Meet the 2015-16 Rodel Teacher Council
The Rodel Foundation of Delaware on Tuesday officially kicked off the 2015-16 class of the Rodel Teacher Council, and introduced the 19 exemplary teachers who will serve as its members.
Eight teachers from the inaugural class will remain on the council and serve as mentors to the 11 new members. Like its first cadre, the Rodel Teacher Council members represent all three counties, a variety of grade levels and subject areas, and bring a broad cross-section of leadership perspectives. In all, the council members boast over 220 years of combined teaching experience.
“We couldn’t be more excited about the new class of Rodel Teacher Council members,” said Paul Herdman, Rodel’s president and CEO. “The inaugural group set the bar extremely high by influencing the statewide conversation around personalized learning, and I can’t wait to see how the new group builds upon that work.”
During the 2015-16 program, the Rodel Teacher Council will continue its work on personalized learning through research and development of policy projects, classroom spotlights, and a second annual personalized learning workshop for teachers.
Additionally, the new class will focus efforts on the public policy side of personalized learning—with the goal to remove barriers currently in place, and help scale personalized learning statewide.
Personalized learning puts students at the center of the learning environment. Instruction is tailored to students’ specific academic needs, personal interests, and learning style—while they are enabled to learn at their own time, pace, place, and approach.
“To dig in on an issue like personalized learning, which has already gained so much traction in Delaware, is really exciting. We have an opportunity to reinvent our classrooms and advance student learning in an engaging and innovative way,” said new council member Karen Eller, a teacher at Bancroft Elementary School in Wilmington.
Council members will continue to advise the Rodel Foundation on critical education initiatives and issues, meet with key education stakeholders, visit exemplary schools where innovation is transforming instruction, and help to scale innovative practices throughout the state.
Members of the inaugural Rodel Teacher Council contributed to the education conversation in Delaware in many ways. The group met with local and national education experts and policymakers, including legislators, the State Board of Education, the governor, DSEA leadership, PTA leadership, and others.
They wrote and published the Blueprint for Personalized Learning in Delaware, one of the first examples of teachers developing policy recommendations for personalized learning. Council members wrote op-eds and blog posts for local and national audiences, and served on statewide working groups and committees to inform and shape the future of education in Delaware. The group also planned and executed a personalized learning workshop for teachers, with over 100 Delaware educators and school leaders in attendance.
“The Rodel Teacher Council gives Delaware educators the chance to make a real impact on the statewide level, and that’s what we’ve done when it comes to personalized learning,” said Michele Johnson, a library media specialist at Towne Point Elementary School in Dover.
The goal of the Rodel Teacher Council is to provide a venue for teachers to weigh in on important issues that affect the work of educators and help set the course for future education reforms throughout the state of Delaware that focus on personalized learning.
The 2015-16 Rodel Teacher Council members are:
Shani Benson – South Dover Elementary, Capital School District
Tim Brewer* – St. Georges Technical High School, New Castle County Vocational Technical School District
Tricia Dallas* – Itinerant Teacher, Red Clay Consolidated School District
Jordan Dutton – W.T. Chipman Middle School, Lake Forest School District
Emily Edmonds-Eveland – Las Americas Aspira Academy
Karen Eller – Bancroft Elementary School, Christina School District
Melissa Grunewald – Phillip C. Showell Elementary School, Indian River School District
Jennifer Hollstein* – Charter School of Wilmington, Red Clay Consolidated School District
Robyn Howton* – Mount Pleasant High School, Brandywine School District
Lauren Irwin – The Central School, Red Clay Consolidated School District
Michele Johnson* – Towne Point Elementary School, Capital School District
Jared Lelito – Fred Fifer Middle School, Caesar Rodney School District
Lisa Mims – Pleasantville Elementary School, Colonial School District
Tara Saladyga – Delcastle Technical High School, New Castle County Vocational Technical School District
Judith Spencer – W.T. Chipman Middle School, Lake Forest School District
Melissa Tracy* – Conrad Schools of Science, Red Clay Consolidated School District
Kacie Versaci* – Prestige Academy Charter School
Jermaine Williams – St. Georges Technical High School, New Castle County Vocational Technical School District
Michelle Wilson* – Booker T. Washington Elementary School, Capital School District
*- Returning member