Staff Development

The teachers focused their staff development in several areas this year, both as a school and in unison with Diocesan goals. Teachers began the implementation of Read Alouds in the classrooms and utilized various resources from the Mississippi Bend Area Education Agency in this project. The staff also began to ensure their instruction is aligned with the Diocesan Standards and Benchmarks in the curricular areas of Language Arts, Physical Education, Art and Music. These citywide efforts also allowed teachers from the various schools to network with fellow teachers and communicate about current trends in education. The final area of emphasis this year focused on the beginning stages of electronic portfolios for students in grades 5-8. We were able to purchase some of the materials necessary for this project, but we are waiting for news on one additional Scott County Regional Authority Grant to enhance the project's possibilities. Approximately half of the 5-8 teachers have already signed up for a week of training over the summer for this project. When fully implemented over the next 2-3 years, we feel students will obtain additional skills, feel more motivated and have enhanced communication skills.

In looking forward to next year, several important steps have been taken: A committee of teachers and the principal picked out a new language arts series for next year. These materials are already at our school and teachers received one day of in-service in April. The publisher, Scott-Foresman, intends to provide two more days of training during the 2005-06 school year. We are also planning a number of in-service days on Six Trait Writing, which is the writing program used in the text. The great majority of our teachers' staff development time will be used in implementing these new tools to gain the greatest student improvement possible in reading and writing. Individual teachers will also spend time working on self-identified areas of improvement.

Staff Development 2004-05
ReadAlouds
Standards Alignment in Language Arts, Art,
Physical Education and Music.

Staff Development 2005-06
Implementation of new Language Arts Series
Six Trait Writing Series
Digital Teaching Tools and Electronic
Portfolios Grades 5-8