{"id":1969,"date":"2019-10-18T21:22:09","date_gmt":"2019-10-18T21:22:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/record\/?p=1969"},"modified":"2020-03-30T00:29:43","modified_gmt":"2020-03-30T00:29:43","slug":"history-department-welcomes-dr-wakefield","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/record\/2019\/10\/18\/history-department-welcomes-dr-wakefield\/","title":{"rendered":"History Department Welcomes Dr. Wakefield"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><strong>Eva Schiller (V)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As the new school year begins, Pingry is extremely fortunate to welcome Dr. Zachary Wakefield to the History Department. He attended Juniata College, where he earned a Bachelor\u2019s Degree in history. He then went on to earn his M.A. and Ph.D at Auburn University, both in history as well. Prior to joining the Pingry community, he spent four years working as a history teacher and coach at a boarding school.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At Pingry, Dr. Wakefield is teaching three World History 9 classes and one AP US History Class, where he has already spearheaded some of his unique classroom practices. These include placing phones in a basket at the start of class, as well as taking paper notes instead of electronic notes. When asked how these tactics benefitted the classroom environment, it all came down to keeping students focused: \u201cPeople have been conditioned to pick up their cell phones or check social media as soon as they get a notification,\u201d he explained. \u201cI get that, so rather than me getting upset and disrupting class, I like to just take it out of the equation.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In addition to the techniques he has brought with him, Dr. Wakefield wants to try new methods and expand his horizons. \u201cMy goal for the school year is just to get out of my comfort zone, teaching-wise, and maybe try more student-driven activities,\u201d he said. He would also like to attend a number of academic conferences. After his first month at Pingry, he is optimistic: \u201cThe students are smart, and they keep me on my toes,\u201d he said laughing. \u201cThey\u2019re pushing me, which makes for a really good classroom environment.\u201d He also enjoys the vibrant atmosphere, as well as the rural setting. \u201cI love the area; it reminds me of where I grew up,\u201d he remarked.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In keeping with his passion for history, Dr. Wakefield\u2019s hobbies are quite worldly. When he\u2019s not teaching, Dr. Wakefield loves being outdoors, whether that be hiking or going to the beach. He is also an avid reader and traveler.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\tBeing a new teacher can be intimidating, but Dr. Wakefield is ready to rise to the occasion. \u201cEven though I\u2019m starting at a new school, which is challenging, I\u2019m going to try my best to grow as a teacher and achieve my goals,\u201d he stated. Good luck, Dr. Wakefield!<br><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Eva Schiller (V) As the new school year begins, Pingry is extremely fortunate to welcome Dr. Zachary Wakefield to the History Department. He attended Juniata College, where he earned a Bachelor\u2019s Degree in history. He then went on to earn his M.A. and Ph.D at Auburn University, both in history as well. Prior to joining [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":2174,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[207,32],"tags":[37],"class_list":["post-1969","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-eva","category-faculty-staff","tag-new-faculty"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/record\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1969","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/record\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/record\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/record\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/35"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/record\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1969"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/record\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1969\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2178,"href":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/record\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1969\/revisions\/2178"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/record\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/record\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/record\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/record\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}