Stag Symposium

Stag Symposium ([email protected])

Show Notes Season 1, Episode 11. Drop date 4/29/2024

Guest: Ms. Joan Phalen has worked miracles in her time in Academic Support. From her beginnings as a volunteer in the space that Patricia Guerrin created, Joan has helped countless students (and parents and colleagues) become better learners. With her wide-ranging knowledge across so many disciplines, Joan is able to assist students in every area–but none more important than helping them recognize their own growth and mastery. 

Main Topics: Love and teaching, the importance of understanding our “elders”, progress vs performance in assessment.

Music: Gustav Holst’s “Jupiter” as played by the DeMatha Wind Ensemble.

Host Biographies: Mr. Michael Ptomey is in his 19th year teaching. A DeMatha grad, class of ’98, he has taught English, Social Studies, and is currently the Chair of the Theology department. Mike has coached lacrosse and moderated clubs; he has won numerous awards for his teaching.

Dr. Daniel McMahon is in his 42nd year of teaching and serves as principal at DeMatha. Dan teaches World Literature and has coached basketball and softball and has moderated numerous clubs. He is a DeMatha grad, class of ’76.

Stag Symposium ([email protected])

Show Notes Season 1, Episode 10. Drop date 4/15/2024

Guest: Mr. Shaka Dickerson ‘03 has had a rich and varied career in education. From DeMatha to Columbia and Howard and Vanderbilt with interests ranging from architecture to urban planning to history to leadership, Shaka thinks deeply about spaces and learning, about expectations and learning, about self-discipline and self-awareness. His work as Dean of Students has him intersect with kids who are vulnerable and fragile and in need of both support and correction.

Main Topics: Leadership and pedagogy, the influence of adults, the experiences we bring to our teaching.

Music: Gustav Holst’s “Jupiter” as played by the DeMatha Wind Ensemble.

Host Biographies: Mr. Michael Ptomey is in his 19th year teaching. A DeMatha grad, class of ’98, he has taught English, Social Studies, and is currently the Chair of the Theology department. Mike has coached lacrosse and moderated clubs; he has won numerous awards for his teaching.

Dr. Daniel McMahon is in his 42nd year of teaching and serves as principal at DeMatha. Dan teaches World Literature and has coached basketball and softball and has moderated numerous clubs. He is a DeMatha grad, class of ’76.

Stag Symposium ([email protected])

Show Notes Season 1, Episode 9. Drop date 4/1/2024

Guest: Mr. Chris Hurst is in his 16th year teaching at DeMatha. Chris has taught almost all levels of math and his current assignments include two different AP courses: Calculus AB and Economics. In his career at DeMatha Chris has worked service trips with students and coached basketball. Chris was the producer of DeMatha’s “Year of Primes” in 2017 where he collaborated on 52 scripts, arranged filming, developed ideas, and hosted a culminating round table. 

Main Topics: Math and the Liberal Arts; faith and prayer; building community.

Music: Gustav Holst’s “Jupiter” as played by the DeMatha Wind Ensemble.

Host Biographies: Mr. Michael Ptomey is in his 19th year teaching. A DeMatha grad, class of ’98, he has taught English, Social Studies, and is currently the Chair of the Theology department. Mike has coached lacrosse and moderated clubs; he has won numerous awards for his teaching.

Dr. Daniel McMahon is in his 42nd year of teaching and serves as principal at DeMatha. Dan teaches World Literature and has coached basketball and softball and has moderated numerous clubs. He is a DeMatha grad, class of ’76.

Stag Symposium ([email protected]) Show Notes Season 1, Episode 8. Drop date 3/18/2024

Guest: Mr. Tom Krawczewicz. 

