Recently each of our schools had the opportunity to do professional learning, based upon each building’s needs. We love that the bulk of our professional learning is directly tied to the individual needs of each school. We do all we can to avoid ‘top down professional development.’ The educators in our schools know the kids and know the kids’ needs best.
Here are a couple examples of recent events to drive home that our educators didn’t stop learning the minute they left college!
At one of our schools, teachers looked at What Great Teachers do Differently, The Innovator’s Mindset, The Power of Moments, and Who Moved My Cheese. This school called the activity Book Tastings. Served with treats and beverages, teachers sampled different books to determine which would suit their needs and interests!
At another one of our schools, educators reviewed Grit, How to Differentiate Instruction in Academically Diverse Classrooms, and Classroom Management in the Digital Age. This school did a series of Book Chats. Broke into groups that rotated every 15-20 minutes. Had a variety of different activities for staff to get an introduction to each text. Chats were led by TLI and building administrators. Teachers then made their selections via Google Form as to the text they want to read. The follow up will be a twitter book study, using #CJHreads in March. Also going to use a Padlet to have a digital dialogue with benchmarks for reading. All of this will launch next week and wrap up after spring break with a World Cafe activity!
Recently I had read a fantastic book, Grading for Equity. One of our principals asked to read it as well, based on the needs at his school. When I dropped the book off, he showed me the 2 or 3 books ahead of Grading for Equity. All books that the teachers had his school had been reading and were recommending to him.
Another great example of our dedication to continual learning centers on the book above. One of our teachers sent an email to her colleagues in her school looking for a copy of this book, based on the needs of her students. Then that request was shared with other building principals…then with entire other buildings’ staff members. All stemming from the request of a single teacher, wanting to learn more to help her kids in class. Amazing. But not surprising in our district.
It’s how we roll.
The Lighting of a Fire 