About
BubbleUp Classroom is the virtual home of collaborative work developed by Corey Thornblad, a Social Studies Teacher, and Gretchen Hazlin, a Librarian, at Fairfax County Public School's Kilmer Middle School. As FCPS teachers, it is our aim to support literacy, writing, critical thinking, and creativity in all classrooms.
This school-based project started with our hands-on, interactive thesis writing workshop and has expanded to include a variety of lessons: fairy tale grab bags, the “What’s the Scoop” method of analyzing documents and teaching OPVL, and our outline generator which supports whole essay writing in relation to a DBQ.
It's our Kilmer philosophy that with the right scaffolding, any student can learn and grow. With the right support, student creativity bubbles up to the surface.
We also believe in teacher and librarian collaboration to the fullest, which means sharing materials across FCPS, the state, and even the country. Teachers and school librarians are at our best when we share our creativity and best practices with one another. We hope you'll by inspired by our work and the creativity of our amazing Kilmer students.
This school-based project started with our hands-on, interactive thesis writing workshop and has expanded to include a variety of lessons: fairy tale grab bags, the “What’s the Scoop” method of analyzing documents and teaching OPVL, and our outline generator which supports whole essay writing in relation to a DBQ.
It's our Kilmer philosophy that with the right scaffolding, any student can learn and grow. With the right support, student creativity bubbles up to the surface.
We also believe in teacher and librarian collaboration to the fullest, which means sharing materials across FCPS, the state, and even the country. Teachers and school librarians are at our best when we share our creativity and best practices with one another. We hope you'll by inspired by our work and the creativity of our amazing Kilmer students.
We talk all about collaboration on The Answer Key podcast! Listen up (and check out our show notes too)!
Corey Thornblad
Corey is in her fourteenth year as a social studies teacher at Kilmer Middle School. The students, teachers, and community make it her happy place. Prior to becoming a teacher, Corey worked in politics, including in the US Senate as a speechwriter and as a Communications Director in the House of Representatives. Now, she loves helping her students make connections between their lives and social studies through writing, reading, the exploration of primary sources. Corey received a Bachelor of Arts in History and Theatre Arts from the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee and a Master of Education from the George Washington University in Washington, DC. She was recognized as the 2016 Fairfax County Public School's Outstanding Teacher of the Year and a Washington Post Teacher of the Year Finalist. Corey was selected as an ASCD Emerging Leader in 2017. Twitter @coreythornblad and @thornbladclass 2016 FCPS Outstanding Teacher of the Year
FCPS teacher of year aims to keep classroom a lively place, March 2016 (InsideNOVA)
Corey Thornblad's Advice to New Teachers, FCPS News, September 2016
Outstanding Teaching in an Election Year, FCPS News, September 2016
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Gretchen Hazlin
Gretchen has been Head Librarian at Kilmer Middle School for the past twelve years. After working in corporate and special libraries at Johnson & Johnson, Grey Advertising, and The New York Academy of Medicine, she is finally exactly what she wants to be when she grows up -- she loves teaching information literacy and critical thinking skills, sharing young adult literature, and collaborating with teachers. Gretchen also brought the Kilmer Library Makerspace to her library program, aiming to inspire messy and creative thinking in her students . She earned a Bachelor of Arts in English and History from Boston College and a Master of Library Studies from Rutgers University in New Jersey. Gretchen was recently selected as the 2016 Virginia School Librarian of the Year, an award granted by the Virginia Association of School Librarians (VAASL). Twitter @libraryms and @kilmerlibrary 2016 Virginia School Librarian of the Year
Kilmer Middle Librarian Named 2016 Virginia State Librarian of the Year, FCPS News, October 2016
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