Teachers Expand Their Skills Through Two-Day Professional Development Workshop
Teachers at Assumption High School recently participated in a two-day, district-wide professional development workshop that focused on “unit unpacking” in their individual content areas. Pictured, from left to right, at the discussion table in the foreground are AHS Teachers Jasmine Cox, Scottie Brister, Jon Dugas, and Phillip Benoit.
Teachers throughout Assumption Parish gathered in small groups on September 15 and 16 to collaborate and learn new strategies on how to help their students improve their learning skills, stay on pace with academic expectations and improve their social and emotional skills. At the same time, many administrators also strengthened the crisis management plans for their campuses to ensure student safety is addressed at every level.
“Our district set aside two full days to allow our teachers to work together, as well as consultant with outside education specialists to improve their day-to-day performance,” Superintendent Dr. John Barthelemy said.
“This heightened focus on professional development is part of our district’s overall strategic plan to improve academic performance in all our schools. At the same time, we wanted to review all safety measures on our campuses and update our crisis plans to make sure we are doing all we can to take care of our students,” Barthelemy said.
The educator workshops were broken out by grade levels and subjects.
Those teaching in the Head Start program focused on how to improve social and emotional learning among the district’s youngest learners, while Pre-Kindergarten teachers improved their assessment skills to better determine a child’s ability to understand and comprehend lesson objectives.
Those teaching Kindergarten through Grade 3 focused on the science of reading.
“Our early elementary teachers were provided professional development from Keys to Literacy. We are excited for this opportunity for our teachers to better understand the fundamental skills of reading,” Rachel Dugas said.
Dugas noted that during the 2021 regular session, the State Legislature passed Act 108 that requires teachers and school administrators of students in grades K-3 to complete an approved professional development course in the science of reading by the 2023-2024 school year.
“We are confident we will see positive gains in improving our practices in teaching students how to read. One of our goals of this professional development opportunity is to embed literacy throughout the day. We are very excited that our teachers left the initial training with plans to incorporate their new learning,” Dugas said.
Teachers in Grade 4 through High School met by content area – separated into groups for math, science, social studies, and English/language arts. Each group reviewed pacing charts and assessments to ensure alignment. Teachers also collaborated on improving student learning through unit unpacking.
Early elementary educators were given professional instruction in how to use “Keys to Literacy” to improve their understanding of teaching the fundamental skills of reading to their students. The State Legislature recently enacted legislation requiring teachers and school administrators in Grades K-3 to complete an approved development course in the science of reading. Those teachers pictured, from left to right, are Rose Jamison of Bayou L’Ourse Primary; Ginger Bryan of Pierre Part Elementary; Megan Oncale of Napoleonville Primary School; and Paula Theriot of Napoleonville Primary School. The teachers participated in the collaborative workshop on Sept. 15-16.
“This professional development provided teachers an opportunity to engage with the unit materials to develop a deep understanding of end outcomes of the unit and standards addressed within the unit. Through this process teachers can anticipate where students may need additional support and which type of support would be necessary for student mastery," Dugas said.
In addition to the new learning sessions, administrators from each campus participated in crisis management sessions to review their campus response plans.
“Safety is always a factor in what we do,” Barthelemy said. “We are always striving to find ways to make our campuses safer and to sharpen our response skills.”