Main Topics: Tom Krawczewicz’ (‘81) career of more than 30 years teaching every level of English as well as every programming language offers a fascinating study of bridging disciplines. Tom’s Master’s degree from Full Sail University (first in his class!) has helped inform the way he brings Technology to the whole school. In addition to being a brilliant teacher, Tom has coached the swim team for 30 years and in his role with faculty formation he curates articles about education each week of the year and he leads the Professional Learning Community year of the formation cycle.

Tom joins us to talk about humor and play, bridging disciplines, and teachers who make a difference.

Music: Gustav Holst’s “Jupiter” as played by the DeMatha Wind Ensemble.

Host Biographies: Mr. Michael Ptomey is in his 19th year teaching. A DeMatha grad, class of ’98, he has taught English, Social Studies, and is currently the Chair of the Theology department. Mike has coached lacrosse and moderated clubs; he has won numerous awards for his teaching.

Dr. Daniel McMahon is in his 43nd year of teaching and serves as principal at DeMatha. Dan teaches World Literature and has coached basketball and softball and has moderated numerous clubs. He is a DeMatha grad, class of ’76.

Stag Symposium ([email protected]) Show Notes Season 1, Episode 7. Drop date 3/4/2024

Guest: Mr. John McConnell. John has been teaching at DeMatha for 19 years and is co-chair of the English Department. He has led several Cerfroid Summer Seminars for professional development and participated in numerous others. His Film class and War Narrative class are always over-subscribed. John has coached soccer at DeMatha and has served as moderator of Mock Trial for many years.

Main topics: John discusses developing his ideas about teaching during a tour of the Persian Gulf and at a prison in Wichita. He also taught creative writing at Wichita State.

Music: Gustav Holst’s “Jupiter” as played by the DeMatha Wind Ensemble.

Host Biographies: Mr. Michael Ptomey is in his 19th year teaching. A DeMatha grad, class of ’98, he has taught English, Social Studies, and is currently the Chair of the Theology department. Mike has coached lacrosse and moderated clubs; he has won numerous awards for his teaching.

Dr. Daniel McMahon is in his 42nd year of teaching and serves as principal at DeMatha. Dan teaches World Literature and has coached basketball and softball and has moderated numerous clubs. He is a DeMatha grad, class of ’76.

Stag Symposium ([email protected]) Show Notes Season 1, Episode 6. Drop date 2/19/2024

Guest: Ms. Caroline Tatnall. Caroline teaches in the Department of Sciences at DeMatha. Her assignments have included Biology, Chemistry, Biochemistry, and Marine Biology. She has been at DeMatha for two years and is a graduate of Clemson (undergraduate) and Notre Dame (graduate school). She was recognized by the Archdiocese of Washington as Novice Teacher of the Year this past October. Caroline put her minor is Spanish to good use by teaching two years in Madrid (and she also taught Precalculus at her former school in Alameda, California. She is originally from Olney and attended Blake High School. Caroline joins us to discuss the importance of landscape and granular school context, the importance of culture and setting, and much more.

Main topics: Cultural contexts, play and chaos, the importance of expectations, and the building of community.

Music: Gustav Holst’s “Jupiter” as played by the DeMatha Wind Ensemble.

Host Biographies: Mr. Michael Ptomey is in his 19th year teaching. A DeMatha grad, class of ’98, he has taught English, Social Studies, and is currently the Chair of the Theology department. Mike has coached lacrosse and moderated clubs; he has won numerous awards for his teaching.

Dr. Daniel McMahon is in his 42nd year of teaching and serves as principal at DeMatha. Dan teaches World Literature and has coached basketball and softball and has moderated numerous clubs. He is a DeMatha grad, class of ’76.

Stag Symposium ([email protected])

Show Notes Season 1, Episode 5. Drop date 2/5/2024

Guest: Mr. Matthew Bickel, ‘95. Matt is the Director of Instrumental Music and the conductor of Sinfonia and Orchestral Music. He has been teaching for 18 years at DeMatha. His knowledge of music is remarkable and his passion for teaching is incandescent. 

