By Margaret Hodson ’16, News Editor, and Nathan Grant ’16, News Editor
Four new teachers have joined the Upper School this year. The award-winning Mrs. Jamie Back will join the Mathematics Department, Ms. Allie Hawkins will teach History, Ms. Blair Lanier of Breakthrough Cincinnati will venture downstairs to teach a section of science, and for the aptly named
Mr. Jamal English—English.
Mrs. Jamie Back will be teaching five sections of math this year, including Honors Geometry, Pre-Calculus, and the Fundamentals of Calculus. She has 10 years of teaching experience at Covington Latin, where she taught not only math classes, but played a large role in technology integration. She hopes to incorporate as much technology as possible into her classroom, such as OneNote, Sketchpad, Excel, Fluid Math, and Mathematica. While technology is common in Country Day classrooms, one thing that makes Mrs. Back’s classroom unique is the use of elephants. She has found that inserting elephants into equations has proved a useful teaching method that has helped students to understand concepts. For example, “Who cares what’s in the denominator, who cares? Just pretend it’s an elephant, I mean what would the problem be if the denominator if it was just an elephant? So it’s like try to look past all the stuff that’s causing you a headache.” Mrs. Back discussed not only a love for elephants, but also Fly Guy books and historical fiction novels. Although Fly Guys books are for children, she has enjoyed reading them with her daughter and has learned from them that keeping things simple and funny makes it interesting. This philosophy fits well into the environment of her classroom, and her easygoing nature is one way past students have described her. From historical fiction novels, she has learned to place an emphasis upon interactions between people. In fact, this year, Mrs. Back is really looking forward to getting to know the students. This is a very rewarding experience for her, as she explained, “I always find I learn as much from students as students learn from me, I hope.”
Ms. Alexandra Hawkins is a part-time teacher who will be teaching one section of ninth grade Ancient History and two sections of 10th grade Modern European History. In her previous teaching experience, one word past students have used to describe her is enthusiastic. Along with her teaching, she has studied at Georgetown University and Wellesley College, as well as interned at a nonprofit called Facing History and Ourselves. Samantha Powers, an author highly involved with this organization, and her book A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide had a large impact upon Ms. Hawkins as a historian and a teacher. Although genocide is an interest of Ms. Hawkins, if she could teach any class of her own design, she would either teach a class about the history of women in American education or important female figures in peace education. In the upcoming school year, she looks forward to working with students in order to “change their perception of what history is, and what the study of history can be.” One thing that drew her to apply for the teaching position was “the energy among the faculty to be the best teachers they can be and then the students… just the enthusiasm to be here, and to learn… I’ve never experienced a community like this before, so it’s one of those moments when you are like, ‘Wow this is amazing.’”
Ms. Blair Lanier is a familiar face at Country Day. This year, in addition to being the director of Breakthrough Cincinnati, Ms. Lanier will be teaching a section of biology to sophomore students. As a high school student, she attended our rival school, Seven Hills, and now holds a degree from Yale. Ms. Lanier loves science and has experience teaching this subject to students at a boarding school in Switzerland as well as to students at Breakthrough Cincinnati. Outside of teaching, Ms. Lanier enjoys spending time with her dog, reading, and traveling to new places. Ms. Lanier is very excited to be teaching one of her favorite topics. As a teacher to students at Country Day, Ms. Lanier’s goal is to promote awareness and passion in the field of science. She wants her students to interact and question relationships in the classroom as well as in the outside world. As the director of Breakthrough, Ms. Lanier wants Country Day students to be aware of the numerous opportunities at Breakthrough Cincinnati,such as volunteering and educating others. In her own words, “Students at Breakthrough and Country Day are very similar because they all are passionate and through learning science they will share an understanding of the world they live in.”
As suggested by his last name, Mr. Jamal English is going to be an excellent addition to the Upper School English Department at Country Day. He just recently moved from Philadelphia, where he taught English to high school students for 15 years at the Westtown School, a Quaker boarding school. Mr. English, an avid reader, explained that many authors have influenced his life. These writers include John Steinbeck, Ralph Ellison, and Harper Lee. In addition to teaching, Mr. English enjoys journalism and stated that he would love to participate in an opportunity involving journalism in the Upper School. In his free time, Mr. English enjoys listening to jazz music and spending time with his family.
Mr. English chose to teach at Country Day because the teachers and students made a strong impression on him. He stated that the atmosphere is great for teaching and the students love to learn. He is fascinated with the computer program and believes that it will have a great potential in conveying information and serving as a vast resource for the students. According to him, Country Day was “just perfect.” Mr. English will be teaching several classes in the Upper School for 10th and 11th graders. His goal is to “inspire young students and enhance confidence, passion, and aptitude through reading and writing.” Mr. English is very excited to be here and is ready to teach and influence the students at Country Day.
