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ECHO programs amplify educational benefits, foster greater appreciation of local and national history and the natural environment, and assist communities in maximizing the social benefits of new technologies.
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New Bedford ECHO Project, New Bedford Oceanarium, Connecting Oceans Academy, Middle Grades, elementary, Science curriculum, Interdisciplinary curriculum, Integrated curriculum, Social Studies Curriculum, Art Curriculum, Language Arts Curriculum, Math curriculum, Storytelling, Oral history, Primary sources, inquiry, research, research-based instruction, understanding by design, assessment, stewardship, differentiated instruction, global warming, Underground Railroad, maritime curriculum, ecosystems lessons, invasive species lessons, mapping lessons, biomes lessons, habitats lessons, properties of water lessons, lesson plans Margaret Russell Ciardi
is the Director of the New Bedford ECHO Project’s Connecting Oceans Academy. Dr. Ciardi has achieved national recognition for her expertise in the design of high quality curricula, assessment, and early and content area literacy.

With over 30 years of experience in urban schools, Dr. Ciardi has intimate understanding of student needs and teacher knowledge and practice in both elementary and secondary settings. She has used that expertise to supervise student teachers, provide system-wide professional development, and to develop and implement curricula in both formal and informal settings.

Dr. Ciardi received her doctorate at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and subsequently served there as the acting director of the certification and master’s programs in language and literacy. She was also a member of the teacher education faculty at Antioch University in Seattle.

Dr. Ciardi is the primary author of Guiding Curriculum Decisions for Middle Grades Language Arts which is published by Heinemann.

Dr. Ciardi has also served as a consultant in content area reading and writing to the Boston Public Schools, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s Early College High Schools Network, and the Atlas Foundation. She is also a certified instructor for Research for Better Teaching, a nationally recognized professional development organization

At Education Development Center (EDC), Dr. Ciardi consulted both nationally and internationally in reading education, assessment, and curriculum. Her work in elementary and middle school settings focused on educating teachers on planning instruction that is based on research and assessment. She also served as a consultant to the Ministry of Education in Guyana, where she was instrumental in the development of a national reading curriculum. At EDC, Dr. Ciardi was also the director of two federally-funded projects: the Reading Success Network and the Assessing Student Achievement Project (see http://www2.edc.org/asap)
   
   
New Bedford ECHO Project, New Bedford Oceanarium, Connecting Oceans Academy, Middle Grades, elementary, Science curriculum, Interdisciplinary curriculum, Integrated curriculum, Social Studies Curriculum, Art Curriculum, Language Arts Curriculum, Math curriculum, Storytelling, Oral history, Primary sources, inquiry, research, research-based instruction, understanding by design, assessment, stewardship, differentiated instruction, global warming, Underground Railroad, maritime curriculum, ecosystems lessons, invasive species lessons, mapping lessons, biomes lessons, habitats lessons, properties of water lessons, lesson plans Wende Allen
is a curriculum developer for the ECHO Project. She served as Director for two middle grades curriculum projects funded by the U.S. Department of Education (USDE), an integrated, inquiry-based science program for teaching mainstreamed children with disabilities and an environmental science course. She designed and taught two innovative, interdisciplinary high school programs for gifted students, recognized as exemplary by the National Science Foundation (NSF). She served as school district Director of Secondary Instruction and Director of Visual and Performing Arts for grades K-12; directed a district-wide school improvement initiative; and most recently worked at Education Development Center, Inc., a nonprofit educational research and development company, where she provided K-12 assistance in mathematics and science education and assessment to 25 states funded by the NSF and later directed the New England Comprehensive Center, supported by the USDE to serve underperforming students in grades K-12. Ms. Allen’s work as a science consultant for the North Carolina Department of Education included staff development for educators in a high-poverty region with a diverse student population.
   
   
New Bedford ECHO Project, New Bedford Oceanarium, Connecting Oceans Academy, Middle Grades, elementary, Science curriculum, Interdisciplinary curriculum, Integrated curriculum, Social Studies Curriculum, Art Curriculum, Language Arts Curriculum, Math curriculum, Storytelling, Oral history, Primary sources, inquiry, research, research-based instruction, understanding by design, assessment, stewardship, differentiated instruction, global warming, Underground Railroad, maritime curriculum, ecosystems lessons, invasive species lessons, mapping lessons, biomes lessons, habitats lessons, properties of water lessons, lesson plans Ronald Adams
teaches grade 7 Language Arts at the Broad Meadows Middle School in the Quincy (Massachusetts) Public School System. Through ongoing interdisciplinary units modeled after the Connecting Oceans Academy curriculum units and lesson plans available online, Ron has designed integrated studies which empower middle school students through literacy. For example, Ron’s students “write wrongs” through the writing of business letters that matter to the student, and they conduct research and inquiry projects based on such student selected research questions as: “Did the Underground Railroad pass through my community?” and “Which birds migrate through our community and why?” In addition, Ron’s students learn how to conduct community oral history projects with elders and experts to connect community members to the schools as well as to foster firsthand in children a pride of place. As a result, Ron’s students past and current are recipients of awards such as: the Reebok International Youth in Action Human Rights Award; the National Education Association’s Global Peace and Understanding Award; the USAID Domestic Partnership Award; the Peace Corps' Global Awareness Award; the Freedom Lives Award (presented on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on September 11, 2002); and the A& E Cable Network Award for the student produced oral history project on their city's shipyard's WWII women welders. Ron was selected MA Department of Education State Teacher of the Year and serves on the Advisory Boards of the JFK Library's Profiles in Courage Essay Contest, Junior Scholastic magazine, and the Massachusetts Studies Project.
   
