As a member of the Senior Leadership Team at The New School of Northern Virginia, Michael spearheaded the high school’s curriculum planning and educational policy. He spearheaded the development of the school’s senior exhibition and senior studies programs, its academic and disciplinary protocols, its approach to classroom and community management, and its portfolio system.

For the last eight years Michael has also been Director of Faculty Development at The New School. During those years he has presented numerous educational workshops on course planning, both as it relates to Essential School pedagogy and as it applies to Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences. He has presented workshops at education conferences, both in the southeast and at Coalition of Essential School in New England.

Michael has also presented educational workshops on Authentic Assessment, particularly as it relates to the development of tests and exhibitions that demonstrate mastery of specific skills, such as understanding different perspectives, placing analyses within larger contexts, managing time and materials—to name but a few.

Finally, as The New School requires its teacher to develop their own courses across the curriculum, Michael has developed and presented numerous workshops on course construction.  His educational focus includes the integration of exhibition into course planning, the use of a student-centered constructivist pedagogy, and the implimentation of a skills-based curriculum.