Posts about Teacher Spotlight
February 26, 2021
Outside the Classroom: The Engineering of a Sound Cloak
Dr. Gerges, one of our fantastic Math Subject Expert Teachers, contributed to a paper that has been published in The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. He worked on the publication, Broadband Acoustic Broadband Lens Design Using the Principle of Reciprocity and Gradient-Based Optimization, with colleagues from both San Jose State University and Rutgers University.
We caught up with Dr. Gerges to congratulate him on this fantastic achievement, and also to ask him a few questions about his field. An explanation of the research was also in order, as it’s quite a complex topic.
October 18, 2019
Meet our Teacher Mentors
Please join our Head of School, Mr. Toby Walker, as he shares insight into the creation of our incredibly successful Teacher Mentor program.
I have often noted that one of the challenges we face when considering professional development opportunities for educators, is that the best PD examples are regularly happening in the classroom next door. I am a firm believer that we can all improve through observing others. This is especially the case with classroom instruction. Too often, administrators and professional pedagogy ‘trainers’ are too far removed from the classroom to provide authentic feedback based on experience. Essentially, for teachers, fellow professionals are regularly the best resource to support professional growth and improvement.
"BASIS Independent Silicon Valley students are passionate, urgent, thirsty for knowledge, focused committed, determined, and self-motivated." -Dr. Zhao
May 29, 2019
On Five Years: Part III
Part III of our five-year anniversary series features Subject Expert Teacher Dr. Parson, who has taught high school history for the five years BASIS Independent Silicon Valley has been open. Remember to read part I and part II of our celebration series as well!
Our Head of School Mr. Walker took a few moments to share some thoughts about the ever-popular Dr. Parson.
Dr. Parson has been the AP U.S. Government teacher at this campus since our founding year. He has, in his time here, taught other classes however, he is universally recognized as the "AP Gov Guy". What an interesting time it has been to study government these past five years! Dr. Parson has provided the inspiration and guidance for many in-depth political conversations that have, I'm sure, spilled over from the classroom to the dinner table. Through his expert instruction Dr. Parson has produced students that are not only able to articulate their own personal view points, but are also respectful and inclusive of others.
Each day, Dr. Parson brings history and law to life for his students. We wanted to get the nitty gritty on his experience, perspective, and day-to-day over the last five years:
April 12, 2019
On Five Years: Part II
Part II of our five-year anniversary features another one of our expert teaching staff, Ms. Leila Kosiba. You can see part I of our celebration series here.
Our Head of School Mr. Walker took a few moments to share some thoughts about the incomparable Ms. Kosiba.
I first saw Ms. Kosiba teach back in the mists of time (before we opened BASIS Independent Silicon Valley). She was visiting Arizona and I had the pleasure of watching her give a demo French class to BASIS Scottsdale students. They, and I, loved the class! There was an obvious passion in her teaching and the students were instantly connected to her. At BASIS Independent Silicon Valley, Ms. Kosiba has taught every level of French from 7th Grade to Capstone. She has enriched our community with her dedication to French learning and her insights into life in New Caledonia.
Ms. Kosiba has been a French Subject Expert Teacher at BASIS Independent Silicon Valley since we first opened. She has primarily worked with students in the middle school years.
We also asked Ms. Kosiba some questions about her time at BASIS Independent Silicon Valley, as well as her perspective on our students, curriculum, teaching methods, and more. Read on below:
August 30, 2018
On Five Years: Part 1
In celebration of our five year anniversary, our Head of School Mr. Walker took a few moments to share some thoughts about our incredible Mr. Ryan. As a Physical Geography and Chemistry instructor since day one, Mr. Ryan has seen five years worth of students in grades 5 and 6 transition to upper school, and has cheered them on the entire time.
Over the years, a number of parents, faculty, staff and generally any fully grown adult who has some connection with our school, have shared a common thought with me. If you spend any time in our school, and interact with BASIS Independent Silicon Valley teachers, you often end up wishing that you could actually take the classes that we offer. This desire is driven partly by the diversity of our curriculum and the course offerings that we have, but, I believe mostly, by the passionate subject expert teachers in every classroom. Mr. Ryan is a crystal clear example of this. As a founding faculty member Mr. Ryan has provided a rock-solid foundation for our Chemistry department and has helped countless students get a firm grounding in the sciences. We put him under the microscope… no pressure Mr. Ryan.
We sat down with Mr. Ryan to ask him what these past years have been like, and how he has seen our youngest Bobcats fare in his time here.
Welcome!
Inspired by the blissful feeling of uncovering connections, our blog Eureka! Silicon Valley is about sharing moments that capture the essence of what it is to be a BASIS Independent student, teacher, administrator, or family.