Mountain Brook Schools held its annual New Teacher Institute over the past week welcoming 52 new educators to the school district. In addition to the traditional on-boarding process, these teachers participated in hands-on experiences facilitated by school assistant principals as well as those in the Curriculum and Instruction department exploring the system’s purpose statement and its application to their role as a classroom teacher.

 

The purpose of Mountain Brook Schools is to provide an effective, challenging, and engaging education for every one of our students.

 

In various sessions, the group examined questions like what does it mean to be effective, what is authentic engagement, and how do we challenge students to increase engagement.

 

“This has been an eye-opening experience for me,” Katherine Brown, an incoming Kindergarten teacher at Brookwood Forest said. “Everyone here is not only so welcoming but also has such a strong desire to grow their practice and immerse themselves in professional learning. Growing up as a student here, I was familiar with the high expectations surrounding our schools and this week I was able to experience the ‘what, why and the how’ of helping students be successful. I know I will be fully supported here in my work.”

 

Please welcome the following new teachers to Mountain Brook!

 

Brookwood Forest Elementary: Heather Adams, Katherine Brown, Annabelle Erb, Margaret Anne Schilder, Kathryn Stubblefield, and Cathy Barrington

 

Cherokee Bend Elementary: Claire Burns, Sally Kale Massey, Kaitlin Dyson, Jacques Feagins, Grant Louwagie, and  Suzy Brown

 

Crestline Elementary: Virginia Barr, Anna Gray Joyner, Heather Kaiser, Jennifer Mueller, Jackson Vaughn, Chris Whetstone, and Emme Wilson

 

Mountain Brook Elementary: Krissy Boyda, Charity Conn, Chris Ferguson, Christine Littleton, Gracie Tortorici, Teena Watson, and Brooke Wilkerson

 

Mountain Brook Junior High: Emma Franklin, Whittni Hall, David Harris, Terri Jones, Tonia Jones, JT Mercer, Savannah Mims, Abby Montegut, Madison Pierce, Stacy Pugh, Preston Sanford, Alicia Varner, Geoff Walters, Virginia Wharton, and Chris Wood

 

Mountain Brook High School: Ginny Bastar, Sally Dew, Courtney Farley, Tiffany Garvin, Lincoln MacLean, Gabriel Moreno, Mark Smith, Nick Smith, Ethan Truitt, Dan Solomon, and Ben Bailey