That the administration, in conjunction with the faculty, consider the feasibility of enhancing the professional development program by allowing more time during the school day for faculty members to explore and exchange ideas as well as to compare results on putting ideas and techniques into practice. Further, that the administration explore the role of parents (and alumni/ae?) in helping with non-instructional teacher duties (e.g., recess, lunch, study halls) in order to free teachers for increased communication without adding to the length of the school day or adding days to the calendar.
I really like the phrasing Helen has put together! (nice work) I don't know if it would be too descriptive/ beyond the scope of what we want to say to include more specifics for time used: to collaborate with cross-curricular planning, how to challenge each student to the best of their ability, integrate best teaching practices in current research/ literature, create interesting and engaging lessons that appeal to listeners of multiple intelligences.
Not trying to add too much detail, but non-instructional help should also include utilizing the professional/business/life expertise of the HA community for additive knowledge. Teachers do take some advantage of these resources now, it might be interesting to formalize the talents available.
And I agree with Gene's suggestion that it might be valuable for the faculty be provided with a formal bank/list of community resurces. Perhaps that's a whole new topic and should have its own umbrella?
Great work Helen! I think that Gene's suggestion should be under a seperate umbrella about using community resources. When I am selling HA to parents, I always talk about the incredible advantage we have to benefit from the talents of our staff and students through collaborative work such as the IB science class preparing a hands-on science lab for my Kindergarten students to learn aobut measurement, MAth M&M lab conducted by Mrs. NAzar's math class, and the students who assist in the scinec LabLearner as well as my classroom. Recently Mrs. Jorgenson taught my kids how to Irish step Dance and I taught Dr. March's class how to do the Charleston- what fun!
Following our last meeting and trying to find extra time for teachers to meet and plan, we can look into possibly adding days to the school calendar. We could be in school teaching 3 or 4 more days in June and get these days back in August, and come back 3 or 4 days later. This way, we could have 4 extra planning days during the year, or 8 half days (one at the beginning and in the middle of each quarter, for example). We would then have regular meeting/planning times, whether we want to use them in teams or to develop new curriculum, or to apply new technology... The possibilities are endless!
I have to say I like Magali's idea of adding more days to our year. Today I didn't have many parent-teacher conferences scheduled, and it was wonderful to have time to plan the next unit I plan to teach, change the posters in my room, check lab supplies, prepare for Earth Day, catch up on email communications with parents and teachers...it was time well used! It would be great to have 1/2 a teacher work day at the end of every quarter to prepare for the coming quarter and catch up from the previous quarter. Then another 1/2 for professional development or collaboration w/ other teachers about student plans, coordinating X-curricular activities, implementing professional development ideas. Of course, if we decide faculty should work more hours, we might want to consider paying them more...
9 comments:
Recommendation:
That the administration, in conjunction with the faculty, consider the feasibility of enhancing the professional development program by allowing more time during the school day for faculty members to explore and exchange ideas as well as to compare results on putting ideas and techniques into practice. Further, that the administration explore the role of parents (and alumni/ae?) in helping with non-instructional teacher duties (e.g., recess, lunch, study halls) in order to free teachers for increased communication without adding to the length of the school day or adding days to the calendar.
I really like the phrasing Helen has put together! (nice work) I don't know if it would be too descriptive/ beyond the scope of what we want to say to include more specifics for time used: to collaborate with cross-curricular planning, how to challenge each student to the best of their ability, integrate best teaching practices in current research/ literature, create interesting and engaging lessons that appeal to listeners of multiple intelligences.
I agree with Helen’s posting. She has made some excellent points and suggestions.
Not trying to add too much detail, but non-instructional help should also include utilizing the professional/business/life expertise of the HA community for additive knowledge. Teachers do take some advantage of these resources now, it might be interesting to formalize the talents available.
I think adding the more specific purposes that Jen suggested would be great.
And I agree with Gene's suggestion that it might be valuable for the faculty be provided with a formal bank/list of community resurces. Perhaps that's a whole new topic and should have its own umbrella?
Great work Helen! I think that Gene's suggestion should be under a seperate umbrella about using community resources. When I am selling HA to parents, I always talk about the incredible advantage we have to benefit from the talents of our staff and students through collaborative work such as the IB science class preparing a hands-on science lab for my Kindergarten students to learn aobut measurement, MAth M&M lab conducted by Mrs. NAzar's math class, and the students who assist in the scinec LabLearner as well as my classroom. Recently Mrs. Jorgenson taught my kids how to Irish step Dance and I taught Dr. March's class how to do the Charleston- what fun!
Following our last meeting and trying to find extra time for teachers to meet and plan, we can look into possibly adding days to the school calendar. We could be in school teaching 3 or 4 more days in June and get these days back in August, and come back 3 or 4 days later. This way, we could have 4 extra planning days during the year, or 8 half days (one at the beginning and in the middle of each quarter, for example). We would then have regular meeting/planning times, whether we want to use them in teams or to develop new curriculum, or to apply new technology... The possibilities are endless!
I have to say I like Magali's idea of adding more days to our year. Today I didn't have many parent-teacher conferences scheduled, and it was wonderful to have time to plan the next unit I plan to teach, change the posters in my room, check lab supplies, prepare for Earth Day, catch up on email communications with parents and teachers...it was time well used! It would be great to have 1/2 a teacher work day at the end of every quarter to prepare for the coming quarter and catch up from the previous quarter. Then another 1/2 for professional development or collaboration w/ other teachers about student plans, coordinating X-curricular activities, implementing professional development ideas. Of course, if we decide faculty should work more hours, we might want to consider paying them more...
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