Email: kmccarthy3@bostonpublicschools.org
Mrs. Karen “Kiki” McCarthy is a world history teacher in Boston who works with an academically diverse population teaching the challenging International Baccalaureate history course at Muriel S. Snowden International School at Copley. This is evidence of her uncompromising belief that every learner has potential to move beyond adversity and excel academically. She is a very reflective practitioner who always puts learning and scholarship above all else for her students. She creates engaging units of study that bring history alive for her students and provides them with opportunities to question the world around them and explore new cultures. Her teachings come alive through creative projects that require use of primary source materials and push young people to think about conflicts from multiple perspectives.
Kiki is a big believer in lifelong learning and holds multiple degrees from a variety of universities and continues to enroll in classes and participate in teaching and learning opportunities. Her enthusiasm for learning is evident in the classroom and it’s what helps her to instill in her students a curiosity and thirst for knowledge. Kiki models compassionate lifelong learning through travel and coursework. For example, she traveled twice to China as a recipient of a Phelix Foundation Grant in 2012 and 2013 where she chaperoned a trip of ten students to study Chinese culture, history and language the first year and was invited back to teach educators at a school in Chifen, Inner Mongolia the second year. She also successfully applied for and received a Fund for Teachers Grant in 2014. She fashioned her trip during the summer of 2014 to experience a better understanding of the role Alaska played in World War II, thus supporting her work in the classroom. Her extensive travel and study was well documented on an engaging blog with winning dialogue and captivating photos. Her experience fueled her conversations with students during the school year.
She has collaborated with the language department building a sister school program with Saint Anne’s School in Brest, France where students were part of an international travel experience. Kiki has put a lot of time and effort into international trips with her students each year. In fact, she took many students abroad as a chaperone to France, Japan China and Rwanda.
After joining the Kerry Jon Walker board in 2009 she has put her energies into supporting travel for students to Rwanda and more recently to Navajo Nation, to increase student participation in service learning by offering opportunities to Juniors in high school. It is her hope that these programs will instill a desire in students to see the world and learn about other cultures.