Mrs. Mary Trompeter

(Maryvale Preparatory School)

Innovative Teaching Leads to Student Success

Mrs. Trompeter is in her 4th year at Maryvale and currently serves as the Director of the St. Julie Billiart Program.

Being a graduate of an all-girls Catholic school, Mrs. Trompeter understands the value of single-sex education rooted in Catholic faith.  Coming from an all-girls school helped shape her to be a woman who is confident and self-assured in my abilities as a teacher.

If someone was to walk into her office, they would see Mrs. Trompeter spending her day supporting students who have language-based learning differences to navigate Maryvale’s college-based curriculum.  While meeting with students, she utilizes various techniques such as pre-teaching, writing skills using visuals/outlines etc., creating character charts for novels in English class, or researching documents for a history paper.  Each student’s needs are different, so it is critical to learn who each student is as a learner to best support her in the classroom.

At Maryvale, all 9th graders are required to write a detailed research paper discussing a global issue.  One strategy she’s implemented is to take their research and color code it in order to organize facts/information into the various parts of the paper.  They lay these colored notecards on the floor and manipulate them into a sequence for the paper.  This visual technique helps students actually “see” their paper before they start writing it.

Outside of the classroom, Mrs. Trompeter assists teachers to implement best practices which allows for differentiated instruction to meet the needs of different learners.  She has organized and led sessions with teachers to share her knowledge of learning differences and how that knowledge can be applied to all students in the classroom.