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<\/a>On the lawn next to Hathaway House in 1973, shovel-wielding eighth graders dug into the dirt. The hole grew bigger, and impressively deep. From it, they pulled buried china doll heads, twisted pieces of metal, and hairbrushes.<\/p>\nThey were exhuming a 20th century household dump. History teacher Karin O\u2019Neil and colleague Thomas Smith were leading a bona fide archeological dig. What better way to teach history than to let kids unearth it?<\/p>\n
Ms. O\u2019Neil, Mr. Smith, and their students had organized an efficient setup. Some kids dug while others used sifters to gently shake away the soil from the artifacts. The dig itself lasted for several weeks, revealing other treasures\u2014a salt-blazed stoneware crock, soles of shoes, pieces of Imari ceramic pottery that they glued back together\u2014all clues to a different way of life, of people who lived on the same land before them. Researching the artifacts took longer, but ultimately the students proudly presented their findings to the Easthampton Historical Society.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were always looking for innovative ways to help students understand the way \u2018history\u2019 is made,\u201d Ms. O\u2019Neil says.<\/p>\n
Paul Sigris \u201978, was among those eighth grade excavators. He says his memories of the dig are \u201cvivid.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a hands-on approach to teaching American history,\u201d he says. \u201cWe weren\u2019t watching an archeological dig, we were doing an archeological dig. There was a huge difference. It also meant that we got dirty.\u201d<\/p>\n
During her 33-year tenure at Williston Northampton, as both a teacher and an administrator, Ms. O\u2019Neil had a talent for uncovering something miraculous just below the surface\u2014from an old hairbrush, to a teacher\u2019s innate ability to inspire a classroom of students. She took everything to the next level: first elevating how she taught history and then elevating how the school, collectively, approached the curriculum.<\/p>\n
As the director of the Middle School, the academic dean, the dean of faculty, the assistant head, and finally, as associate head of school from 1990 to 2001, Ms. O\u2019Neil was an historian who was also quietly, and rather cheerily, making history.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo this day, I have an interest in archeology,\u201d says Mr. Sigrist, an actor, who for 10 years directed an oral history project at the Ellis Island Immigration Museum. \u201cDoing that dig was kind of a dream come true. Going down into that dirt seven feet down and pulling stuff out of the dirt, it was heaven. Certainly Ms. O\u2019Neil fostered and cultivated that life-long interest in history, and I eventually pursued it as a career.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\nGROOVING ON CHALLENGES<\/p>\n
When Ms. O\u2019Neil signed on to teach at the Northampton School for Girls (NSFG) in 1967, she only expected to stay for one year. She had just earned her master\u2019s degree in history, and she \u201cbumbled\u201d her way into teaching, believing the year would give her time to figure our her career path. Then she had what she calls the \u201clight bulb experience.\u201d It changed everything.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s that moment of inner feeling when a students grasps something, and you can see that you had something to do with that,\u201d she says. \u201cOnce that happened, I was hooked.\u201d<\/p>\n
That, and NSFG was on the brink of merging with Williston Academy. Ms. O\u2019Neil wanted to support her students through the monumental change.<\/p>\n
\u201c[Williston Academy] had a strong male culture,\u201d she says. \u201cI felt really strongly that the girls would need some female advocates.\u201d<\/p>\n
Assistant Head of School Ann Pickrell says Ms. O\u2019Neil was instrumental in successfully melding the two schools.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe brought many of the NSFG traditions to Williston,\u201d Ms. Pickrell says. \u201cShe was very mindful of that from a perspective of an historian; she was not willing to let that aspect of [NSFG] disappear.\u201d<\/p>\n
During the first year or two of the merger, Ms. O\u2019Neil did find herself advocating for the female students along with some of her NSFG and Williston colleagues.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was a dark cloud of feeling that the women brought lower academic standards than the men,\u201d Ms. O\u2019Neil says. \u201cSome of those women went on to just do phenomenal things. So vindication is sweet, because they were real leaders in their fields.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was an exciting time for Ms. O\u2019Neil, who describes herself as a \u201craw rookie\u201d who \u201cgrooved on challenges.\u201d It was the early 70s, and her dog nipped at her students\u2019 bellbottomed jeans as they strolled across campus.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a time of chaos,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd it was a time of huge change in American culture. People were trying to get a clear footing on what education should be, how traditional the school should be, discipline, what kind of innovation should there be. Everybody was groping for the way that would make things work better.\u201d
\nOn occasion, Ms. O\u2019Neil herself was on the front lines of disciplining her students. When a male student perpetually skipped her class, she decided to track him down in his dorm\u2014at a time when women and men didn\u2019t typically set foot in each other\u2019s living quarters.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe boys [in my class] looked at me and said, \u2018You wouldn\u2019t.\u2019 I said, \u2018Just watch me.\u2019\u201d
\nLeaving her class with a student teacher, Ms. O\u2019Neil marched over to the missing student\u2019s dorm room and rapped on the door.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere he was, standing in his boxers,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd I said, \u2018You will get dressed. You will be in my class before it is over. And you are not to be late again. And he wasn\u2019t late\u2014for about two months.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the newly minted Williston Northampton, Ms. O\u2019Neil found a school that encouraged her to think creatively.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m a doer,\u201d she says. \u201cIf I saw something that was needed, I would speak up. I learned how to speak up pretty quickly in that first year ofthe merger, otherwise I would have been blown out of the water.\u201d<\/p>\n
