Faculty

Commitment to teamwork and professionalism based on mutual respect and a high level of performance characterizes the Hamlin faculty.

Excellence in teaching is the heart of an outstanding school. Hamlin seeks to recruit, develop, and retain teachers with the highest professional standards. We are committed to hiring teachers who demonstrate a commitment to the life of the mind and development of character and citizenship in young women.

A good sense of humor and a big heart are also prerequisites for employment at Hamlin. Educator Roland Barth asserts that “the quality of adult relationships within a school has more to do with the quality and character of the school and with the accomplishments of students than any other factor." We believe this to be true at Hamlin. A commitment to teamwork and professionalism based on mutual respect and a high level of performance characterizes the Hamlin faculty.

A primary value of the culture at Hamlin is to create and sustain a faculty that is a community of learners, actively engaged in substantive long-term professional growth. We feel strongly that students benefit when the adults in the community model the excitement and energy around adult learning.

On a yearly basis, Hamlin dedicates significant funds to professional development. Teachers can count on generous funds for conferences, institutes, summer grants, and trainings. Examples of recent professional development conferences and programs attended by Hamlin faculty include: summer institutes sponsored by the Bay Area Teacher Development Collaborative; technology conferences; programs on differentiated instruction, brain research, learning differences, and cooperative learning; national diversity institutes; conferences on sports, health and wellness; training programs in mathematics, reading and writing, French, global education. Teaching faculty regularly attend one-day conferences on topics such as grade-level collaboration and disciplinary study.

We recognize the broadening and revitalizing effects of conferences, school visits, curriculum projects, and in-service programs as they inform the development of program through participation and reflection. Dedicated endowment funds provide a yearly travel-study grant of $2500, and experienced teachers at Hamlin can request generous grants for summer experiences. The school brings in speakers of note for in-service training several times in each school year. Speakers that come to Hamlin for the parent education series are often asked to conduct faculty training at regular after-school faculty meetings. Each year the school devotes an issue of Hamlin News to the professional development activities of the faculty and staff.

Hamlin is a founding member of the Bay Area Teacher Development Collaborative (BATDC), a non-profit organization founded to provide high quality and cost effective professional development for teachers in the Bay Area. The program is housed at Hamlin, and support for the involvement of Hamlin faculty in Collaborative programs is facilitated through proximity to the program leadership. Opportunities through the Collaborative include training in Harvard's Project Zero, service learning, counseling, differentiated instruction, global education, and training for new administrators.