I’m thrilled to introduce the Portfolio Community to another talented educator joining our team in the Fall, Katie Cheek.  Her expertise, deep commitment to project-based learning and teaching, and student-centric approach are abundantly clear and impressed us in her hiring process.  She is also warm, highly creative, and has a great sense of humor.

Katie comes to us most recently from BASIS Independent Brooklyn, where she served as a Learning Expert Teacher.   Katie has also taught at the Blue School, the Go Project, and the Packer Collegiate Institute.  She has worked with students from pre-K all the way through 6th grade, and she has taught multiple disciplines over the course of her career, which spans more than a decade.

She is particularly passionate about working with 4th, 5th and 6th graders at this stage of her career.  Katie emphasized her love of helping students grow, deepen their learning, and take on leadership in the early Middle School years.  One of her references characterized her as a teacher “whose loving kindness and creative visions are sure to help amplify the visions of your school and touch and inspire the hearts of everyone in it.” 

Katie holds an M.Ed from Hunter College and a BFA in Creative Writing from Pratt Institute.  She loves improv and was at the Upright Citizen’s Brigade Theater for six years, where she was the Upright Citizen of the Year in 2007-2008.  We are all very much looking forward to collaborating with her.