Buzzing in the Summer

It's summer.  Schools are quiet.  Teachers are sitting by the pool.  It's our "slow" time.  

You wouldn't think that if you visited our training center at the Admin Office today.  The room is buzzing with about 20 elementary teachers all working to improve their teaching and ensure our students have every opportunity for academic success.   The teachers are giving up a summer day to work on standards for writing and literacy.  They are here because they see the value in putting in the time now and they want to grow as professionals.   

This isn't a one-time phenomenon though.  Throughout the summer, our teachers will be coming together to learn, grow, improve.  The district offers several professional development opportunities for teachers.  In some cases, they can even earn college credit.  There are nearly 120 hours offered through the district's summer reboot series.  The classes, many taught by our own staff, include reader's workshop, special education,social media in the classroom, autism, working with children in poverty, bar modeling, differentiating math, using independent text, using movement, music & rhythm for active learning, learning across content areas, technology use, standards-based grading, and several more.

Teachers are also attending workshops and conferences outside the district.  I saw a post from HHS art teacher Melissa Chaney last week and she was attending classes at the Kansas City Art Institute on using fibers.  A group of science teachers from the middle school is going to a conference together this summer.   Cass Career Center teachers will attend the Missouri Association for Career & Technical Education conference at the end of July.  The list goes on and on.

Another way that our staff is continuing to learn and grow this summer is through the use of social media.  Teachers are participating in education Twitter chats and webinars, sharing articles - they are learning and sharing with others from around the world.  

You've started to hear the phrase, "Learning without Limits" in our district.  Our hope is to encourage learning all the time.  You don't have to be in a classroom to learn....learning is a 24/7 opportunity.  Our teachers are illustrating this with the work they are doing this summer.

The energy and collaborative efforts I saw today in our training room are just a snapshot of what's going on this summer and it makes me know that today's a "Great Day to be a Wildcat."

- Jill Filer, Director of Communications