Dr. Lloyd, Director of Staff Relations, Gene Thompson-“Grove, Tricia Castelli, Educational Consultants, and Brian Culot, Assistant Superintendent, facilitated Day 2 of a 3 – Day Workshop Series with our first year teaching staff. We began the day with introductions and an Ice Breaker Activity, Tell a Story About your Car Keys, and then read the article, “Student Engagement: Is It Authentic or Compliant?” We used several protocols and activities throughout the day that can also be used with other staff or students to facilitate learning. We watched a video, Good Morning Miss Toliver to identify elements of student engagement.
We engaged in a Chalk Talk Activity:
- When students are fully engaged in learning, what are they doing?
- What does it look and sound like when students are fully engaged in learning?
- What are you doing?
- What did you do to set up the conditions for engagement?
Reflection: What is the one big idea or specific strategy I can bring to my practice?
In the afternoon, we broke into three small groups (Counselors, Psychologist, Social Workers), Elementary Teachers, and Secondary Teachers. The Counselors, Psychologists, and Social Workers worked on, Describe a Problem of Practice using a Protocol (Issaquah) and the elementary and secondary teachers worked on taking the essential elements of an effective lesson and incorporating them into an upcoming lesson. We thought about the following question and planned together: How will you use some of the elements that we discussed this morning to make your lesson(s) more engaging for students?
Teachers plan to collect evidence (student work) and bring it to share during the final day of our New Teacher Workshop 3-Day Series themed, Inspire. The final session will focus on how we can best provide equitable access to meaningful curriculum and programs.
