St. Andrews Episcopal School

In support of its faculty and staff, St. Andrew’s has a generous professional development budget which is distributed over the variety of vehicles described below.

Summer Workshops – The Summer Curriculum Workshop Program provides faculty with opportunities to collaborate on projects that relate to the development, coordination, and assessment of curriculum. The results of these teacher initiated projects are presented across divisions during in-service at the beginning of the year.
Curriculum Development Grants – These grants are school initiated and support the development of new curriculum. For example, in 2009 the Social Studies Department revised its course sequence, and teachers were offered funding to prepare new curricula.
In-Service Training and Faculty Retreat – In addition to the three days of pre-service, there are four more in-service days built into the school calendar. These include workshops provided by the school and an all-school faculty retreat held in the spring.
Professional Development Workshops – On occasion, St Andrew’s invites leaders in the field of education to provide training and workshops tailored to the interests of our faculty.
Faculty Meetings – Time is set aside at faculty meetings for professional development. This includes best teaching practices, updates from conferences, technology and classroom shares. In addition, training is provided in areas important to our institutional culture, including diversity as well as social and emotional learning.
Parent Council Speaker Series – Authors and leaders in the field of education are invited to address a wide variety of special interest areas with the faculty and parents.
Summer Reading – Each year, several books covering a wide array of topics are chosen by the administration for the faculty to read over the summer. These usually focus on some theme pertinent to the school’s professional growth agenda. During the first in-service, various faculty members are invited to lead book discussions to further explore important issues related to the readings.
Special Grants – Over the last seven years, one of the school’s learning specialists has received several grants thematically focused on training faculty to work with students with learning differences.
Advanced Degrees – St. Andrew’s sets aside money in its budget annually to support full-time faculty in graduate work or certification programs. To be considered for participation, a teacher must present a written request and description of his/her proposed plan. If approved, the individual must sign a contract, requiring him/her to either complete two additional years of service to St. Andrew’s after completion of the degree program or to reimburse the school for the total tuition.
Conferences – St. Andrew’s financially supports the faculty and staff to attend one professional meeting per academic year such as SAES, NAES, ISAS or a curriculum area conference.
Grants Underwritten by the Parents’ Council Fundraisers – The Board and Parents’ Council have established a special summer grant fund. Faculty members may submit proposals to engage in special interest work, seminars, and institutes to enrich their teaching with new ideas and practices.

2011 Faculty Workshops:

LOWER SCHOOL:

1^st Grade Language Arts Program

Language Foundations: Refining & Revising

Iverson, Kruger, Craig, Burnside, Newton

This body of work is the third step in creating a part of a St. Andrew’s School 1^st Grade Language Arts Program that is well balanced and comprehensive.

The first step was completed during the summer of 2010 when the participants completed training in Language Foundations, a program created by an interdisciplinary team of neurologists, psychologists, educators, and speech-language pathologists. The program dates back to 1960 and is based on Alphabetic Phonics by Aylett Royall Cox. Language Foundations presents a structured, multi-sensory, logical and sequential approach.

The second step was implementing Language Foundations in its entirety during the 2010-2011 school year. The program was taught just as it was presented. During the teaching process discoveries were made and noted about program components that were and were not appropriate for the first grade child.

The third step is the beginning of refining and revising Language Foundations to suit the needs of the St. Andrew’s School 1^st Grade Language Arts Program.

Participants in this process were St. Andrew’s First Grade Teachers: Stephanie Kruger, Katie Iverson, and Sandy Burnside; St. Andrew’s Learning Specialist, Pam Craig; and St. Andrew’s First Grade Teaching Assistant and Certified Academic Language Practitioner, Anne Newton.

Following is a summary of the work done and materials created by the participants during the summer of 2011:

A scope and sequence for reading and spelling skills, based in part on Language Foundations, was created.
Language arts lesson plans for each week of the coming school year were created using Language Foundations and St. Andrew’s 2011-2012 calendar.
A 2011-2012 spelling list was created by aligning the current spelling list with the Dolch Sight Word list, “word families” and Language Foundations skills.
Language arts homework for the 2011-2012 was refined and organized.
A Tongue Twister Book was refined and organized for weekly use.

