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Creating A Learning Community…

First Phase Benchmarks: August 2007 - August 2008

• Conducted a faculty study and discussion of the book //A Whole New Mind// and the video //Did You Know//. • Headmaster wrote essays throughout the school year on each “sense” discussed in A Whole New Mind, continuing continuity in mission and theme. • Established this learning community wiki. • Presented student multimedia projects in a faculty meeting, discussing the process and what worked and what did not. • Participated in a hands-on arts integration seminar, spearheaded by Carol Yeaman. • Viewed Sir Ken Robison’s How to Kill Creativity and Marco Torrez' //Digital Kids in Analog Schools//. • Conducted teacher focus group discussions K-12 to foster examination, reflection, and collaboration in professional practice, including the shared creation of teaching and learning frameworks. Click [|here] to for the frameworks. • Shared and celebrated effective student-centered approaches that teachers have historically used, i.e. thematic, project-based, and interdisciplinary. • Explored weaving technology into instruction as teams or individuals in hands-on sessions during the school year. • Offered several International Society of Technology in Education webinars. • Spurred Upper School faculty to weave in technology through class-by-class sessions in Upper School technology lab, training both students and teachers. • Visited internationally acclaimed technology teacher Vicki Davis’ classroom---a.k.a. Cool Cat Teacher—and Wrights Mill Road Elementary, an award-winning school in the use of technology, to learn of best practices. • Individual teachers supported formally and informally throughout the year based on their needs in various areas, i.e. curriculum, instruction, assessment. • Twenty-seven teachers participated in the MA 21st Century Teaching Community Network summer offerings, with fourteen of the twenty-seven attending more than one session. Sessions customized for teachers were extremely popular. Topics ranged from iWeb and wikis to curriculum design, student-centered instruction, assessment, and classroom management. Sessions were led by John McWilliams, Sarah Singleton, and Emily Vickery. • Foreign language teachers (k-12) worked with a consultant in June for three days on curriculum, instruction, and assessment. • First-year results shared at the Building Learning Communities conference in Boston, where it was very well received. • In summer 2008, teachers participated in numerous professional learning opportunities off campus. • Teacher recognition: Beelee Tullos, Connie Deal, Jennifer Grant