Teacher Leadership Team Bulletin
Forest City Community School District
Teacher Leadership Team Spotlight
The snow is gone, the weather is warming up and our students are keeping us on our toes as third trimester is rolling along! The same has been true for our TLC team as we "spring" into new professional development learning opportunities. Our model teachers have been an integral part of PD, especially in the past several months, as we all continue to shape our roles and responsibilities. This month has been an enjoyable challenge of planning, implementing and reflecting!
Learning Labs and Literacy
Professional development opportunities have taken a different approach the past several weeks, as we all work to be more reflective and purposeful practitioners. Both the middle school and the majority of the high school staff were able to participate in a learning lab organized by our model teachers and instructional coaches. As discussed in the January newsletter, learning labs involve observation of classroom instruction and a focused debriefing driven by what we saw, heard, and noticed. Our dialogue always circles back to how we impact students through the decisions that are made in our classrooms. We walk away with how we can adjust, "tweek" or revisit our own practices to better meet the needs of our students. A big thank you goes out to our model teachers and their co-teachers for their willingness to plan and open up their rooms in an effort to all learn together.
The elementary staff continues to focus on literacy as part of PD, and we have been tackling the state required FAST screening head on! Based on the FAST data, some students need weekly progress monitoring and interventions, and we are focusing on differentiating to meet individual student needs. With guidance from our model teachers and instructional coaches, the staff is learning about and implementing PRESS interventions, which are researched based strategies to improve reading. Our staff has shown patience, a willingness to learn and collaborate, and tremendous growth as we continue to find the best ways to help our students succeed. Literacy instruction and interventions will be an ongoing part of our professional development as we finish the year!
***Mentor/Mentee Program Update***
You were able to meet all of our first and second year teachers in last month's newsletter. Our mentees, along with their mentor teachers, had the opportunity to leave their own classrooms and complete an observation of a model teacher. The mentee teacher chose a specific area of focus for the observation, and they were able to watch, learn and reflect on what they saw in the classroom. Debriefing was the focus of this process, as the mentee, mentor, and model teachers were all able to meet and discuss what they observed as well as how it could be applied to their own teaching. There is no doubt we accomplished our goal of promoting reflection and growth through collaboration!
Connect!
Want to set up a twitter account, but need a little assistance? We can help! Wondering how google classroom can influence your instruction, but haven't taken "the plunge?" Let us know! Looking into how to increase communication with parents? We'll work with you! As the last part of the school year comes to a close, start to reflect on how you can stay connected!
Email: fctlc@gmail.com
Website: fctlc.weebly.com
Location: 206 West School Street, Forest City, IA, United States
Phone: (641)585-2324
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/forestcitytlc/
Twitter: @fctlc