Before
school started the entire teaching staff participated in a full day Model
Classroom training. After the school wide training on August 13th 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.
