It is sometimes a little hard coming back from Christmas break because we've been with our families, maybe slept in a little longer and enjoyed a lunch that lasted longer than 30 minutes. But, there is always a bit of excitement in the air, too. Perhaps it's the start of the New Year with new goals and dreams and perhaps it's knowing that we have hit the halfway mark knowing the spring semester brings a lot of milestone events and activities.
This last Tuesday, our teachers and staff gathered together to kick off the second half of the 2023-24 school year. Our dedicated teachers engaged in a day filled with enriching experiences aimed at expanding their instructional strategies, bringing unity and consistency and ultimately benefiting our students.
The highlight of the day was the Socratic seminar sessions, which were based on our campus-specific book studies. These seminars provided our educators with a platform to delve deeply into the ideas and themes presented in their respective books. This approach fosters critical thinking, encourages open dialogue, and enables teachers to gain fresh perspectives, all of which they can then bring into their classrooms.
In addition to the Socratic seminars, our teachers worked on creating critical thinking questions using the Q-matrix method. This valuable exercise equips them with the tools to develop thought-provoking questions that stimulate engagement and higher-order thinking among our students. By participating as the learner in the activity, they are able to experience what their students will feel and can make appropriate adjustments for their classrooms. We give the science-backed strategy to compliment their art of teaching.
After a short break, we broke into grade level groups to focus on our instructional goals for the year: reading and rigor. Our Pre-K through third grade teachers met to work on the science of reading curriculum and our fourth through twelfth grade teachers attended a session about using constructed response performance tasks in their classrooms. These sessions empowered our teachers with the latest insights and strategies in literacy instruction, ensuring that our students receive the best possible education.
I want to express my heartfelt appreciation for our teachers' unwavering dedication to their craft and their students. I would like to give a special thanks to Mrs. Foley for leading the upper grades breakout session, Mrs. Matejek, Mrs. Fenske, Mrs. Jurica, Miss Bain and Mr. Pruitt for their insights during the Socratic seminar, Mrs. Sweeney for baking eight pies for us to enjoy and our administration team for providing breakfast and lunch.
It is sometimes hard to switch from being the teacher to the learner, but our staff embody the core value of Think: Square Peg-Round Hole in being lifelong learners and always seeking to grow. The participation in professional development days like these reflects our commitment to continuous improvement and our passion for nurturing the minds of the students in our care. It's this dedication that sets our school community apart and helps us fulfill our mission of forming well-rounded students in a Catholic environment.
God bless & Go Eagles!
-Mrs. Mishler