1^st Grade Language Arts Program

Integration of Language Arts Curriculum

Iverson, Kruger, Burnside

First Grade met this summer to integrate all of our Language Arts curriculum components. We have several core programs that together make-up the comprehensive 1st grade language arts curriculum. These core programs are: Language Foundations, The Daily Five, CAFE, Making Meaning and Being a Writer. As a team we were able to use Language Foundations to coordinate our spelling lists. We were also able to integrate our Making Meaning read aloud books with our CAFE reading skills and strategies. Because The Daily Five includes reading, writing and sound/letter/word work we were able to seamlessly integrate this with Language Foundations, The Daily Five, Making Meaning and Being a Writer. This summer workshop has allowed us to begin our curriculum earlier this year which allows for more skills to be taught by the end of the year. It also allows for deeper learning to take place as we're given more time to teach the necessary skills.

2^nd Grade Language Arts Program

Alignment of 2^nd Grade Spelling with Language Foundations

Craig, Newton

Purpose: The purpose of this workshop was to align the spelling curriculum of Language Foundations with the second grade curriculum by revising the spelling list and activities with the concepts and vocabulary the incoming second graders had been taught during their first grade year of Language Foundations

Background: In the summer of 2010 the SAS First Grade teachers participated in the Language Foundations training at Scottish Rite Learning Center. Foundations is a comprehensive program that includes decoding, comprehension, spelling, vocabulary, grammar and composition. The First Grade teachers implemented the program through the 2010-11 school year. Most schools do not start the Foundations program until Second Grade; First Grade used the past school year to pilot the program and the First Grade Foundations Committee met this summer to adapt and align its components to the SAS First Grade curriculum. The teachers were very pleased with the explicit, interactive, sequential, multisensory scope and sequence of Foundations, but felt that some concepts were not age appropriate for first graders.

The spelling portion of the program follows the concepts taught in Scientific Spelling, for which Second Grade teachers Nicole Williams and Jimmy Agnew have attended the training. Prior to this KimMarie Suhr, Second Grade teacher, and Pam Craig, Learning Specialist, used the Scientific Spelling format for spelling situations and rules to update the Second Grade spelling list and activities. The spelling situations for regular words, words spelled the way a word sounds, or ones spelled by rule, are also presented in Foundations Spelling, but there are many more multisensory techniques (hand signals, manipulatives) and phrases used to help the student’s understanding of spelling and have something “to fall back on” when memorization alone does not benefit the student. These same spelling concepts are basic in learning to read. And as the First Grade teachers and students will tell you, it is fun and they both enjoy “discovering” the pattern or rule being taught.

Pam Craig and Anne Newton, Certified Foundations Practitioner, worked this summer to align the Second Grade spelling list with the scope and sequence of Language Foundations. Along with alignment, the spelling concepts taught are explained on each spelling list as presented in the Foundations program. These are the spelling situations and rules with which the First Grade students have become familiar. Again, the concepts are not different from Scientific Spelling, but some of the terminology is different.

Most of the spelling lessons are reviews of concepts presented and used for the First Grade spelling lessons last year. The concepts were practiced in the classroom and for the Friday spelling test. Some of the concepts became automatic to most of the students (i.e. short vowels in a Closed syllable, FLOSS Rule), but some will need to be more thoroughly taught in Second Grade. Most of the lessons also contain a new spelling concept along with a reviewed one.

Both Anne and Pam will be available to answer any questions throughout the year; meet and go over the reviewed and new concept for the week's spelling; help with multisensory steps; and make any corrections needed.

3^rd Grade Language Arts Program

Revision of Novel Studies Curriculum

Hutcheson, Nottingham

Overview

This summer, we concentrated on updating and revising our novel packets, with the intention of making our novel studies stronger and more effective. We went beyond reading comprehension, and we purposefully expanded the reach of these studies. By our revisions and consistencies throughout the packets, we hope to make writing and analyzing parts of stories easier for our 3^rd grade students. We created new novel study packets for the following novels:

Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan

F is for Freedom by Roni Schotter

In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson by Bette Bao Lord

Frindle by Andrew Clements

Specifically, we focused on adding the following components to our reading curriculum:

Sequencing
Plot/Resolution
Author’s purpose
Main idea and supporting details
Story maps
Evaluation
Predicting to aid with reading comprehension
Enhanced character development
Graphic organizers
Comprehension questions that include use of higher order thinking skills.

