Curriculum
For more information about each project, please click on the boldfaced items below.
ZERO TO THREE: Writer
ZERO TO THREE is a national non-profit that helps parents and caregivers translate the science of early childhood development into advocacy and action. From 2016 to the present, Kathy served as its senior manager of parenting resources. In this role, she developed ZERO TO THREE’s workshop series for grandparents caring for grandchildren under five, and co-produced six short films profiling families in which grandparents provide part-time or custodial care.
She also served as co-writer of ZERO TO THREE’s early math curriculum. See sample lessons on counting and patterns, Activities 7 (Squirrel Snacks) and Activity 16 (Sound Patterns).
She also served as co-writer of ZERO TO THREE’s early math curriculum. See sample lessons on counting and patterns, Activities 7 (Squirrel Snacks) and Activity 16 (Sound Patterns).
Roads to Success: Director of Curriculum and Instruction
Non-profit Roads to Success was conceived in 2004 as an in-class guidance program that would equip kids from high-poverty schools for life after high school. Kathy was its third full-time employee. The seventh- through twelfth-grade program covered career exploration, the college admissions process, and life skills such as personal budgeting and getting along with roommates.
It was Kathy's job to figure out what would be taught, and when and how to teach it. Under her direction, the RTS instructional program was built grade by grade, piloted in schools in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New York City, and revised annually based on feedback from the field.
In 2009, the fifth and final year of the pilot program, Roads to Success was awarded a $430,000 grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
In total, the RTS team created over 3,000 pages of materials, including facilitators' guides, student handbooks, and family newsletters. All are available to educators at no charge.
It was Kathy's job to figure out what would be taught, and when and how to teach it. Under her direction, the RTS instructional program was built grade by grade, piloted in schools in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New York City, and revised annually based on feedback from the field.
In 2009, the fifth and final year of the pilot program, Roads to Success was awarded a $430,000 grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
In total, the RTS team created over 3,000 pages of materials, including facilitators' guides, student handbooks, and family newsletters. All are available to educators at no charge.
- This seventh-grade unit on the malleability of intelligence is based on the work of Carol Dweck. Kathy was the writer. Joshua Aronson, a psychologist and researcher on "stereotype threat," consulted.
- The twelfth-grade unit on college essays was written by Joy Brewster. Kathy served as the editor and gathered sample essays from program partners so that students' authentic voices were represented. This is the second of a six-lesson unit.
Teaching Tolerance/Southern Poverty Law Center: Writer (Lesson Plans, 3-5)
It's not often a writer gets to combine science and social justice, and this series of four STEM lessons does that. For grades 3-5, these lessons include Science Star Cards highlighting the accomplishments of luminaries like Mona Hanna-Atisha and Neil deGrasse Tyson, and explore what groups are underrepresented in STEM careers and why.
Teaching Tolerance/Southern Poverty Law Center: Writer (Lesson Plans, 7-12)
Kathy created grade 7-12 lesson plans to accompany PBS series "America by the Numbers with Maria Hinojosa." Each episode tells the story of the changing demographics in a different U.S. city, including Clarkston, Georgia, where three former refugees ran for office in the 2012 election.
BrainPOP: Writer (Lesson Plans, K-3)
Kathy has long been a fan of BrainPOP's thoughtful, entertaining classroom videos. This is a series of K-3 lessons designed to accompany a BrainPOP video on measuring liquids.
Cyberchase: Writer (Lesson Plans, 2-5)
In this PBS animated series, the Cybersquad uses math smarts to solve real-life problems. Kathy worked with the series' producers to create this lesson plan, a step-by-step guide to classroom recycling for grades 2 to 5.