Main topics: Importance of relationships and praise; the nurturing of artists (and students); influential teachers; music–popular and classic.

Music: Gustav Holst’s “Jupiter” as played by the DeMatha Wind Ensemble.

Host Biographies: Mr. Michael Ptomey is in his 19th year teaching. A DeMatha grad, class of ’98, he has taught English, Social Studies, and is currently the Chair of the Theology department. Mike has coached lacrosse and moderated clubs; he has won numerous awards for his teaching.

Dr. Daniel McMahon is in his 42nd year of teaching and serves as principal at DeMatha. Dan teaches World Literature and has coached basketball and softball and has moderated numerous clubs. He is a DeMatha grad, class of ’76.

Stag Symposium ([email protected]) Show Notes Season 1, Episode 4. Drop date 1/22/2024

Guest: Mr. Vaughn Holsey. Vaughn’s career teaching art is deeply informed by his own art and by a varied background in athletics, academics, landscaping, mural-painting, and so much more. He has mentored many new teachers, nurtured young artists, and spoken at many retreats. This lively discussion focuses on significant books, the importance of humor in the classroom, and the value of great colleagues.

Books referred to: Bible, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Walker Percy The Moviegoer. 

Main topics: books that are important to us; the value and use of humor in the classroom; and importance of great colleagues and how they fuel growth.

Music: Gustav Holst’s “Jupiter” as played by the DeMatha Wind Ensemble.

Host Biographies: Mr. Michael Ptomey is in his 19th year teaching. A DeMatha grad, class of ’98, he has taught English, Social Studies, and is currently the Chair of the Theology department. Mike has coached lacrosse and moderated clubs; he has won numerous awards for his teaching.

Dr. Daniel McMahon is in his 42nd year of teaching and serves as principal at DeMatha. Dan teaches World Literature and has coached basketball and softball and has moderated numerous clubs. He is a DeMatha grad, class of ’76.

Stag Symposium ([email protected]) Show Notes Season 1, Episode 3. Drop date 1/8/2024

Guest: Mr. Patrick Smith, DeMatha class of 1982, joins Mike and Dan for a lively discussion of the relationship between coaching and teaching, some of our favorite assignments, and pedagogy that focuses on immediate feedback and how we might get students to think in a different way.

Music: Gustav Holst’s “Jupiter” as played by the DeMatha Wind Ensemble.

Guest Biography: Pat Smith is a Harvard graduate of 1986. Pat has been teaching for 35 years and has spent many of those years coaching. He has served as a camp director, Campus Minister, Department Chair, Admissions Director, and the Director of Special projects; Pat has won numerous awards for teaching and has presented at many conferences.

Host Biographies: Mr. Michael Ptomey is in his 19th year teaching. A DeMatha grad, class of ’98, he has taught English, Social Studies, and is currently the Chair of the Theology department. Mike has coached lacrosse and moderated clubs; he has won numerous awards for his teaching.

Dr. Daniel McMahon is in his 42nd year of teaching and serves as principal at DeMatha. Dan teaches World Literature and has coached basketball and softball and has moderated numerous clubs. He is a DeMatha grad, class of ’76.

In this episode, Mike and Dan talk about their early teaching experiences by answering three questions: What was the best thing about your experience? What was the hardest thing about your experience? What was the most surprising thing about your experience? The conversation draws on important influences and finding and creating your own voice as a teacher.

Music: Gustav Holst’s “Jupiter” as played by the DeMatha Wind Ensemble.

Host Biographies: Mr. Michael Ptomey is in his 19th year teaching. A DeMatha grad, class of ’98, he has taught English, Social Studies, and is currently the Chair of the Theology department. Mike has coached lacrosse and moderated clubs; he has won numerous awards for his teaching.

Dr. Daniel McMahon is in his 42nd year of teaching and serves as principal at DeMatha. Dan has coached basketball and softball and has moderated numerous clubs. He is a DeMatha grad, class of ’76.