class and art club students. Some students made paper maché bowls shown on the right and painted them with watercolors in cool designs while others made small clay bowls on the left and demonstrated their slip trailing techniques on them. Mrs. Ferron and Mrs. Schultz both made the large bowls and serving platter in the center to raffle off to our staff so we could donate money as well as the bowls to such a great event in our community. The Empty Bowls organization is in communities across America and more. They hold events that help raise money for our hungry and give away a bowl to those who gave as a remembrance. Here's a link to their site. http://www.emptybowls.net.

PTO Family Fun Night!

noreply@blogger.com (cfpmswebmaster) — Thu, 26 Feb 2015 12:09:00 +0000

A great time was had by all at the PTO's Family Fun Night on February 20! The crowd was entertained by an exciting Students vs. Staff basketball game AND a surprise flash mob as Patton staff rocked the floor at halftime. Now, the students may have won the game but the Patton staff won the crowd at halftime! Check out the awesome dance moves right here!