Meetings prep teachers for school year
Middle School teachers worked diligently Tuesday to prepare for
students’ return to school Thursday.
Teachers from Jordan, Luther Burbank and John Muir middle schools
participated in staff development days on Friday, Monday and Tuesday,
designed to help better prepare them for the new school year.
“It gets me all the more excited for the school year,” said Rod
Rothacher, an eighth-grade teacher at John Muir. “It helps us get
ready.”
Teachers at John Muir Middle School learned about “thinking maps”
on Monday, which are different graphs and charts that help organize
material that students learn into visual and easy-to-remember charts.
They then made the colored graphs and posters about historical
characters, math equations and proper use of grammar. “Research shows
90% of what people learn is visual,” John Muir Principal Dan Hacking.
“This is another tool the teachers can incorporate into their lessons
during the year.”
Some teachers hoped learning more about the thinking maps would
help them to ease students’ transition from elementary to middle
school.
“It helps to be brought up to speed on them,” seventh-grade
English teacher Lynn Rothacher said. “The students learn them in
elementary school so there’s a certain comfort level when the
students use them.”
Some teachers use the thinking maps to compliment their teaching
styles and lesson plans.
“It enhances it and give it another dimension,” said Carol
Flesher, and eighth-grade English teacher who uses the charts to
teach students to more easily design back stories for characters they
create.
Teachers from the three middle schools participated in another set
of workshops held at Luther Burbank Middle School on Tuesday, where
instructors rotated to different groups of teachers and addressed the
topics of bullying, plagiarism, and methods for teaching students
with learning disabilities.
Instructors and administrators are hoping to find ways to deter
middle school students from plagiarizing their work, which has been
made easier because of students access to the internet, according to
Hackings.
“We want to brainstorm on how we can stop it from happening, and
from being an epidemic,” Hackings said.
Justin Riner, an eighth-grade English teacher from John Muir
Middle School who attended Monday’s session on thinking maps, looked
forward to attending Tuesday’s session on bullying.
“Bullying interferes with how kids learn, it curtails their
learning ability,” he said. “It will be interesting to know what they
suggest on how to handle it inside and outside of the classroom.”
Teachers also attended meetings on Tuesday for their respective
departments with teachers from different schools to discuss teaching
plans and ideas for the new school year on Tuesday. Some looked
forward to exchanging ideas with fellow teachers.
“Our colleagues are our best resource,” said Flesher.
The professional development sessions ended on Tuesday. Wednesday
will be a teacher workday for the middle school teachers. Students
return and instruction begins on Thursday.
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