How does the APH teaching philosophy look in your classroom?
I view school – at all levels – as a place where different communities meet, often for the first time, and work to engage each other and themselves in a learning process that inspires us all to not only learn new material, but also to question our own assumptions and ideas. Within the classroom community, we each have the opportunity to ask what constitutes truth and then to continually modify that judgment in relation to the views of others and to our own perspectives, judgments, and convictions. When students are able to discover the familiar in the foreign and the foreign in the familiar, I find that this often results in seeking information for its own sake as much as for its usefulness. I believe that all students – indeed, all people – possess the characteristics of intelligence, care, responsibility, creativity, and zestfulness.
What excites you about The Academy at Penguin Hall?
The Academy at Penguin Hall excites me because we are all committed to creating an inclusive and diverse school setting that is rooted in a foundation of consideration and compassion. APH encourages freedom and rigor in our students and our culture of kindness aligns perfectly with my own philosophy when it comes to teaching and learning.
Share something unique about yourself.
I just published my first book, A Woman’s Place Is at the Top: A Biography of Annie Smith Peck, Queen of the Climbers with St. Martin’s Press. I am currently working on a middle – high school version of the same biography for a younger audience, and look forward to getting feedback on it from our students at APH. Recently, I was featured on NPR (National Public Radio). Feel free to listen to the discussion: Author Traces Life Of Annie Smith Peck, ‘Queen Of The Climbers’
Hannah Kimberley has a B.S. in both History and Latin American Studies from the University of New Mexico. She also earned a Masters in Education at UNM, along with a Gifted Education Endorsement from the University of Virginia. She earned her Ph.D. in English at Old Dominion University.