6-Teacher Professional Learning
Ongoing professional learning is provided to course leads to equip them to better lead their course teams in substantive data analysis of student progress which drives their instructional decisions. Course leads meet monthly to engage in cross curricular conversations around school initiatives (Engaging Bell-to-Bell Instruction, Effective Collaboration for Improved Student Achievement and Essential Safety Nets for all PRHS Students).
During SY2015-16, course leads focused on our local adaptation of AdvancED’s “ELEOT” (Effective Learning Environments Observation Tool). Each course lead used the tool to observe engagement in their course team’s classrooms and dropped their results into our course lead eClass page to be compiled. In the September 2015 meeting, course leads used a protocol to analyze the data collected. A transcript of their observations (What do you see?) and inferences (What does it say?) are included.
Our October 2016 meeting is an example of our ongoing (every 4.5 weeks) focus on analyzing student success reports for our courses. The SPIRE success report (see appendix) was loaded into eClass for accessibility only to the SPIRE course lead, who could then review the data and engage in conversation regarding any trends or patterns she noticed.
For the last two summers, a total of thirty-eight Math, Science, Language Arts, and Special Education teachers have jointly participated in week-long professional learning STEM PBL 101, the Buck Institute for Education’s foundational onsite workshop. “The workshop provides participants with the skills and knowledge needed to design, assess and manage a rigorous, relevant, and standards based project” (Buck Institute training materials). Teachers spent the majority of the time developing integrated problem/ project based STEM lessons. A trainer from the Buck Institute met with the teachers throughout the SY2015-16 providing additional support and feedback on the implementation of the lessons. All of our SPIRE teachers completed the training.
​
Our four lead teachers attended the training both summers. Additionally, two of our STEM teachers also completed the PBL World Coaching Academy through the Buck Institute.
Ongoing professional learning is provided to course leads to equip them to better lead their course teams in substantive data analysis of student progress which drives their instructional decisions. Course leads meet monthly to engage in cross curricular conversations around school initiatives (Engaging Bell-to-Bell Instruction, Effective Collaboration for Improved Student Achievement and Essential Safety Nets for all PRHS Students).
During SY2015-16, course leads focused on our local adaptation of AdvancED’s “ELEOT” (Effective Learning Environments Observation Tool). Each course lead used the tool to observe engagement in their course team’s classrooms and dropped their results into our course lead eClass page to be compiled. In the September 2015 meeting, course leads used a protocol to analyze the data collected. A transcript of their observations (What do you see?) and inferences (What does it say?) are included.
Our October 2016 meeting is an example of our ongoing (every 4.5 weeks) focus on analyzing student success reports for our courses. The SPIRE success report (see appendix) was loaded into eClass for accessibility only to the SPIRE course lead, who could then review the data and engage in conversation regarding any trends or patterns she noticed.
The district provided support to send a STEM teacher to Carnegie Mellon in the summer of 2016 for Robotics training in preparation for the launching the Advanced Robotics course this fall.