Submitted by Kristin (Walden U) (not verified) on March 25, 2008 - 17:37.
I love that professional development is valued to the extent that teachers and administrators in this school are making a point to coordinate the necessary time and agenda to make it a workable, and worthwhile, use of time. There is a school district near me that has gone to a 4.5 day school week. Instead of taking full professional development days periodically throughout the school year, the K-8 classes go to school on a regular school day on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Then, on Wednesday, the students go to school in the a.m. only. Teachers use the afternoons for professional development. The H.S. students have the same schedule, except they have the morning off on Wednesday (great for teenagers), and go to school in the afternoons. The community education department offers "enrichment classes" for the K-8 students in the afternoon. Before getting my current teaching position, I taught one of these enrichment classes (language arts and cooking). This way, kids can still be active and learning, but they are focused on a specific workshop. The classes changed every 8 weeks throughout the year so that students could try a variety of classes, if they desired. And, teachers get the benefit of weekly blocks of time spent on professional development topics.
Professional development
Submitted by Kristin (Walden U) (not verified) on March 25, 2008 - 17:37.
I love that professional development is valued to the extent that teachers and administrators in this school are making a point to coordinate the necessary time and agenda to make it a workable, and worthwhile, use of time. There is a school district near me that has gone to a 4.5 day school week. Instead of taking full professional development days periodically throughout the school year, the K-8 classes go to school on a regular school day on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Then, on Wednesday, the students go to school in the a.m. only. Teachers use the afternoons for professional development. The H.S. students have the same schedule, except they have the morning off on Wednesday (great for teenagers), and go to school in the afternoons. The community education department offers "enrichment classes" for the K-8 students in the afternoon. Before getting my current teaching position, I taught one of these enrichment classes (language arts and cooking). This way, kids can still be active and learning, but they are focused on a specific workshop. The classes changed every 8 weeks throughout the year so that students could try a variety of classes, if they desired. And, teachers get the benefit of weekly blocks of time spent on professional development topics.