Implementation Begins

Before school started the entire teaching staff participated in a full day Model Classroom training. After the school wide training on August 13^th on the beginning stages of implementing the Model Classroom Project, teachers were able to meet and plan with their perspective grade levels and subject areas to collaboratively come up with a plan for implementing. Most primary teachers/grade levels choose implement in staged while the upper grade levels chose to start it all at once full force from the beginning. Since there was some discussion and usage towards the end of last school year, teachers were more comfortable with using the program and also more receptive when using it from the start of school instead of beginning to use the program in the middle of the school year. Just last week John Samara was able to visit the school for an entire day. He was able to observe several classrooms in different grade levels and offer feedback on implementation of the Model Classroom Project. He was able to talk specifically about what he saw in classrooms at the various grade levels, what strategies and tools he saw teachers using, student response to the strategies and tools, what things needed tweaking and also some next steps to consider. Our next John Samara Visit is not until November. This will give teachers plenty of time to continue with current practices while using the suggestions offered. Teachers will be able to observe each other while also receiving feedback from administration from their walk throughs.