Surviving Human Error

Audience: Middle Years Programme
Session: Block 5: Saturday 2:00 to 3:15,

Presenters will share their plan for an interdisciplinary unit featuring the technology design cycle model as the vehicle. At Silver Spring Middle School, sixth grade students traditionally participate in an outdoor instructional unit that combines multidisciplinary objectives in a woodland setting. Using school district guidelines, teachers are charged with developing and implementing a course of study that uses outdoor resources to teach overarching goals. Silver Spring's focus has been on providing students with a range of challenges that requires them to apply problem-solving strategies that contrast the human experience with that of other denizens of the forest environment.


Melissa Henaghan, Sixth Grade Team Leader: English/Reading, Silver Spring International Middle School

Melissa Henaghan teaches English and Reading at Silver Spring International Middle School where she challenges her students to think above the curriculum standards. As the sixth grade team leader, she is given the opportunity to assist with the implementation of interdisciplinary units along with creating units for the entire subject team.


Organization website: http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/

Heather Buck, Sixth Grade Team Leader: ESOL, Silver Spring International Middle School

Heather Buck is in her third year as an ESOL Teacher at Silver Spring International Middle School for grades six through eight, and in her first year as a sixth grade team leader. Prior to joining the staff at Silver Spring, she taught at various private educational programs in the US and internationally through her participation in the Peace Corps in Madagascar. As an ESOL teacher, Ms Buck tries to make the Middle Years Programme ideals more accessible to the ESOL students by providing enough scaffolding through the design cycle process and teacher modeling. In addition, she encourages students to integrate their diverse backgrounds into their class projects.

Elisabeth Caison, MYP Coordinator , Silver Spring International Middle School

Lis has traveled extensively as a child, living for extended periods in Germany, France, Taiwan, and the US, where she attended local or international schools. She also has visited North America, Europe, Asia, and the Caribbean. Repeated and prolonged exposure to a wide range of cultures and subsequent interaction with many people from many places has immeasurably enriched Lis' life, broadening her outlook. She was provided opportunities to share that perspective to others through post-secondary training in the arts, social science, and education. Through her experience with the IB, her sphere of influence has expanded to include today's educators and those who will shape tomorrow.


Organization website: http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/

Joseph Mamana III, Assistant Principal, Silver Spring International Middle School

Joseph Mamana III is the Assistant Principal at Silver Spring International Middle School in Silver Spring, Maryland. In this role he has helped guide the school through both the application and implementation of the Middle Years Programme. In his previous post, he helped implement the College Institute at Thomas Wootton High School in Potomac, Maryland. As well, Mr Mamana served as an IB Psychology and an IB Extended Essay Supervisor at Richard Montgomery High School in Rockville, Maryland.