ExCamp a Big Hit!

GA’s first EXCamp was a rousing success.  On the afternoon of May 2, 2016, approximately one hundred teachers attended fourteen different workshops designed and facilitated by colleagues across a wide range of topics.   Inspired by the favorable response to this kind of peer to peer professional development, the Professional Development Task Force will recommend to the Heads of Schools that we plan another series of these workshops on an In-Service Day next year.

Because many teachers were coaching and, therefore, unable to attend the event, we are making available the materials used in some of the workshops.  Many thanks to the presenters for so generously sharing their work with their colleagues.  Click here for access to the handouts and powerpoint presentations.

Please take a moment to provide some feedback on the event.

The Professional Development Task Force

EXCamp at GA: Sharing Expertise in Teaching

Monday, May 2, 2016 ~ Big Day at GA!

Germantown Academy faculty will attend the first all-school faculty EXCamp.  During two 35-minute sessions in the afternoon, a total of  twenty-five   teachers will present 35-minute sessions on topics of interest to them and their colleagues.  Topics include

·      Assessment-Based Curriculum Development,

·      Metacognition: How Thinking about Thinking Influences How We Teach and Learn,

·      Ways to use the VLE for more than just posting assignments,

·      Get Collaborating: Big Think Walls, Project Based Learning, and Student Centered Inquiry in the BCI

…and many more.

This event is a wonderful opportunity for peer-to-peer professional development.  The expertise of the GA faculty is a rich resource for all teachers, and on Monday, May 2, instead of going out, we are staying right here at GA and learning from one another.

Additionally, on the evening of Monday, May 2, Germantown Academy proudly welcomes award-winning author Jacqueline Woodson to our campus for a presentation for children and adults.  Ms. Woodson is the author of Brown Girl Dreaming and many other young adult books.  Please click here for more information.

GA Salon: Celebrating Community, Conversation and Ideas

In the rush of school days, filled with classes, clubs, coaching, directing, planning, department and faculty meetings, teachers can be left hungry for collegial conversation about important topics ~ not necessarily related to school life.  To satisfy this desire, three years ago, GA instituted its first Germantown Academy Salon.

In the rich tradition of the 17^th and 18^th century salons, the GA Salon is an informal gathering of interested and interesting people who share a passion for ideas across a broad range of subjects.  In the past three years, teachers have gathered in the Roberts Library to discuss a variety of thought-provoking topics: the nature of change, the concept of home, the characteristics of adulthood, the role of play in our lives, the notion of Vergangenheitsbewältigung, and, most recently our relationship, to poetry.

Refreshments foster the social nature of the group.  A glass of wine, a provocative topic, a smart group of people: what could be better!  The salon meets four times throughout the year, and is comprised of faculty, staff, and administrators from all three divisions of the school. 

Although it is sometimes challenging given our busy schedules to make time for the salon, those who do always leave more closely connected to their colleagues and enriched by the conversation.

First Thursday: Understanding ADHD

ADHD.  As teachers we are all familiar with the term: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.  We recognize it in the student who stares out the window at the falling snow instead of listening to instructions, in the child who fiddles with his pencil, jumps out of her chair, answers your question about the novel by asking to go to the bathroom.

Researchers have continued to study ADHD over the years and their understanding of its complexities and the most effective strategies for helping students who experience it has deepened and broadened.

Please join us on  Thursday, April 7^th 3:30-4:45 in the BCI for our next 1^st Thursday meeting, facilitated by our school psychologists, Janet Maurer, Andrea Kurtz, and Angie Jones.  We will discuss the article ADHD in kids: What many parents and teachers don’t understand but need to know which includes a much broader and more positive description of ADHD, its symptoms and recommendations for addressing the condition.  It will, of course, be important for participants to have read the article prior to this meeting.

Below are a few excerpts from the article:

“Many think it is simply about kids who can’t focus on their work or sit still, but there is a great deal more to it, experts say, and student achievement in school suffers because the condition is misunderstood.”

“In fact, what we call ADD (a terrible term, as it is not a deficit of attention but rather a wandering of attention, and it is not a disorder in my opinion but rather a trait; if you manage it properly it can turn you into a phenomenal success…”

“On the positive side, which people rarely discuss, people with ADD are the people who founded this country.  They tend to be visionaries, dreamers, explorers, inventors (Edison was a classic), path-finders, discoverers, entrepreneurs (almost all entrepreneurs have ADD), creative types, original thinkers, paradigm breakers, trend-setters, free thinkers, as well as being big-hearted, trusting, generous, and fun.”

“Treatment includes, first of all, education.”

This is an important topic, and I hope that many of you can join us for this conversation.  Please mark your planbooks now and please RSVP to Maggie @maggie.mcveigh@germantownacademy.org

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

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 12^th grade.

AS the BCI educators receive more training during the fall on the potential for 21^st 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.

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. 

 

1^st 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 1^st 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.