November 11, 2024

In early November, I had the opportunity to join four of my colleagues as presenters at the Florida Council of Independent School’s (FCIS) conference in Orlando. 

The annual gathering is a wonderful place for educators to share ideas and strategies, and I felt honored that The Benjamin School had so many from our own team presenting. 

I was fortunate enough to attend Head of Middle School  Mr. Hagy’s presentation on how his travels have influenced our school’s own brand of compassionate and inclusive culture and how other teachers and administrators can bring the values of their schools to life. 

Science teacher Dr. Pierman presented on “augmented inclusion” and the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the classroom, and second grade teacher Mr. Griffis showed how he uses drum circles in his classroom to set intentions. If you are thinking about the broad range of topics in which our teachers are experts, so am I!

Mrs. Griffis and Mrs. Kane showed other teachers how they incorporate basic yoga into the library. Their interactive session showed how they connect the themes from stories into a short yoga practice.

I even had a chance to share the efforts our school has made to refine our teacher recruitment and retention practices in a session about Human Resources. It was an opportunity for us to connect with colleagues from other independent schools in Florida and for our teachers to live out part of our mission as “lifelong learners”. 

The breadth and depth of our faculty’s expertise at TBS truly is Second to None!