With consistency in our new novel units, we anticipate that our 3^rd graders will gain more in-depth understanding about literature and how to approach it. Additionally, we hope that our students will make the connection more easily when writing about and analyzing this literature.

LS Spanish Curriculum

Developing Exit Skill Assessments: Grades 2-4

Flores, Edwards

The main objective of our summer work was to update Spanish tests in 2^nd, 3^rd, and 4^th grades. The older tests included a lot of translation from English to Spanish and they had a strong emphasis on vocabulary. We changed the format of the tests to incorporate more the assessment of reading, writing, and listening. The revised format is as follows:

Listening. Students will listen to two or three questions asked by the teacher and write a response in complete sentences in Spanish.
Vocabulary. Students will see pictures on the test and write the correct vocabulary word in Spanish. For the first few tests we will include a word bank. After that students will be expected to know the vocabulary.
Short answers. Students will respond to written questions in Spanish. Students should respond using vocabulary that we have learned in class and use complete sentences.

We revised a total of three tests for each grade level. We will use those tests as templates to continue revising tests for our weekly units. We presented examples of our revised tests to the Modern Languages Department during our Faculty In-Service in August.

MIDDLE LEVEL:

Educational Technology Program

Development of Applied Tech Curriculum: 4^th & 5^th Grades

Staniforth, Whitaker, Hudson

We have created a graded Applied Technology curriculum which will be implemented in the 2011-2012 school year for the 4^th and 5^th grades. Applied Technology classes will follow timelines and topics in the 4th and 5th grade core curriculum, but also will incorporate the purposeful teaching of technology and library skills. In addition to classroom teacher input, St. Andrew’s Information and Communication Technology Skills (ICT) Scope and Sequence will be used to identify skills necessary for student mastery.

4^th Grade

Each of the 4^th grade major classroom projects in Language Arts, Science, and Social Studies are incorporated into this curriculum. In addition to the classroom projects, other projects introducing (and reinforcing) technology skills, such as the use of Glogster (interactive poster software) and Microsoft Office products, will be integrated into the Applied Technology classes.

5^th Grade

5^th grade will also integrate classroom projects, learn new software applications, and incorporate projects using the Microsoft Office products. 5^th grade students will begin the school year “blogging”(a web log that can serve as an online journal). Scratch (a simple programming language) and LEGO NXT Robotics assignments will be introduced later in the year.

Both 4^th and 5^th grade classes will have weekly assignments in keyboarding. A new web-based keyboarding curriculum, Edutyping, will be introduced. In addition to keyboarding, the following library skills will be added to the curriculum:

Use of library fee-based databases for research
Creation of citations for research projects/papers (Noodle Tools introduced 5^th Grade)
Definition of plagiarism and how to avoid it
Use of free websites for research and website evaluation
Internet safety and etiquette
Review of St. Andrew’s Acceptable Use Policy

5^th/6^th Language Arts Program

Handwriting Curriculum

Suhr, Hart, Keasler

Handwriting has always been a valued part of the language arts curriculum at St. Andrew’s. Direct instruction of the printed letters begins in the first grade. Direct instruction of the cursive letters begins in the second grade. All students are expected to be proficient handwriters. To support this goal, the 5^th and 6^th grade language arts programs devote approximately 6-10 weeks each fall to handwriting review instruction. In the past, outside workbooks and/or worksheets have been used. In order to expand on the success of the lower grade handwriting instruction, we chose to create our own practice materials that are consistent with the methodology and letter font taught in the lower grades. We created intentional instructional packets for both the lower case and capital letters. To extend this practice, the spelling lists for 5^th grade have also been redone to reflect this. In addition, since the 6^th grade each year includes approximately 15-18 new students, they will begin the year with a print review to reinforce the foundations of SAS handwriting.

