We have full-day PD days, and consequently we have divided the day into 3 parts:
Part 1 - 8:00am - 11:00 - 3 sessions on a rotating basis
Our staff is divided into 3 groups: Group 1 is Math and English
Group 2 is Science and Social Studies
Group 3 is Vocational, Practical Arts & Humanities
*Special Education is with their cooperating department
Fedex Time: We will be providing our teachers with 45 minutes to research, explore and discover something educationally related. Our goal is to reinforce the notion of autonomy among our colleagues, while also giving them the necessary time to explore. The last 15 minutes of this session will be used to share resources and links. Additionally, we will be providing a Google Doc for teachers to list the links and a brief description of what they discovered.
Service Learning: This session will provide additional time to share and collaborate ways in which our staff can implement Service Learning projects with the local establishment we have teamed up with. Either as individual classes or groups within departments, this time will be utilized by teachers to help put their plans into action.
Advisory: In this session we will get the opportunity to talk about and discuss our upcoming half-day. This is the first year of our school wide advisory program, and as such we have been spending a lot of time talking about ways to increase its effectiveness and ways we can improve upon it for next year. The advisory session helps to model different strategies and methods our teachers can use with their students to both establish and strengthen relationships.
Part 2 - 11:00am - 12:00 - Powerlunch *Optional and NOT required*
"Powerlunch" is a working lunch where both teachers and administrators spend an hour talking about any and all issues related to education and ways we can improve student achievement at our high school. Our goal is to provide a relaxed environment where educators can feel free to talk and discuss educationally related topics. This is only the 2nd time we have offered a "powerlunch."
Part 3 - 12:00pm - 3:00 - 6 sessions: Teachers choose to attend 2 of the 6 sessions
In an effort to meet the needs of our teachers we are constantly polling and asking our teachers to evaluate how we are doing as a Professional Development Committee. We have selected sessions that teachers have expressed an interest in, and we hope that by providing 6 different choices we can meet the needs of our staff. We have been using and will most likely continue to use building teachers to lead our sessions because we believe in empowering and developing leaders among our staff. We sent out a Google Doc last week for our teachers to sign up for their two sessions.
Session 1: Building and establishing student rapport - Lead by a building science teacher
Session 2: Video clips + discussion - Lead by me
Session 3: Blogging + readers & online animations - Lead by building English teacher @JPPrezz
Session 4: Brain research and classroom application - Lead by our Deputy Superintendent
Session 5: Strategies to increase parental involvement - Lead by two building math teachers
Session 6: Gradebook session - Lead by a building science teacher
Here is the schedule we have provided our teachers: 3/4/11 PD Schedule
A special thanks goes out to our presenters, and most importantly @thompson_shs, @JPPrezz, and our building Principal @mrgrimshaw for their hard work in making this day possible.
What are your thoughts...?