{"id":9305,"date":"2024-04-09T03:17:04","date_gmt":"2024-04-09T03:17:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/?p=9305"},"modified":"2024-05-01T02:15:05","modified_gmt":"2024-05-01T02:15:05","slug":"shes-making-herstory-a-mid-year-check-in-with-miriam-paterson-in-her-first-year-as-history-department-chair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/2024\/04\/shes-making-herstory-a-mid-year-check-in-with-miriam-paterson-in-her-first-year-as-history-department-chair\/","title":{"rendered":"She\u2019s Making Herstory: Checking In With Miriam Paterson in Her First Year As History Department Chair"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Maybe you\u2019ve seen her iconic outfits and Halloween costumes; maybe you\u2019ve heard her shoes clicking as she walks down the stairs, or her loud laugh, present in all her conversations; or maybe you\u2019ve been lucky enough to have her as a teacher. Regardless of how you know her, Miriam Paterson is completely unforgettable. In her 20th year at Fieldston, she is the new Department Chair of History \u2013 her first time in the position. Six months in, she is making the role her own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the previous department chair, Jennifer Tammi, stepped down last year, she left a void few could fill. Paterson didn\u2019t raise her hand or seek out the role; instead, members of the department reached out to her, encouraging her to pursue it. She had reservations, but after talking to Tammi and her current colleagues, she decided to dive in. On the eve of her third decade at Fieldston, Paterson said she thought, \u201cIt was the perfect year to start this role.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I actually really enjoy being Chair, even though I didn\u2019t think I would.\u201d <\/p>Miriam Paterson<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

But she had her doubts. \u201cI didn\u2019t think I would like this job,\u201d admitted Paterson. \u201cI was afraid of it for a lot of reasons.\u201d For starters, Paterson feared the possibility of conflicts between administrative responsibilities and teaching. The role of the department head significantly increased over the past few years. They\u2019ve been asked to take on a lot more responsibilities than when Paterson first began teaching in the Upper School. \u201cOn the surface, the job seemed unmanageable, said Paterson. \u201cBut I actually really enjoy being Chair, even though I didn\u2019t think I would.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another one of Paterson\u2019s concerns stemmed from her \u201cfear of the unknown.\u201d However, it\u2019s not Paterson\u2019s first time in a new role: last year, she started teaching Humanities, a relatively new Fieldston course where Ethics, English and History mesh into one yearlong class. Paterson declared, \u201cWhat I\u2019ve learned, especially from teaching Humanities for the first time last year and doing this for the first time this year, is that I don\u2019t have to be afraid!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paterson\u2019s main initiative as chair centers on her fellow teachers. She calls it, \u201cInternal Professional Development.\u201dThe project began organically: Paterson and Taylor Torres, a Fieldston History teacher, started discussing a reading on Nat Turner and the Africanization of Christianity, and Paterson volunteered to speak to Torres\u2019 class. Also including their fellow History Department colleague, Halle Amore Bauer, all three teachers began visiting each other\u2019s classes. Torres and Paterson observed Amore-Bauer\u2019s Socratic Seminar, something Paterson had never done with her students before, and Torres and Amore-Bauer plan to see a Humanities lesson. \u201cWe\u2019re not doing it for any reason other than to make the teaching experience better for us and the kids,\u201d said Paterson. \u201cWe all have skills as individual teachers that we can and should develop. We all have something to learn and something to teach.\u201d Paterson looks to make \u201cInternal Professional Development\u201d a more official practice of the History Department by organizing small groups of teachers who will discuss and learn from one another. Excitedly, she exclaimed, \u201cI\u2019m going to make a chart!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not doing it for any reason other than to make the teaching experience better for us and the kids.\u201d<\/p>Miriam Paterson<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A lot of teachers can say, \u201cIt\u2019s for the kids.\u201d Paterson doesn\u2019t just say those words, she lives by them. For her, connecting with kids includes three main parts: teaching them how to engage, to disagree and to think about the future. It\u2019s the specific \u201cah-ha\u201d moments \u2013 when a student says something that clicks, gets excited about learning something new, or even has a \u2018mind-blown moment\u2019 \u2013 that mean the most to her. \u201cIt gives meaning to what we do, and it makes me feel good for being here,\u201d Paterson explained. \u201cI want to do that and I want my whole department to do that. I see myself as creating ways for them to do that.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paterson recognizes that disagreement in classrooms can be uncomfortable. That, however, is where she sees the chance for growth. She strongly encourages kids to feel at liberty to disagree, whether that\u2019s disagreeing with her or with each other. She believes that Fieldston students have a special need to grow because they represent the future leaders of tomorrow. Paterson hopes that \u201cthe kids who [go to Fieldston] will choose life endeavors that will use the power and privilege [they have] for good.\u201d The kids make Paterson\u2019s job rewarding: seeing them light up; respectfully and confidently sharing their opinions; and implementing all their learned lessons when they go off to college and beyond. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jennifer Kim, a first-year teacher at Fieldston, works in the History Department and co-leads a Form III advisory \u2013 where spirited charade games occur \u2013 with Paterson. To Kim, Paterson\u2019s greatest strength as an educator is \u201cher ability to connect with students and her desire to do so. Regardless of who the students are, what their interests may be and what their level of love of history is, she finds a way to connect with literally every single person.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n

\n
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Paterson and Kim laughing during an advisory birthday celebration (Source: Lily Saal)<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Sylvie Poisson (Form V) took a history course with Paterson all three years of her high school career so far: freshman year World History, sophomore year Humanities and junior year Anatomy of a Social Movement. She augmented Kim\u2019s praise, \u201cPaterson has taught me to question the status quo and interrogate the history we are learning. I never go to a class without being fully engaged and immersed in the material we are learning.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know who I would be today without taking one of her classes.\u201d<\/p>Paterson’s Student Sylvie Poisson<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Paterson\u2019s superpowers extend beyond her lesson plans. She knows her students face enormous pressures inside and outside the classroom. To her, students are multi-dimensional. She cares about them as a whole. \u201cShe is supportive and always cheers me up when I\u2019m having a bad day,\u201d said Poisson. \u201cI don\u2019t know who I would be today without taking one of her classes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paterson has devoted her career to making an impact on her students. The new role, she said, has challenged her and pushed her to work even harder to make a difference. She explained, \u201cI\u2019ve always wanted to be a better teacher, but there are moments where I just said that to myself and became complacent. I wanted to hold myself to a higher standard. If I didn\u2019t take on these new responsibilities, I wouldn\u2019t grow and be held accountable. It is so rewarding.\u201d Her passion ties all facets of her job together: teaching, leading, collaborating, facilitating, etc. She\u2019s only halfway through her first year being department chair, but she\u2019s already making herstory. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Maybe you\u2019ve seen her iconic outfits and Halloween costumes; maybe you\u2019ve heard her shoes clicking as she walks down the stairs, or her loud laugh, present in all her conversations; or maybe you\u2019ve been lucky enough to have her as a teacher. Regardless of how you know her, Miriam Paterson is completely unforgettable. In her 20th year at Fieldston, she is the new Department Chair of History \u2013 her first time in the position. Six<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":301,"featured_media":9609,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[347,426,322,318],"tags":[],"coauthors":[429],"class_list":["post-9305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","category-faculty","category-featured","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Screen-Shot-2024-04-30-at-10.08.18-PM-e1714529456600.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9305","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/301"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9305"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9305\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9612,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9305\/revisions\/9612"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9305"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=9305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}