   
New Bedford ECHO Project, New Bedford Oceanarium, Connecting Oceans Academy, Middle Grades, elementary, Science curriculum, Interdisciplinary curriculum, Integrated curriculum, Social Studies Curriculum, Art Curriculum, Language Arts Curriculum, Math curriculum, Storytelling, Oral history, Primary sources, inquiry, research, research-based instruction, understanding by design, assessment, stewardship, differentiated instruction, global warming, Underground Railroad, maritime curriculum, ecosystems lessons, invasive species lessons, mapping lessons, biomes lessons, habitats lessons, properties of water lessons, lesson plans Alfred Benbenek
is a Master Teacher and Technician for the Connecting Oceans Academy. He taught both fifth and sixth grade for 35 years in Whitman, Massachusetts. In 1990, Al was chosen as a Lucretia Crocker Fellow and with his teaching partner spent a year with the MA DOE disseminating their program, “Making Science a Verb” in over 25 school systems in the state. He has presented elementary science workshops locally, nationally and internationally at National Science Teachers Association conferences. In 1994, Al was named the Presidential Awardee for Excellence in Elementary Science Teaching for Massachusetts. He has also received the Tillinghast Education Award from the Bridgewater State College Alumni Association and was inducted into the Massachusetts Science Teachers Hall of Fame in 2001. Al served on the Board of the Teacher Leadership Academy of MA for nine years. He is a graduate of Bridgewater State College and has a Master of Education degree from Cambridge College.
   
   
New Bedford ECHO Project, New Bedford Oceanarium, Connecting Oceans Academy, Middle Grades, elementary, Science curriculum, Interdisciplinary curriculum, Integrated curriculum, Social Studies Curriculum, Art Curriculum, Language Arts Curriculum, Math curriculum, Storytelling, Oral history, Primary sources, inquiry, research, research-based instruction, understanding by design, assessment, stewardship, differentiated instruction, global warming, Underground Railroad, maritime curriculum, ecosystems lessons, invasive species lessons, mapping lessons, biomes lessons, habitats lessons, properties of water lessons, lesson plans Jack Crowley
is the Science Education Program Specialist for the Center for University, School and Community Partnerships and the Connecting Oceans Teacher Academy ECHO Project. Jack has been teaching K-16 classes for over thirty years. Jack has won numerous science teaching awards including: The Massachusetts Department of Education Lucretia Crocker Teaching Fellowship; The Massachusetts Department of Marine Fisheries Environmental Educator Award; The Northeast Governors' Council Marine Educator Award and the National Marine Educators Association's Educator of the Year Award. Jack is Executive Director of Massachusetts Marine Educators, which along with UMASS, SMAST, Project Oceanology and the New Bedford Oceanarium are involved with improving science outreach to K-12 schools with the WOW Mobile, the Enviro-Lab and numerous science conferences and courses with a special emphasis on the SouthCoast.
   
   
New Bedford ECHO Project, New Bedford Oceanarium, Connecting Oceans Academy, Middle Grades, elementary, Science curriculum, Interdisciplinary curriculum, Integrated curriculum, Social Studies Curriculum, Art Curriculum, Language Arts Curriculum, Math curriculum, Storytelling, Oral history, Primary sources, inquiry, research, research-based instruction, understanding by design, assessment, stewardship, differentiated instruction, global warming, Underground Railroad, maritime curriculum, ecosystems lessons, invasive species lessons, mapping lessons, biomes lessons, habitats lessons, properties of water lessons, lesson plans Virginia Freyermuth
is the Art Education Master Teacher for the Connecting Oceans Academy. Dr. Freyermuth has been teaching K-12, university, and adult classes for over thirty-two years. She is the recipient of numerous teaching awards including: The 1994 Massachusetts Teacher of the Year Award from the Massachusetts Department of Education; the 1995 National Outstanding Art Teacher Award from the Walt Disney / McDonald’s American Teacher Awards, and Outstanding Massachusetts Art Teacher from the Massachusetts Alliance for Arts Education. She holds Bachelor and Master of Fine Arts Degrees in Painting from Boston University and a Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Studies from The Union Institute & University in Cincinnati, Ohio. She is a Founding Fellow of the Teacher Leadership Academy of Massachusetts and recently retired as a Full-time Faculty member of the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. Prior to that, Dr. Freyermuth worked as the K-12 Art Coordinator of the Duxbury (Massachusetts) Public Schools, and also taught in the Plymouth and Quincy Public Schools for grades K-8. Virginia Freyermuth is an artist, writer, photographer, arts advocate, and Director of Cranberry Barn Studios in Carver, Massachusetts, where she teaches privately and pursues fine portraiture and painting.
 

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What is ECHO?

ECHO is an educational and cultural enrichment initiative, annually serving thousands of children and adults in Alaska, Hawaii and Massachusetts. Established by Congress as part of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, ECHO brings innovative programs collaboratively produced by the regional cultural institutions to culturally diverse audiences.  Read More