Teachers from the Massapequa School District who participated in Harvard University’s educational workshop Project Zero Classroom over the summer recently met with actor and Massapequa alumnus Billy Baldwin to discuss how the experience has enhanced their teaching and is benefitting their students.
Baldwin is one of the founders of the Massapequa Community Fund, which funds the experience for educators along with district support. The weeklong workshop equips teachers with the tools needed to create innovative learning environments that ultimately help students become critical, independent thinkers. About 10 to 15 teachers have annually participated in Project Zero over the past six years, allowing educators to share and spread its methodology and track its effects on student performance.
Kim Kelly, a first-grade teacher at Birch Lane Elementary School who has attended the training three times, shared with Baldwin how Project Zero has benefitted her students. She said the results are evidenced through improved student achievement.
“It has not only been transformative for me as an educator, but the evidence of my students’ learning that occurs organically has been quantified,” she said. “Additionally, I have modeled several ‘Thinking Routines’ for colleagues, and thus, Project Zero planted a seed in my mind’s garden that I in turn replanted in others.”
