Mr. Greer  By Iz Gius This year, Mr. Greer took on a new position as Interim Director of Studies and Professional Development. Transitioning from his previous role as History Department Chair, his new title provides multifaceted responsibilities, as he “thinks about how best to support our teachers’ growth and development” and works to “create a more consistent sense of what we mean by great teaching throughout the school.” With the help of Ms. Eaton in the Lower School and Ms. Nabers in the Middle School, he also leads the mentoring program for his new colleagues, “helping them understand what Latin’s culture, family, [and] students are all about, and also giving them a chance to share their expertise as they come into our community.” Interacting closely with Department Chairs and Board Members, Mr. Greer strategizes plans for curriculum and educates about our progress as a school, respectively. He is committed to encouraging students to voice their own classroom experiences, as well. “Out of this office we run the student feedback surveys and analyze those results,” he explains. Mr. Greer is also working to roll out student shadowing again this year, where Latin faculty “shadow” students for a day as they go about their average classes, homework load, and extracurricular activities, which he hopes will become “something that we do every year and that becomes a part of how we learn about our school.” He calls his new position “a really fun challenge. There’s so many exciting changes and innovations happening in the Lower and Middle schools that I would have never been aware of as an Upper School Department Chair.” He is also enjoying the “luxury of being able to think big picture a lot of times.” Although, of course, he couldn’t give up his time in the History classroom. Despite his busy schedule, Mr. Greer can still be found teaching a block of Honors Politics this semester and next. Ms. Wells By Deon Custard One well-known member of the school, Ms. Wells, recently accepted the offer to act as the Interim Assistant to the Head of the Upper School, in addition to being the Dean to the Class of 2019. While to some this may sound like yet another frivolous title without much meaning to the school at large, Ms. Wells assures the community that her role will go beyond just making sure that Ms. Pickett-Rodriguez is comfortable as the new Head of the Upper School— it’ll also “bridge institutional knowledge with new administration;” or more simply stated, it’ll make sure that Ms. Rodriguez has all the information she needs to understand the needs of students, faculty, and staff in order to effectively run the Upper School. Since Ms. Wells’ schedule is already fairly full as “dean, assistant director, project week coordinator, [as well as] overseer to advisory and the reformation of the honor council,” she’ll be taking a break from the classroom— at least for this year. When asked about how she feels about not teaching in the science department or any Global Online Academy (GOA) courses, Ms. Wells responded by saying that it “makes [her] really sad [and that] it’s really hard [since she’s] kind of a science nerd.” ]]>