By John Meeks
This is going to make for an interesting 'How I spent my
summer' essay.
As I see August creeping up on me, I look back with joy
on the cruise that I took to Haiti, Jamaica and Mexico for a church convention.
I went on to Atlanta for the National Education Association convention
and then took the train to Maine to visit with friends.
Then, in the past week, I went to the Teachers Academy.
And this was an experience that exceeded my expectations. After
all, not many teachers would be keen on interrupting their summer break to sit
in classes.
When I arrived at Forrest High School, I was not sure of
what to expect. My past experiences with professional development and
training were not as strong for social studies as it had been for other core
subject areas. My outlook improved when I saw that the school system has
put together a team of social studies specialists working under a director.
This was a vast improvement from putting all of the social studies
responsibilities on one person.
That said, I was impressed by the training that made
sense of everything from teaching
ELL students who do not speak English as their primary
language to making the most of data in my classroom. We had large groups
that addressed CHAMPS and we had targeted instruction for our respective
subject areas.
It is to Dr. Vitti's credit that the Teachers Academy, in
my opinion, finally defines for us what we have in store for us and our
students in the coming school year.
My take on Teachers Academy? A+
No comments:
Post a Comment