Great Brook School's Maryanne Cullinan recently collaborated with colleagues from around the world and presented research at the Transformative Play Initiative Seminar that was held at Uppsala University in Gotland, Sweden.
Cullinan, who has been teaching in ConVal since 2005, has been pursuing her Ph.D. at Lesley University and is focusing her research on role-playing games (RPG) as a way to maximize educational accessibility. Over the past year, she’s collaborated with Rich Oxenham of Bath, England, who founded Hatchling Games and is the creator of the RPG Inspirisles.
Inspirisles is a completely original all-ages Tabletop RPG promoting storytelling, empathy and Deaf awareness with an emphasis on cooperation.
Inspirisles is designed to teach hearing students basic sign language and deaf awareness. Cullinan used the game as part of an elective course for seventh and eighth graders at Great Brook. Those students’ experiences served as the subject for Cullinan and Oxenham’s presentation highlighting the use of the game to build cultural awareness and teach American sign language to middle school students.
“Teachers need to be increasingly creative to meet the needs of students, who will need thinking skills as well as content in the real world," Cullinan said. "Roleplaying games are an academically understudied pedagogy, even though teachers have seen them do wonders with kids. It's amazing our little school can be part of research and journal articles that help forward the use of RPGs all over the world!”
In addition to her work with Inspirisles, Cullinan has been collaborating closely with Jennifer Genova, a middle school social studies teacher in Salem to develop a theoretical matrix meant to help educators select or create RPGs that maximize their students’ social-emotional or academic development. Their shared work was the subject of a second presentation at last week’s conference, which focused on analyzing RPGs and their use in educational settings.
“I am very proud of Maryanne’s commitment to discovering creative ways to engage students in rigorous academics and cultural competency,” Great Brook School Principal Kat Foecking said. “She is the kind of out-of-the-box thinker that drives educational innovation, which directly benefits our students.”
We have had another great (short) week here at GBS. Looking forward to next week - please note that the PTO is meeting for the first time this year on Wednesday October 19 at 6pm.
Click here to read the rest of this week's edition of the Bobcat Bulletin.
Chris Stultz, AES Librarian, collaborated with GBS teachers and staff members to set up read aloud sessions for the AES students. While Read Across America is a year long endeavor, March is a time when many schools, such as AES, highlight this celebration. Below you can find some more information about where this comes from and why it is important. We are so proud of our GBS community for participating in this special event to promote reading at the elementary level.
Launched in 1998 by the National Education Association (NEA) and guided by a committee of educators, NEA’s Read Across America is the nation’s largest celebration of reading. This year-round program focuses on motivating children and teens to read through events, partnerships, and reading resources that are about everyone, for everyone.
The titles and resources featured by NEA’s Read Across America include books that students can see themselves reflected in, as well as books that allow readers to see a world or a character that might be different than them.
Superintendent Kimberly Rizzo Saunders and the School Board’s Strategic Planning Committee encourage community members to complete surveys to help the ConVal School District to develop a new strategic plan.
Strategic plans act as a roadmap for the District to follow during a five-year period, highlighting specific projects and goals for long-term sustainable growth. The most recent strategic plan was created in 2016 and lasted through June 2021.
The survey will gather input about long-term strategies and goals that are most important to community members. Data collected will help the District to shape a strategic plan that reflects community priorities.
The survey is open to all stakeholders – parents/guardians, students, staff, and residents of Conval’s nine sending communities.
“We ask everyone to take a few moments to complete this important survey,” Superintendent Rizzo Saunders said. “This input is vital in guiding the District to develop a strategic plan to serve our students that reflects the goals and visions of our community.”
The survey is open and will remain live through Tuesday, Feb. 1. To take the survey:
Great Brook School's Maryanne Cullinan recently collaborated with colleagues from around the world and presented research at the Transformative Play Initiative Seminar that was held at Uppsala University in Gotland, Sweden.
Cullinan, who has been teaching in ConVal since 2005, has been pursuing her Ph.D. at Lesley University and is focusing her research on role-playing games (RPG) as a way to maximize educational accessibility. Over the past year, she’s collaborated with Rich Oxenham of Bath, England, who founded Hatchling Games and is the creator of the RPG Inspirisles.
Inspirisles is a completely original all-ages Tabletop RPG promoting storytelling, empathy and Deaf awareness with an emphasis on cooperation.
Inspirisles is designed to teach hearing students basic sign language and deaf awareness. Cullinan used the game as part of an elective course for seventh and eighth graders at Great Brook. Those students’ experiences served as the subject for Cullinan and Oxenham’s presentation highlighting the use of the game to build cultural awareness and teach American sign language to middle school students.
“Teachers need to be increasingly creative to meet the needs of students, who will need thinking skills as well as content in the real world," Cullinan said. "Roleplaying games are an academically understudied pedagogy, even though teachers have seen them do wonders with kids. It's amazing our little school can be part of research and journal articles that help forward the use of RPGs all over the world!”
In addition to her work with Inspirisles, Cullinan has been collaborating closely with Jennifer Genova, a middle school social studies teacher in Salem to develop a theoretical matrix meant to help educators select or create RPGs that maximize their students’ social-emotional or academic development. Their shared work was the subject of a second presentation at last week’s conference, which focused on analyzing RPGs and their use in educational settings.
“I am very proud of Maryanne’s commitment to discovering creative ways to engage students in rigorous academics and cultural competency,” Great Brook School Principal Kat Foecking said. “She is the kind of out-of-the-box thinker that drives educational innovation, which directly benefits our students.”
Great Brook School’s Maryanne Cullinan recently collaborated with colleagues from around the world and presented research at the Transformative Play Initiative Seminar that was held at Uppsala University in Gotland, Sweden.
Cullinan, who has been teaching in ConVal since 2005, has been pursuing her Ph.D. at Lesley University and is focusing her research on role-playing games (RPG) as a way to maximize educational accessibility.
We have had another great (short) week here at GBS. Looking forward to next week – please note that the PTO is meeting for the first time this year on Wednesday October 19 at 6pm.
Click here to read the rest of this week’s edition of the Bobcat Bulletin.
The Mission of the Great Brook School community is to foster the growth of creative thinkers and confident learners who see the world through a compassionate lens.
The Vision of Great Brook School is to collaborate to create an inclusive, caring, and responsive environment that provides innovative and rigorous opportunities for learning and personal growth.
Tree Lighting in Antrim The GBS Choir kicked off the holiday season by singing at the Antrim Tree Lighting.
Turkey Trot 2022 Mr. Cogan's class is preparing for the Turkey Trot.
GBS Staff Halloween Costume The GBS staff celebrated Halloween with a Pac-Man theme
Silly Soccer Team The GBS Boys' Soccer Team poses for a silly picture before their last game.
2022 GBS Cross Country The GBS cross country team all ran their personal bests at the final meet of the season.
Halloween Lanterns Fifth grade advisories created spooky Halloween lanterns
