Professional Community Devotes In-Service Day to Division-Specific Work

St. Margaret’s professional community devoted Monday’s in-service day to division-specific professional development, bringing in new experts, reinforcing training in educational tools, and planning curriculum.

 

St. Margaret’s Early Childhood School welcomed Jennifer Thompson, who will be spending the spring as the Early Childhood School’s constructivist-in-residence in the atelier.

 

Ms. Thompson led Monday’s in-service day, conducting a presentation and also leading small group meetings about constructivist theory and practice. Teachers collaboratively explored materials in a hands-on investigation to successfully anchor and communicate their understanding of constructivist learning theory.   

 

St. Margaret’s Lower School professional community had several professional-development presentations on Monday, covering a variety of topics.

 

Kindergarten teacher Colleen Beshk presented on phonics and spelling content based on the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project curriculum. Also presenting was Lower School reading specialist Tracey Kounanis (reading intervention), Lower School science teacher David Beshk (special subjects and water project collaboration) and Director of Equity and Inclusion Victor Cota along with Lower School teachers Erika Higgins, Delphi Sech and Makenna Henry (diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives).

 

The Middle School and Upper School professional community had a day devoted to meetings, finalizing semester grades and exams, writing individual student report card comments and more. Teachers also spent time planning, collaborating and preparing for the semester ahead.