craftED
is the blog for The Germantown Academy Professional Development Program.

Saturday, October 31, 2015

SMART Training Opportunity


Attention folks new to Smart.  Here’s an excellent opportunity to develop your Smart skills.  Many GA teachers have attended these workshops at Tatnall and would be happy to share their experience with you.  Click here for details!


Tuesday, October 27, 2015

First Thursday: Digital Library Collection Supports Student Learning






 First Thursday ~ November 5, 2015, in the 
Beard Center for Innovation~3:30-5:00. 



Utilizing the Libraries' Digital Collection to Support and Extend our Students' Learning Experience



Colleagues from all three divisions will share how they creatively incorporate GA Libraries digital resources into their lessons and projects in order to deepen and broaden the learning process.



GA Librarians: Sharing GA's Digital Collections


Phy Chauveau:  Discovery Education 


Bob Moyer and Mary Fraser:  Exploring beyond our borders: Utilizing global resources to teach critical thinking and the research process.
 
Sarah Blake and Cory Eklund: Supporting Inquiry-Based Learning with Digital Resources


Sunday, October 25, 2015

Guest Blogger Phy Chaveau: The Discovery Education Network




Discovery Education Blog

Ten years ago, while attending a week-long summit with 99 other recently elected Keystone Technology Innovators, I had the good fortune to meet Lance Rougeux, then an Executive Policy Director at the PDE’s Bureau of Educational Technology. “You love using video, Phy! Do you know about United Streaming?”  Honestly, I didn’t, but over the next year, Lance’s mentoring steered me towards one of the best professional decisions of my teaching career. I became an overnight fan, and soon, I couldn’t imagine teaching without this resource. United Streaming soon became Discovery Streaming, and its metamorphosis over the course of these past ten years to the Discovery Education Network has been nothing short of extraordinary.  
The underlying premise of the DEN, even at its inception in 2005, was that educators are undoubtedly each other’s most valuable resource. This may feel like a given nowadays, but Discovery was there at the forefront of this movement and it continues to set the highest standards when it comes to rich collaborative learning opportunities for school communities. Whether you consider yourself a technology novice or an expert, there is something here for you and your students. 
  
Did you know that we have paid subscriptions to Discovery through our GA Libraries? Students can’t help but engage with the broad collection of instructional videos, articles, images, and multimedia activities in every content area. Whether you visit Discovery twice a week or twice a day, there will be something new to explore.    
I hope to see you at November’s “First Thursday” in the Beard Center for Innovation for a look at how I and other teachers are utilizing the Libraries’ Digital Collections to support and extend our students’ learning experiences. 
In the meantime, if you would like to get going with Discovery before November, please watch this screencast I prepared in August as an introduction for our LS teachers. 

 Phy Chauveau, Class of 1760
Discovery STAR Educator, Fifth Grade Teacher 



Saturday, October 17, 2015

Professional Development Offerings: Making the Most of In-Service Day


Thank you for your enthusiastic participation in the many professional development activities sponsored by your colleagues on our recent In-Service Day.  From new Professional Learning Communities in the Middle School to Ed Camp workshops in Lower School to a student/teacher engagement presentation in the Upper School all GA teachers embraced the day and the opportunities for growth.

For many of us, our introduction to the brand spanking new Beard Center for Innovation, already lovingly called the BCI, served as the highlight of the day.  Gaby Russomagno, Director of Innovation and Special Programs, greeted each small group at the entrance to the new space, and eloquently provided the history of the project, its inspiration drawn from the Renaissance artists’ large collaborative studios, the original “ilabs!”

Members of the ED21 team walked us through each section of the Innovation Lab, explaining the purposes of sliding walls; movable, modular furniture; and the computer carts and video displays.  Teachers, like the students they teach, explored the room energetically, responding to the writing prompts displayed on the walls.  My favorite: “What do you notice, wonder, imagine?”

In the Maker Space, the second workspace that makes up the Beard Center, we learned about the potential of this collaborative environment with its Maker Bots 3-D printer, laser printer, Lil' Bits, BeeBot, Dash and Dot, and 3Doodler and its numerous opportunities to get charged up about engineering projects for students from PreK through 12th grade.

AS the BCI educators receive more training during the fall on the potential for 21st C. teaching and learning in the BCI, upcoming In-Service Days on November 30, 2015 and February 12, 2016 will provide the time for all GA teachers to learn first hand how to maximize this signature teaching environment: a new space enhancing the age-old GA tradition of close student and faculty relationships leading to life-long learning.











Saturday, October 10, 2015

Professional Development: New Faculty Tech Training

 

 
A big shout out to the teachers and administrators who gave up a recent afternoon to provide one-on-one support to many of our new folks as they learn to navigate the various applications, programs, and portals essential to our work with students and colleagues.
 
The VLE, FAWEB, Smart, and Atlas Rubicon!  It’s a lot to learn, but after a brief demonstration by our Systems Administrator, teachers received individual attention and instruction pertaining to their own particular questions.  To a one, new teachers reported a most worthwhile experience.
 
At Germantown Academy we put a premium on accessing and sharing the extraordinary expertise of our faculty.  In addition to monthly meetings for new faculty, GA teachers gather frequently to share their talents with each other. 
 
1st Thursdays bring together faculty from all three divisions to explore a topic or theme of general interest.  Last year’s topics included executive functioning, research, differentiated instruction, and contemporary reading strategies.  This year our first 1st Thursday featured Lower School teachers sharing their Kast Grant work on Coding.  Click here for this year’s dates.
 
The GA Salon is another opportunity, occurring quarterly, for faculty and staff to gather socially for refreshments and stimulating conversation about topics not necessarily associated with education.  Click here for this year’s dates.

Sunday, October 4, 2015

Differentiated Literacy Instruction and Other Professional Development Happenings



Professional development occurs in many places and takes various shapes.  It could be the first 1st Thursday where you walk across the quad or up a flight of steps and there you are ~ learning something new about coding.


Or you might hop in the car and go the short distance to the Montgomery County Intermediate Unit to take a FREEworkshop that will help you tune up your everyday instructional strategies or another free opportunity to learn about growth mindset, student engagement, technology in assessment, and ways in which you can make your classroom responsive to all the cultures represented in your classroom.

If you are interested in Differentiated Literacy Instruction please take the millisecond it takes to click and find a wonderful opportunity sponsored by GA and the Delaware Valley Reading Association.