2020 Letter from Kentucky Teachers<\/a> \u2014 published in December by the Prichard Committee \u2014 made sense. The group of Prichard Committee Fellows was made up of\u00a027 educators from 23 school districts across the state. Francis said the Daviess district has worked to build teacher leadership, and the letter from the Fellows inspired training built to inform and support teacher-led solutions.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_empty_space][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image img_size=”overlap-fullwidth” image=”15476″][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]MIKE RIGGS, A TEACHER at College\u00a0View Middle School chose professional learning about building family engagement to create a strategy for better connecting with\u00a0students and parents in his first-block history class.<\/i>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_empty_space height=”40px”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]At Daviess County High School, English teacher Alicia Wilson said the collaborative led to new strategies she will incorporate this year to build greater engagement among her 9th and 10th-grade students. That involved evaluating the kinds of questions that drive students\u2019 work in class, the types of feedback used to shape assignments, and what steps can give classrooms the feel of a learning community.<\/p>\n\u201cWe\u2019ve talked about steps that can lead to students asking deeper questions and not being passive in their learning,\u201d said Wilson, starting her second year at Daviess County. \u201cThat will mean more active time working together, more discussion, and hands-on learning.\u201d<\/p>\n
The young teacher said she sees the new approaches as a way to tap the flexible, passionate energy she sees in teen students. She hopes to connect student energy with the discoveries possible from books and other reading material.<\/p>\n
Teachers who participated in the professional learning collaboratives said the takeaways were identifying small changes to teaching practices that can reach more students or boost learning dynamics.<\/p>\n
Celeste Lawson, a veteran teacher at Tamarack Elementary, said she recognized that allowing more \u201cwait time\u201d \u2014 pauses between when she poses a question in class or opens topics for discussion \u2014 can encourage more students to think and formulate responses and be ready to participate.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs you are waiting, more hands go up and you can notice students more engaged in thinking,\u201d said Lawson, who has come up with her own techniques she will use this fall to make sure students percolate on questions for at least five seconds before starting conversation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe goal is better, deeper answers,\u201d Lawson said. \u201cIt\u2019s not a big thing and involves no prep time but there are a lot of good things that can come from remembering to wait. It can build reflection, feedback and good discourse.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mike Riggs at College View Middle plans to use this school year to analyze how additional outreach to parents and students in his first block class affects outcomes. If the results produce the expected benefits, he said can imagine incorporating strategies that work for all of his students next year and begin sharing ideas to colleagues.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt seems like a good approach to make sure I know the kids and am pulling in parents. There\u2019s time for that before we jump into Jamestown and Plymouth,\u201d he said.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_empty_space][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”15477″][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]ALICIA WILSON OF Daviess County High School, focused on instructional techniques for engaging more students during classwork as part of the\u00a0district’s professional learning collaboratives in the spring and summer. Photo courtesy of Daviess County School District<\/i>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_empty_space height=”40px”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Teachers involved in the Prichard Committee group that met last year said that 2020\u2019s shutdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic and discussions about violence caused by racial profiling led many teachers to think deeply about the role they play and the opportunities that schooling provides.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a result of this stretching, we have grown,\u201d the teachers stated in the letter they produced. \u201cWe have emerged as better teachers and stronger leaders.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPublic school teachers have always needed the trust and support of their personal and professional communities to create engaging, high-quality learning experiences that align with student needs, interests, and aspirations, let alone during a time of constant change and unforeseen challenges around the corner,\u201d said Brad Clark, who convened the group for the Prichard Committee in September 2020.<\/p>\n
Gabi Martinez, who leads migrant education programs in Daviess County, said that the collaboratives there picked up on the connection between classroom success, family involvement, and cultural awareness.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople in schools want to know more. The conversations about engaging families and being culturally responsive were eye openers for teachers,\u201d said Martinez, who added that the self-study and group discussions of the collaboratives were a good atmosphere for building teacher-led projects.<\/p>\n
Martinez expects noticeable change and improvement across the district on classroom and family involvement. \u201cThe more inviting you are, the more you\u2019ll get from people,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The teacher leaders\u2019 group closed by noting that its call for teachers to work together to develop higher quality learning experiences and a school climate that encourages all students needs support from the ranks of educators and the wider school community.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe ask for your encouragement to continue learning, and the space and grace to test new approaches and ideas,\u201d the December letter noted. \u201cWith your help, we can obtain sufficient resources, and pursue a learner-centered mission and vision in every public school in Kentucky.\u201d<\/p>\n
Francis said the Daviess sessions were a hit. \u201cWe designed the collaboratives as experiences of learning together, which was a style that teachers liked,\u201d she said. \u201cWe planted a seed and they were ready to dig deeper.\u201d[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_empty_space height=”45px”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]TOP PHOTO: Teachers gathered for a High Quality Curriculum training session during the summer break. The session was held at Deer Park Elementary School. Photo courtesy of Daviess County School District[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_empty_space][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A 2020 call by a statewide group of teachers urged school leaders to prepare more of their peers to design school improvements led to focused training in one Kentucky district. The Daviess County school district saw the document as a vehicle to inform and support teacher-led solutions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":5592,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"passster_activate_protection":false,"passster_protect_child_pages":"","passster_protection_type":"password","passster_password":"","passster_activate_overwrite_defaults":"","passster_headline":"","passster_instruction":"","passster_placeholder":"","passster_button":"","passster_id":"","passster_activate_misc_settings":"","passster_redirect_url":"","passster_hide":"no","passster_area_shortcode":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[93],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5591","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-prichard-committee-fellows"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/prichard-backup.com\/July\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/prichard-backup.com\/July\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/prichard-backup.com\/July\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prichard-backup.com\/July\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prichard-backup.com\/July\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5591"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/prichard-backup.com\/July\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5591\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6110,"href":"https:\/\/prichard-backup.com\/July\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5591\/revisions\/6110"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prichard-backup.com\/July\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5592"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/prichard-backup.com\/July\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prichard-backup.com\/July\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prichard-backup.com\/July\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}