Due to a number of skillfully written grants, Woodland Heights is pleased and proud to offer its staff a number of 'powerful' learning opportunities this spring to further their professional growth and promote their effectiveness with students. The opportunities fall under the following categories:
A.] Book Study Groups > Over the course of the spring, our staff will read, study, and discuss the following important works in our field: Mosaic of Thought, Second Edition (reading comprehension and thinking), Leading and Managing a Differentiated Classroom (accounting for student differences in ability and interest), and Enhancing RtI: How to Ensure Success with Effective Classroom Instruction and Intervention (refining school processes for addressing the needs of struggling learners).
B.] Professional Learning Community (PLC) Meetings > Our school's Literacy Coach (Joanna Bergman) is meeting weekly with our grade level teacher teams to study the book, Strategies that Work. Mrs. Bergman and WHS teachers are discussing the book and planning for direct application of its 'strategies' into our school's evolving literacy program.
C.] Work with Consultants > We will soon begin work at WHS with Mahesh Sharma, a nationally-renowned consultant in the area of mthematics instruction. Also, we anticipate doing work with professors from our partner school, Plymouth State University, in the area of literacy model development (reading, comprhending, and writing) a little later in the spring and upcoming summer.
D.] College Coursework > Through the Plymouth State University Writing Project, a number of our teachers will have the opportunity to take a writing course designed to meet their specific needs in the strengthening of writing instruction strategies and techniques at Woodland Heights.
E.] Workshops > There have been, and will continue to be, opportunities for our teachers and staff to participate in day-long workshops to promote their growth in key, discrete areas. The most notable upcoming opportunity will be in mid-April when Dr. Richard Allington (a nationally acclaimed and prolific writer, thinker, and trainer in the area of improving student literacy) will be featured in a New Hampshire Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (NHASCD) conference relating to methods for assisting struggling readers ("RtI and What Really Matters for Struggling Readers").
F.] Conferences > There will be two major conferences held after the close of the school year that we will have the opportunity to attend in order to further advance key schoolwide initiatives. We will continue our work in these areas into the coming (next) school year, and beyond. WHS will be sending a team of staff to the annual convention of the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) to participate in a series of rigorous trainings in technology integration and 21st Century Learning. We will also send a team to the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) regional conference where teachers will participate in an institute relating to the commonality and shared goals of Response to Intervention (RtI) and Differentiated Instruction (DI) -- "Differentiated Instruction and Response to Intervention: Shared Goals for Student Success".
We are delighted for the opportunity to share these learning experiences with our staff. Our Woodland Heights teachers and paraprofessionals have embraced these opportunities with energy and enthusiasm. As members of the WHS learning community, we continually strive to become more proficient and more effective in our work with children, building the best school and providing the best learning opportunities possible for all of our students.
Stay tuned for more information available over the course of upcoming months about how our program may evolve as a result of these tremendous professional development and school improvement opportunities.
