The new LEF Summer Fellowship Program provides mini-grants up to $3,000 for Lexington Public School teachers with professional status to attend courses, seminars, or workshops; engage in research, curriculum planning, or independent study— essentially, to pursue activities that promise to enhance their professional life and increase their experience and knowledge.

Amy Martin, Elementary Mathematics Specialist, and Karen Tripoli, Elementary Mathematics Department Head, were awarded $2,500 to attend a 5-day course on Critical Friends Groups offered by the National School Reform Faculty, a program of Brown University’s Annenberg Institute for School Reform.  Critical Friends Groups help teachers break through the isolation of the classroom by engaging them in collaborative activities, such as group critique of student work, sharing practices, problem solving, and group study. Ms. Martin and Ms. Tripoli will make a presentation on Critical Friends Groups to their teaching colleagues in Lexington, and offer to facilitate a group for interested teachers.
Ann Northup, LHS and Diamond Middle School Visual Arts Instructor, was awarded $2,955 to spend three weeks studying and painting in Mexico.  In San Miguel Allende, Ms. Northup will spend a week studying watercolor with painter Edina Sagert. She’ll also attend a weeklong workshop studying Spanish and pottery at the Instituto Cultural Oaxaca in Oaxaca.  When not attending a formal course, Ms. Northup will spend her time creating a portfolio of her own watercolors.  When she returns to her classroom in Lexington, Ms. Northup will introduce her students to new watercolor layering techniques, new pottery construction methods, and Oaxaca’s magical animal sculpture, alebrijes.  She also plans to offer a summer workshop in Mexican village pottery.
Brian O’Connell, Lexington High School Choral Director, was awarded $1,920 to travel to Italy’s Rimini International Choral Workshop to study Renaissance music with members of the internationally renowned vocal ensemble, the Tallis Scholars.  Mr. O’Connell’s experiences will improve his ability to instruct his choral groups at LHS, and enrich his clinics and workshops for peers and colleagues.
Norma Gordon, mathematics classroom teacher of 7th and 8th graders at Clarke Middle School, was awarded $795 to attend a week-long course entitled "Meeting the Social and Emotional Needs of Children and Youth with Learning Disorders."  Ms. Gordon will apply what she learns to help struggling students in her classroom and share her experiences with colleagues.