As a parent, you may be wondering what types of activities teachers are involved in on these "release days."
Monday, February 20
Most WJHS teachers will be in our building Monday.
We do have a few teachers that will be involved in training at other sites that relate directly to their area of expertise.
Our morning sessions will focus on developing the technology integration skills of our teachers. We know that just "integrating" technology doesn't automatically lead to improved learning or engagement. Our use of technology has to purposefully improve learning.
Teachers have been offered a menu of five technology training options and they have selected three one hour sessions that are most beneficial to them.
These sessions are facilitated by teacher leaders within our building and our Instructional Technology Specialist, Dee Thomas.
Our afternoon learning will focus on:
- The work of our Response to Intervention(RTI) SWAT Team and how it relates to Priority Time
- Professional Learning Community (PLC) best practices as they relate to RTI
- Our ongoing Rethinking Grading book study. (Two of our teacher leaders will be helping us investigate Chapter 4: What How and When to Grade).
- Reflect on the data from the Gallup Student Poll that we administered in the fall (time permitting).
It's important to note that our teachers had input into the structure of this day. They were surveyed to identify the most pressing needs that they had for professional development. That input was used to select and craft the sessions detailed above.
Tuesday, February 21
On Tuesday morning, some of our teachers will be involved in district-level professional development activities (Co-teaching, Math Lab Best Practices, Social Thinking, etc.).
Some teachers will be involved in district-level PLC meetings focusing on vertical and/or horizontal alignment of curriculum, expectations, assessment, etc.
Other teachers will be at WJHS in building-level PLC meetings focusing on ensuring a guaranteed and viable curriculum, common assessment, remediation, and enrichment opportunities, etc.
On Tuesday afternoon, all 7th-12th grade teachers will meet at BHS for district-level PLC meetings focusing on quality Tier 1 instruction, vertical and/or horizontal alignment of curriculum, expectations, assessment, etc.
Conclusion
As you know, lifelong learning is one of the CORE values of our staff and a vital component of The Wildcat Way.
We are looking forward to a great two days of learning so that we can be better educators and even more successful at building a school that students run toward for the children that you allow us the privilege of working with everyday. Thank you!
