Red Hook High School English Department Chairperson Christine Griffin was highlighted this month by the New York State English Council, the state’s affiliate of the National Council of Teachers of English.
NYSEC chooses one teacher to highlight in each of its quarterly newsletters; Griffin is the subject of the fall newsletter’s edition of “Teacher Spotlight.”
The feature focuses on the high school’s “IB English For All” initiative, explaining the reasoning behind it, the steps taken to implement, and the positive results the school has thus far observed. The program has not only helped students become acclimated to rigorous coursework and thrive, but it has opened a path to increased participation in English electives for underclassmen. This year, the school began offering the IB English class as a dual enrollment option for students to receive college credit.
Griffin said she was “thrilled” the newsletter’s writer placed a spotlight on the program. The newsletter emphasizes professional development and Red Hook in the piece serves as a model for how “IB English For All” could work.
“I think what she was interested in was this new idea, new initiative,” she said. “It’s not something people everywhere in IB schools are doing, or have the option to do. It’s something I think she saw as cutting edge.”
Griffin has been at Red Hook for 30 years – serving as English Department chair for 27 of them. She said she explained to the interviewer how the IB curriculum “makes it more about the students than even the content. It’s about their interpretation of the content.”
Take a look at the newsletter on the NYSEC site, with the piece on Griffin and “IB English For All” beginning on page 18.