Kynigou, Penny, Faculty, 5th Grade

Ms. Penny Kynigou received her B.A. and M.A. degrees in Social Anthropology from Cambridge University and then qualified as a teacher at the London University Institute of Education. Ms. Kynigou was born and raised in England.

She taught at St Paul's Primary School, London, UK and at TASIS Elementary School, Athens before joining ACS Athens in 1990. She has actively developed curriculum innovations for Early Childhood, 4th and 5th grade levels over her 29 years teaching at the school. In addition to her teaching role, Ms. Kynigou is the co-founder and co-coordinator of the ACS Athens Collaborative Learning Community (CLC), a forum for professional reflection, problem solving and growth. She and David Nelson presented about the CLC during the ACS Athens Colloquium. Ms. Kynigou is also an accredited National Trainer andFacilitator for the National School Reform Faculty (NSRF). She specializes in creating trust-based communities through collaborative group processes and facilitating Critical Friends Groups in which colleagues reflect on their practice, share ideas and promote problem solving. In addition to her CFG training, she also attended the Adaptive Schools training held during the 2015 NESA Spring Educators' Conference for advanced training in facilitation techniques.

Ms. Kynigou first represented ACS Athens at TESOL, Athens 2008 presenting on teaching language arts skills through research. At the NESA Spring Educators Conference 2010, she presented a workshop on the creation of the 5th grade play, which she was also invited to present at the Constructionism 2010 conference at the American University of Paris. During the ACS Athens 6th Annual Conference On Learning Differences, 2011, she presented "Me and My Shadow" with Ms. Angelik Grigoratos: a workshop about building student success through teacher/shadow teacher collaboration. She attended the 2012 Jefferson Overseas Schools Technology Institute and the NESA Spring Educators Conference in 2013. She has been a frequent contributor to the school Ethos Magazine, writing about using blogging and a writing workshop approach to teach writing. She attended the NESA Spring Educators' Conference 2017. Finally, in collaboration with Helen Sarantes, Elementary Technology Specialist, she has written a chapter, "Setting the Stage for i2Flex, The View from the Elementary School," for the newly published "Revolutionizing K-12 Blended Learning through the i2Flex Classroom model" by Dr. Maria Avgerinou and Dr. Stefanos Gialamas.

Ms. Kynigou inspires students to ask questions, take ownership, experiment and self-reflect on their learning as they prepare for the transition to Middle School. She brings her wealth of experience in collaborative practice to her classroom and emphasizes the value of working with others and learning together, building the foundations which lead to the culminating 5th grade exhibition of learning: the Living Museum of the Ancient Agora in the early summer.

email: kynigoup@acs.gr