Newbill Wins Petrick Award for Her Classroom Skills

One of Karyn Newbill’s first jobs was teaching catfish farming in Thailand. Just out of college in 1994 with a degree in marine biology, she was a Peace Corps volunteer, working with men who weren’t always enthusiastic about taking direction from a young blonde. But she forged ahead, showing them how to grow catfish by first milking the females to get eggs, then killing the males to get sperm. The eggs and sperm were mixed in a bowl, and ultimately, this produced baby catfish. ‘It was an important way for the people to get more protein in their diet, which was mostly rice. It was also a way for them to earn money,’ said Newbill, who speaks fluent Thai. ‘It was a great program, but my favorite aspect of it was teaching. I thought, ‘I like this, this is what I want to do.” The University of Oregon graduate returned to Los Angeles after three years in Asia and joined LAUSD’s intern program, which allowed her to teach while earning a credential by attending classes Thursday evenings and all day Saturday. ‘I applied to different schools,’ Newbill said, ‘and I got lucky because Mr. Price [Palisades High School’s principal, Merle Price] hired me in 1997. This is ultimately the best school in the district.’ Now a biology and marine biology teacher at Pali, Newbill was named winner of a Lori Petrick Excellence in Education Award by the Palisades Charter Schools Foundation early this month. She and five other award winners will each receive $2,000 grants at a ceremony on Sunday, May 31, in the Oak Room on Swarthmore. When Newbill first started in the classroom, she called it ‘survival mode,’ because she would develop her lesson plans the night before. After two years, however, she began to think in terms of planning each unit and for the school year. ‘At this point I’m basically refining what I teach,’ Newbill said. ‘If I see something doesn’t work, I modify it [immediately] for the kids’ needs.’ When asked what makes a good teacher, Newbill said: ‘I think it has to do with the amount of concern’how much of yourself you put into your work. I’m not a 7:50 to 3:08 teacher. Good teachers put in a lot of time beyond the classroom, tutoring, being available during the school day [nutrition, lunch hour, after school].’ Newbill’s classroom is a classic primer for how a teacher engages students, entices them with visuals, and draws them into a subject with enthusiasm. ‘Oh, this is the coolest fish, look at the features,’ Newbill told her students one morning. She admits that sometimes she feels like she sounds like a big dork, but her students love her energy. All heads turned when she pointed to a marlin that hangs on a wall and told them that it’s the second fastest fish in the sea (able to travel 50 mph) and that its tail fin is like the Ferrari of fish. Holding up two differently colored fish, Newbill explained that the color as we perceive it would be different in water depending on the light wavelength. Using an anology to help explain the difference between the lengths, she compared the long light waves that move slower to the largest linemen on the PaliHi football team and the tiniest wavelengths to running backs. Students chimed in with football players’ names. Her ability to take physics material that could be dry and make it relevant, kept pupils engaged. Showing slides of fish that live on different levels of the sea, Newbill gave clear explanations. For example, she pointed to a small brown spot on the female tongue fish and explained: ‘That spot is the male, who takes a bite and then hangs on for the rest of his life; he’s a male parasite, the female totally takes care of him.’ In addition to three marine biology classes, Newbill also teaches two biology classes and knitting. ‘I took up knitting about seven years ago,’ she said. ‘I started a club during lunch and began knitting with students.’ This year, knitting became an elective class, which counts towards a student’s technical art requirement. Her beginning students knit baby hats that are donated to a charity, Stitches from the Heart, while others are finishing baby hoodie sweaters. Newbill was asked how it was to have Merle Price observe her teaching as a Petrick judge. ‘It was such an honor to have him here again,’ she said. ‘When I first started teaching he would stop by my classroom and ask how it was going. To have him back was great; I love him.’ It was mutual admiration; judges wrote about Newbill: ‘She had kids in the palm of her hand.’ Newbill is single and lives in Hancock Park with her boyfriend Mike Sussman, a television writer, and their chocolate Labrador, Charlie Brown.