Instead, she swam with the current, and eventually started carving her own tributaries.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomebody says, \u201cOk, you have an idea, go do it.\u2019 That\u2019s really how I got into administration,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
PROVIDING THE GLUE
\nBefore the late 1970s, Williston Northampton, like most independent schools, didn\u2019t have a formal and well-articulated system to evaluate teachers. Rather, the culture of independent schools supported teachers\u2019 independence in a classroom and in developing curriculum.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt independent schools, historically, teachers could go into their classrooms that were like little egg cartons and nobody could check on them,\u201d Ms. O\u2019Neil says. \u201c[Teachers] could do whatever they wanted. It was their own private fiefdom.\u201d
\nShe continued, \u201cThe general tone, and this isn\u2019t critical of Williston, was: \u2018All I have to do is stand outside the door for 15 minutes and I tell if someone is a good teacher or not.\u2019 And I said, \u2018I don\u2019t think it\u2019s that easy.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
In her role as academic dean from 1977-1985, Ms. O\u2019Neil says she gained a broader perspective on new research that delved into the science and theory of teaching and learning.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was a huge explosion of knowledge about how people learn and how brains work,\u201d she says. \u201cI wanted to find out what really works in teaching.\u201d
\nShe attended conferences and trainings, and slowly began to shift how Williston Northampton approached teaching. With key help from some of her colleagues, she introduced classroom observations, a teacher evaluation structure, and a new teacher orientation program. She also pushed for summer study opportunities for faculty.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was one of the first people to talk about curriculum mapping and to get us to do it,\u201d Ms. Pickrell says. \u201cShe wanted people who were good teachers to be better teachers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dean of Faculty Peter Valine says Ms. O\u2019Neil was pivotal to establishing Williston Northampton\u2019s culture of professionalism.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was able to bring a level of respect and admiration that served the interest of the school community so well,\u201d he says. \u201cShe was upholding professional institutional values, and doing it in a way that you felt like you had her complete support.\u201d<\/p>\n
The task wasn\u2019t easy. It was like righting a large ship, asking it to go in another direction.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a long, hard road,\u201d Ms. O\u2019Neil says. \u201cBut a lot of people came through. I couldn\u2019t have done it without the whole faculty. I think I provided the glue. The people were working together in a way they hadn\u2019t in the past.\u201d<\/p>\n
For years, on her office door, she hung a quote from the Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu: \u201cA leader is most effective when people barely know he exists. When his work is done, his aim fulfilled, his troops will feel they did it themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n
She lived and led by this motto.<\/p>\n
A LIFE REFLECTED
\nOn a sunny, surprisingly warm day this fall, Ms. O\u2019Neil sat on a bench outside the Homestead, giving jolly hellos to the many people who recognized her. Back for a visit from her home in Ohio, she surveyed the campus. Had it changed? Oh yes.
\nMs. O\u2019Neil left Williston Northampton in 2001, moving to Ohio to become the executive director of the Ohio Association of Independent Schools. She retired in 2011, but is still on the board for the League of Women Voters and is writing a family history for her two grandchildren.<\/p>\n
After studying the art, science, and theory of teaching for years, Ms. O\u2019Neil has a few thoughts about what makes a good teacher. She lists them with enthusiasm: a passion for subject matter, the ability to take feedback, a knack for living with ambiguity, a sense of humor, and above all, the to inclination to \u201cgroove on the light bulb effect.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr. Valine, who is in a role that Ms. O\u2019Neil once held as dean of faculty, was deeply influenced by her approach. He says she had a personal touch, taking interest in his two small girls and hanging their Christ-mas pictures on her door.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose are the types of little things that can make a difference, the things I think about when I\u2019m in this position,\u201d he says. \u201cTo get to know the faculty as people with families, and not so much an employees punching the clock\u2014that\u2019s not something that every administrator does so cheerily.\u201d<\/p>\n
And long before she was troubleshooting with faculty or studying how brains take in knowledge, she was in the dirt, leading an archeological dig, showing a shining passion for her subject matter, grooving on that light bulb effect.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome teachers have a certain foreboding distance about them,\u201d Mr. Sigrist says. \u201cShe was never like that. It wasn\u2019t that she wanted to be your friend. But you just liked her, and she just liked you.”<\/p>\n
Do you have memories of Ms. O’Neil? Share your stories and comments below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Megan Tady On the lawn next to Hathaway House in 1973, shovel-wielding eighth graders dug into the dirt. The hole grew bigger, and impressively deep. From it, they pulled buried china doll heads, twisted pieces of metal, and hairbrushes. They were exhuming a 20th century household dump. History teacher Karin O\u2019Neil and colleague Thomas … Continue reading Giant On Campus: Karin O’Neil<\/span>