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Rachel Brainin, Librarian, 3rd Grade Teacher, D-Escribe

Jan 27, 2022 | Spotlight on English

Our youngest ones have so much wisdom to offer us. Former librarian and now 3rd grade teacher, Rachel Brainin carries on the legacy of Sheila Sienicki and maintains the publication’s spirit. Rather than having students strive to be published, D-Escribe is an open opportunity to explore writing prompts and styles. Teachers mainly submit work from the Units of Study, while also offering students creative prompts to play with style and content.

“Writing is sometimes very prescribed, so the open-ended prompts provide us with more exciting stories. I had a kid who didn’t like to write but then couldn’t stop writing about dinosaurs. In any free moment he had, he would say, ‘can I work on my dinosaurs?’”

Rather than having students strive to be published, D-Escribe is an open opportunity to explore writing as an artistic medium. Rachel hopes to continue to build upon D-Escribe’s wonderful history and to continue to inspire young students.

D-E Faculty/Staff Share Learnings on AI in Education

D-E Faculty/Staff Share Learnings on AI in Education

The future is here! Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Education was the theme of a recent Professional Development Day for all faculty and staff. In her opening remarks, Interim Head of School Preeti Fibiger declared, “To ‘meet the challenges of a changing world,’ we need to understand what those changes are.” This made spotlighting rapidly evolving AI technologies a natural choice for our community.

Sessions were interactive and offered opportunities to engage in productive discussions about how students can use AI most effectively. When used correctly, “AI builds confidence with students to write a strong paper,” noted Ms. Diane Christian (D-E English Department faculty member) during her session on thesis writing with AI.

The day concluded with a student panel discussion, moderated by Soham Bafana ’25, and featuring Sylvie Yao ’27, Jared Mosseri ’27, Reya Shah ’27, and Lucas Brown ’25, who gave their perspectives on using AI in the classroom, such as the idea that AI can help visual learners. Ultimately, said Mr. Justin Weiner (D-E History Department faculty member), during his session on deepfakes, “AI won’t remove the human touch.

Class of 2025 Changemakers Sow Sustainability Initiatives at D-E

Class of 2025 Changemakers Sow Sustainability Initiatives at D-E

As a “community of learners,” we at D-E stand by our mission “to meet the challenges of a changing world and make it better”; therefore, we proudly spotlight students whose actions consistently exemplify this objective and make a lasting impact. Two of these changemakers are Upper School seniors Len Glozman ’25 and Ben Gmyrek ’25. Tasha Urbanowski, Garden Club Faculty Advisor and Grade 6 Dean, says the original “compost crew” Len and Ben are “the students who made a substantial change to institutional behavior and leave a legacy looking toward sustainability.”

Official ceremonies honoring our 2024 Distinguished Alumni Awardees and newest inductees into the Athletic Hall of Fame took place in Schenck Auditorium on the afternoon of Saturday, October 19, 2024.

Official ceremonies honoring our 2024 Distinguished Alumni Awardees and newest inductees into the Athletic Hall of Fame took place in Schenck Auditorium on the afternoon of Saturday, October 19, 2024.

Preeti Fibiger P ’24, Interim Head of School, kicked-off the ceremonies by describing the DAA award. The Distinguished Alumni Award (DAA) was established in 1997 to pay special tribute to alumni of the Dwight School, the Englewood School for Boys, and D-E. The award...

School Life Highlights

School Life Highlights

Thanks to daily campus events, seasonal traditions, and the activities of our student-led clubs and activities, student life @ D-E remains as dynamic as ever! Our youngest Lower School (LS) learners have been enthusiastically engaged in D-E Chess Team and LS Chorus...

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