Chapter 4: The section about breaking the "meeting habit" really caught my attention. I work in a Pk-12 school and until very recently the teachers only met in grade-level teams (PK-4, 5-8, and 9-12). However, this past year we had started meeting in vertical PK-12 teams to work on writing. All of the teachers who teach ELA attend, including special education. I think these meetings have been vey helpful, because we get to discuss things with the grades that are before or after us. We are also able to get a better idea of the "big picture" of writing in our school and we've been able to identify some common needs and concerns. We've also been able to share our expectations of what writing skills incoming students will have when they come to us, which also helps us to prepare students for the next year. I' ve enjoyed meeting with the teachers from the middle level and high school and I think these meetings were productive overall.
Chapter 5: WOW! This chapter had a lot of information about the technological changes and challenges that students and teachers are facing. I guess the thing that stuck out for me was that students are no longer consumers of content and that technology prepares them to take more active roles in their learning. Today's students need to learn by doing rather than just watching and listening. It also seems that teachers, especially of older students, need to really investigate the benefits of social networking.
To allow more time for staff to work collaboratively or have to time to discuss things as a professional learning community, the staff meeting format of the past will cease to exist. Information that needs to be disseminated to the staff will be sent through our school email system. I am excited with the fact that teachers will finally have the time to have cross-curricular and cross-grade discussions that will be necessary as we unpack and implement the new Common Core Standards. This should make meetings more worthwhile and productive, as we'll all be working toward the common goal of improving education for all students.
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