PANEL: Teachers Town Hall

PANEL: Teachers Town Hall

Brand new to the Celebration of Teaching & Learning, this session is dedicated to the voices of teachers. The evidence is clear that the quality of a teacher in the classroom is the single most important school-based variable in predicting student achievement. For teachers to take full advantage of their centrality, however, their opinions on a number of challenges must be heard. Teachers have thoughts about what's causing drop-outs and how to reduce that problem, about changes that should be considered in the amount of time they have with students and each other, and about bullying, parents, and connecting teacher evaluation and student achievement, among other things. The Peabody Award-winning host of NEED TO KNOW, Alison Stewart will moderate this Town Hall joined periodically by guests who can start the conversation on certain topics, but most of the session will be devoted to listening to wise and thoughtful teacher voices. This session will be video-taped and posted on the Celebration website. It will be used to model a series of Teacher Town Hall meetings being planned by other public television stations across the country.

BIOGRAPHY

Alison Stewart (moderator) is a Co-Anchor of Need To Know on PBS. Most recently Stewart was the founding host of NPR’s breakthrough multiplatform news program, “The Bryant Park Project,” the first public radio news program to seamlessly incorporate audio, video and social media. She also guest hosted the network’s flagship programs “Weekend Edition” and “Talk of the Nation.” Stewart began her career as a political reporter and producer for MTV’s critically acclaimed and influential “Choose or Lose” coverage of the 1992 and 1996 Presidential elections, receiving a Peabody Award for her work. Today, Stewart is an accomplished, award-winning broadcast journalist with credentials from CBS News, ABC News, and NBC News. While at MSNBC, she created and hosted the show “The Most,” a news program based on the most popular news on the web. During her six years at MSNBC, Alison anchored major news events including Hurricane Katrina, the Hezbollah/Israel conflict, and reported live from the 2006 Olympics in Torino, Italy. Stewart also contributed to “NBC Nightly News,” “The Today Show” and “Weekend Today,” where she was also a newsreader. While at ABC, Stewart served as anchor for ABC News’ “World News Now.” She reported live from the World Trade Center and received an Emmy as part of ABC News’ coverage of September 11th terrorist attacks. Prior to working for ABC News, Stewart was a correspondent for CBS News’ “Sunday Morning” and “48 Hours.” In 2009, Stewart was named one of “The Root 100,” recognizing emerging and established African American leaders. Alison is working on a book about the first high school for African Americans in the United States.

Jennifer Davis is President and CEO of the National Center on Time & Learning, which is dedicated to modernizing the American school calendar. Previously she worked with the U.S. Depart. of Education, National Governors Association, Boston’s after-school learning initiative, Massachusetts 2020, and the Expanded Learning Time Initiative.


Penny Knight has been a music teacher and choral director at Brockton High School for over twenty-five years. Under her leadership, Brockton students have combined their musical talents with their dedication to their academics to achieve excellence. She teaches piano, voice, and directs our Concert Choir, Repertory Chorus, Harmonics, and Jazz Choir.

Amrita Dhamoon Sahni is the Director of Instruction at the Edwards Middle School in Boston. A former high school special education English teacher and teacher supervisor on the regional staff for Teach For America in North Carolina, she recently was named as India New England’s 2010 Woman of the Year.


Susan Szachowicz is the principal of Brockton (MA) High School, which has received national attention for its remarkable improvement achieved over the last decade through a teacher-administration partnership focusing on literacy. Before becoming principal, she was a history teacher at Brockton High School. She is also a graduate of the school.


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Dave Isay will be making a special announcement during this session!

Dave Isay is the founder of StoryCorps and the recipient of numerous broadcasting honors including five Peabody Awards and a MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship. He is the author/editor of numerous books that grew out of his radio documentary work including,Listening Is an Act of Love and Mom: A Celebration of Mothers from StoryCorps.