I am Lisa Bankey. I have been a teacher in the Ann Arbor Public Schools for over ten years. I have been teaching at Pattengill Elementary School in Ann Arbor since the 2019-2020 school year, after helping launch and teach at Ann Arbor STEAM @ Northside, a Project-Based Learning (PBL) STEAM school, for five years. I enjoy collaborating with students and staff, as we create projects that integrate science, technology, engineering practices, art, and math with social issues in our community.

I have a strong love for science, math, and reading. I enjoy exploring and learning about our world. Sharing my passion for learning and exploration with my students is my favorite part of teaching. I also like to incorporate technology into student learning experiences. We may use resources from the web to see real-world examples of our focus of study or use various online resources to research, organize information, collaborate, and create presentations.

An important part of my teaching philosophy includes involving the community in our classroom. In addition to my class visiting local museums, parks, and businesses that connect to our curriculum, I also have members of the community visit our classroom.  Some of our visitors have included local comic book author and artist, Jerzy Drozd, teaching us how to use pictures to tell stories and convey character feelings and actions and staff from the Leslie Science & Nature Center visiting to extend our knowledge of Beneficial Bugs that fit our science units of Nature’s Recyclers and Living Things. One of my most unique visitors has to be the University of Michigan Quidditch Team, teaching us how to play muggle quidditch and getting the students excited about physical fitness, reading, and going to college.

Please take a look at my portfolio to see some of the projects my students and I have created together over the years.