Summary+of+Second+Year+Benchmarks+(August+-+December+2008)

Second Phase Benchmarks: August 2008 - December 2008

• Sessions conducted on the use of FirstClass and iWeb software; • By grade team (LS and MS) or department (US), teachers selected two of the characteristics of excellent teaching and identified strategies on how to improve in those areas. In keeping with effective professional development practices, teachers have two years to work together in reaching their goals, providing them more time to reflect on and fine tune their professional practice. • Customized resources supplied to teams based on their identified needs. • Initial SMARTBoard professional development provided K-12. Delivery was customized based on participant use of the interactive whiteboards. Sessions were lead by Jennifer Spencer and Dale Thomas. • More in-depth SMARTBoard professional development to be provided overtime to support the use of interactive white boards in student-centered instruction. • Tech Mini-Sessions conducted in Lower School by Rexann Herrick and in the Middle School by Denise Tinney. • Middle School faculty meetings are designed to support professional learning, while teachers also earn professional development credit. • Jennifer Grant recognized as Alabama’s outstanding teacher of geography. (I don’t have details) Other awards? • Debbie Kranzusch lead the session Brain Research: Classroom Connection. • Diigo social bookmarking used to share resources with K-12 faculty. Currently, eight Diigo groups have been established. • Individual teachers supported throughout the year based on their needs in various areas, i.e. curriculum, instruction, assessment, faculty pages, etc. • Wiki established to support the use of SMARTBoards (http://tinyurl.com/56n6hz).