The Doak family visited the Warner Bros. Studios, where this model of Dumbeldore’s office is on display.
Winter term has taken off, and Choate welcomes back four faculty members who have just returned from sabbatical: Ms. Carol Chen-Lin, Ms. Kate Doak, Ms. Fran O’Donoghue, and Ms. Amy Salot. What have they been up to?
Ms. Chen-Lin spent her most recent sabbatical enriching her experience as a Chinese teacher. She mainly worked on writing an advanced level Chinese language textbook and attending conferences.
In October, she went to Atlanta, Ga. for a celebration of the tenth anniversary of the STARTALK program, a government-funded initiative to support education in critical-need foreign languages. (Choate was involved in this program, thanks to Ms. Chen-Lin, from 2006 to 2013.) She also went to the annual convention for the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages in Boston.
Outside of work-related activities, Ms. Chen-Lin spent a lot of time reading. She said, “I love how the sabbatical provides a great opportunity to explore my areas of interest. I gained a lot of inspiration and ideas that would not have occurred with my rigid and demanding schedule.”
Ms. Doak, an English teacher, spent her sabbatical — the first of her time at Choate — with her family. They explored historical sites in Scotland and England, which helped her continue her work on the online theater history class she created last year for Choate. “One of my favorite parts of the sabbatical was visiting Hampton Court near London,” Ms. Doak recalled. “We walked into a large room, and one of my kids pointed out a huge portrait of Charles II and said, ‘Mom, there’s your boyfriend!’ I guess he said that because the picture of Charles II was on my computer for a long time as part of the class.”
Ms. Doak and her family also visited the Warner Bros. Studios in Leavesden (outside of London), where the Harry Potter series was filmed. The photos from the studios will be used by her students for a set design project for the theater history class.
In addition to being closely intertwined with her Choate-related pursuits, the sabbatical allowed Ms. Doak to further her independent writing projects as well. For example, she is currently in the notes stage of a novel, and seeing sites such as the Tower of London up close helped her refine setting descriptions.
Ms. O’Donoghue, a chemistry teacher, and Ms. Salot, a history and English teacher, spent their third sabbatical together last term.
Both agreed that this most recent sabbatical was their favorite. “I went to Houston, Texas for my first sabbatical,” Ms. O’Donoghue said. She was invited there by Ms. Mae Jemison, the first female black astronaut in space, who she had met when Ms. Jemison came to Choate as that year’s Commencement Speaker. Ms. O’Donoghue commented, “It was a super cool experience to explore her work in developing new technology for medicine distribution around the world. However, it was not as fun as I expected it to be.”
Ms. O’Donoghue and Ms. Salot planned to go on a long bike trip across the U.S. for their second sabbatical; however, it was cut short because Ms. Salot was diagnosed with cancer. “Although I was thankful that I had a chance to treat it without the interference of work, I did not enjoy the sabbatical as much as I wanted to,” said Ms. Salot.
For this sabbatical, Ms. O’Donoghue and Ms. Salot decided to focus on having fun. Each month, they planned a theme or special activity.
In June, they went to Italy to visit various cities as tourists and to hike through northern Italy for a week. In July, they stayed in New Hampshire to visit friends and family. In August, they travelled to Montreal, and in September, they visited Washington D.C. In October, they went mountain hiking in the Southwest, including Utah and Arizona.
Ms. Fran O’Donoghue (left) and Ms. Amy Salot (right) hiked through the Dolomite Mountains in Northern Italy.
Ms. Salot mentioned that the sabbatical was a “great balance between doing absolutely nothing and having great adventures.” She continued, “I ran my first five-mile race. We hiked the Grand Canyon for 16 miles and went mountain biking. I felt I was 25 years old during those physically challenging activities, and I felt as if I were 85 years old at the end of the day.”
Ms. O’Donoghue added, “All the trips were spread out, so we certainly didn’t feel like we were rushing. There was a lot of relaxation time in between the travels.”
These trips and past sabbaticals are made possible by Choate’s sabbatical program, under which faculty members can either take a term off or use the summer months (both with pay) every seven to ten years. The sabbatical program is organized by Mr. Thomas White, Director of Faculty Development. He keeps track of a list of faculty members which contains information about how long they have been at Choate and how long has it been since their last sabbaticals. Mr. White plans the sabbaticals two years in advance to ensure everything runs smoothly.
Faculty members complete a proposal detailing what they want to do during the sabbatical and what they hope to accomplish. Although, according to Ms. O’Donoghue, they are encouraged to “do something that is beneficial,” the faculty are able to decide what exactly that “something” is.
These four teachers are now back on campus, and they are excited to resume teaching. Ms. O’Donoghue said, “I’m in the excitement phase of beginning a new year. I have been meeting new people, including my students. I am excited to see people and to start my classes!” Of course, transitioning can be difficult. “It is a little challenging to adjust back to campus because my students have been taught in a different style with another teacher for a term,” Ms. Doak mentioned. “So far, however, it has been great.”
