Teacher Profile: Nina Freeman Hanlon

Meet Nina Freeman Hanlon, GEP’s newest Associate Director.

Since joining our team in May, Nina has quickly distinguished herself as an outstanding teacher, coach, and mentor. She brings a wealth of experiences to GEP: her background in teaching at private schools in Greenwich and Boston; her two Division 1 NCAA championships in rowing as a co-captain at Brown; her tenure as a coach for kids of all ages; her advanced studies in the performing arts; and her career as a professional actress on stage and screen.

Nina graduated from Brown with a BA in Africana Studies, and later went on to earn her MFA in Acting at the American Conservatory Theater. A.C.T. has served as a theatrical training ground to such actors as Denzel Washington, Annette Bening, Anika Noni Rose, Benjamin Bratt, Elizabeth Banks, and many others.  Nina has worked regionally in theater as well as in national commercials (Verizon, Coca-Cola, Dove, UBS, Lowes, and more) and television (All My Children).” Check out her acting website here: www.ninafreeman.net

As a faculty member of the English and Performing Arts Department at Noble and Greenough School, Nina taught high school drama and directed the middle school play, which received national acclaim. In addition to working with GEP students on reading, writing, test prep, Spanish, and study and organizational skills, Nina also plays a prominent role in our art department. She teaches a variety of courses and workshops in the performing arts, including Acting for the Camera, Acting for the Stage, Shakespeare and Classical Text, Dialects/Speech, Directing, Playwriting, Movement, and Audition Technique.

Those of you who attended GEP’s creative writing event in the spring had the opportunity to hear Nina perform firsthand. Her powerful readings of the winning middle school and high school short stories were unforgettable.

We caught up with Nina to ask her what inspires her about the field of education:

What I appreciate most about the teaching profession is that it is always evolving. Every day is different. I’m not just the teacher, but a student as well and it keeps me on my toes. I am invigorated by the mutual learning that happens when my students and I exchange ideas, perspectives and stories.  I come from a family of teachers, who over the years inspired me in a myriad of ways. I’m proud to follow in their footsteps.  I was fortunate to have teachers who positively impacted me personally, academically, and professionally and I hope to similarly inspire and motivate my students.

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This entry was posted on Monday, August 10th, 2009 at 10:20 am and is filed under Academic Tutoring. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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