In addition to the on-going professional growth our teachers participate in during the year for International Baccalaureate training and special Schools of the Future funded activities, individual faculty members engage in workshops and other training to advance their knowledge about their specific subjects or broaden their skills as an educator.

Many people think teachers just take the summer off, but that usually the best time for continuing their own learning. Here’s a sample of what some of our teachers did over the summer.

Just as school was ending in May, English teacher Wally Ingebritson completed his Ph.D. from the Institute of Education from the University of London. He began working toward this degree while still at the American School in Japan, attending classes during summers, and then collaborating long-distance with his major professors as he completed his dissertation research.

Another faculty member working on an advanced degree is Noriko Vergel. This summer she began the two-year master’s degree program in Private School Leadership in the Pacific Basin that is co-sponsored by the University of Hawaii and the Hawaii Association of Independent Schools. She has been involved since the development of the AP Japanese coursework, and continues each summer to be a reader of AP Japanese exams, which gives her the opportunity to continue collaboration with colleagues in that subject area. In addition, the summer school break gave her time to work on a second Japanese language textbook, having published her first one two years ago.

Humanities teacher Ben Murphy wears many hats at IPA, including faculty supervision of the student newspaper. This summer he attended a two-week seminar on journalism at the American Society of News Editors Donald J. Reynolds Institute at Kent State University. Specifically, he was looking to broaden his understanding of the field of journalism, as well as some of the specifics of producing a student newspaper and publishing it online. As a final project, he had to become a journalist himself, and chose to write about the Cuyahoga River that infamously caught fire in 1969 because it was so polluted. In the process of interviewing activists from that time and writing the story, he says he gained a much better appreciation of what journalists do and how he might inspire the IPA newspaper staff in their constant efforts to improve The Ho`okele News.

In these and many other ways, IPA faculty continue to hone their skills as educators and bring ideas back from professional growth experiences that they share with colleagues here on campus. Summer doesn’t just give faculty some time to relax, it is also a time to learn, reflect and grow – individually and professionally.