Our highly qualified teachers build the academic foundation of our students’ young minds.
Lower School Teachers
Together, our teachers create a learning environment that’s stimulating, supportive and safe. They challenge students to be their best selves, encouraging them to push their academic boundaries and discover new interests.
With rich learning environments, leading-edge instructional technology and powerful support staff including administrators, librarians and learning specialist, our teachers have the tools they need to give your child an excellent academic experience. Many of our teachers hold advanced degrees in their subject areas and participate in ongoing professional training in areas such as child development.
Heather Russell
Language Arts Teacher
Inspiration to Teach
My grandmother, who was a dedicated and creative teacher in a one-room schoolhouse in Pennsylvania.
Extracurricular Pursuits
I’m busy writing a children's literature series to accompany curriculum I developed with my sister.
Best Advice for Students
Talk less, listen more.
More Harker Profiles Browse the Lower School Teacher Directory
Librarians
Information literacy is the cornerstone of our academic curriculum. When our students visit the library as a part of our lower school curriculum, they learn that intellectual curiosity is cool and the library is a fun and exciting place.
As students progress through the lower school, our information literacy curriculum advances with them. While our youngest students are learning through active play in the library, our fourth and fifth grade students are learning to research, cite and report on information found with our extensive library resources. With our librarians serving as an extension of our teaching staff, there’s always a knowledgeable instructor available to help students with research projects.
We are continually impressed by the caliber and professionalism of the entire teaching and administrative staff at The Harker School. It has been wonderful to observe the growth and progression of our two daughters during their first years at this unique institution.
Steve Harris, parent
Technology Specialists
At Harker we teach students how to use technology meaningfully and effectively to explore deeply, solve problems and represent information and data in new ways. Through intentional and targeted technology integration into our curriculum, our technology specialists help teachers use these tools to increase student knowledge and open doors to discovery.
Professional Development and Support
Teacher development and support is an essential component of our lower school program. Our teachers enjoy internal and external professional development opportunities. With the support of our librarians, technology staff, counselors and learning specialist, our teachers have the in-house support they need to devote their energy to creative and caring classroom teaching. Our own Vegesna Foundation Teacher Excellence Program allows selected faculty to travel the U.S. and abroad to hone skills they can bring back to their classrooms.