Collaborating on this project offered us the opportunity to share our classroom practices and expectations for handwriting in the language arts curriculum. This in turn helped us see where we could be more consistent with specific letter formations and use of direct instruction in the classroom. It is our goal for all students who leave the LS to be proficient in both print and cursive handwriting. This commitment to a consistent and ongoing handwriting curriculum ensures that this goal will be met.

6^th Grade Theatre Program

An Original Halloween Play: “Instrument Graveyard”

Zivin, Mayers

After six years of working together on 6th Grade plays, drama teacher Aimee Zivin and percussionist Darrel Mayers decided to use the opportunity offered by the Summer Workshop Program to create an original work for Sixth Grade. 'Instrument Graveyard'’ is a light-hearted but spooky Halloween fantasy. Musical instruments - that have been broken by children - come to life on the night of Halloween and pay a visit to the bedrooms of the children that broke them. These instruments are all considered 'beyond repair,' but are then taken by birds to the fantastical kingdom of Galliard, and many adventures ensue. This is the first play Aimee and Darrel have written, and the play is still in development, with scenes and music being written by the two of them as well as the students. There have been some very helpful ideas provided by the members of the SAS faculty who attended their presentation just before school began. In addition, Hollyanna Melear has created an inspired set of ‘steam punk’ costume sketches. 'Instrument Graveyard' will be performed in the Yancy Amphitheater on November 14 and 15th.

6-8 History Curriculum

Scope & Sequence of Research Skills

Lynch, Ballard, Melanson

Purposes of the Workshop:

To work with the librarians to streamline the research skills taught in 6, 7, 8 grade History classes so that the students will leave SAS Middle School having learned an in-depth set of research skills and enter high school with a solid base of applicable knowledge. Additionally, this goal included delineating which skills will be co-taught with the librarians, or solely in library/tech or within the classroom.
To create a streamlined and spiraled set of broader skills for 6, 7, 8 History classes that current teachers can utilize in lesson planning, but that can also be added to Atlas and passed on to future teachers so that there are no gaps in skills learning as the students move through this part of the 1-12 Social Studies curriculum.

What Was Learned:

It was very helpful for all of us to become more knowledgeable about what each of us teaches. We saw that the 6^th grade curriculum introduces many skills, the 8^th grade curriculum develops and masters many skills, and thus the 7^th grade curriculum has a pivotal developmental role leading from one to the other. This transparency further enabled us to align our skills, plan for variations in our research projects, and purposefully and effectively utilize the expertise of our librarians during the year.

Implications for Teaching:

We are very excited about the cohesiveness this collaboration will yield for the 6, 7, 8 strand during the upcoming 2011-2012 school year and beyond. Not only will this assist current teachers in immediate plans, it will serve to inform future new faculty as they mold courses to fit their own styles without deleting important developmental skills. Moreover, as a Social Studies department, we hope to use this initial focused collaboration as a springboard for a 1-12 alignment of skills in our work this year.

Quality of the Experience:

This experience was very positive with outstanding results. We are looking forward to putting our new and improved plans into place as the school year begins. Most importantly, our students will benefit from much more cohesive and purposeful teaching of crucial skills as they move through this strand of courses.

6-8 Science Curriculum

Skill Alignment to Support US Curriculum

Sexton, John, Andrews

The purpose of this project was to prepare our sixth through eighth grade students for success in the Upper School science program. At a science department retreat in May, we obtained a list of entrance skills from the Upper School science teachers of knowledge, skills, and competencies they would like the incoming ninth grade students to have. From that list, we created a set of skill cards that would be used sixth through eighth grade, including:

Notetaking skills – Cornell, outline, graphic organizers, interactive notebooks, appropriate use of highlighters
Making a data table
Measuring in science
Using a graduated cylinder
Using a metric ruler
Using a triple beam balance

We also aligned our grading policies, researched curriculum, and created a set of materials to teach and scaffold the learning of scientific inquiry.

Middle School Educational Technology Curriculum

Using Moodle in the Middle School

Bruce, Vance

Middle School teachers Kama Bruce and Jessica Vance researched and implemented an online course curriculum site for use in the Middle School. Moodle is a free web application that educators can use to create effective online learning sites, and teachers can choose from hundreds of modules to include in their own customizable class pages. For the 2011-2012 school year, Mr. Bruce’s 7^th grade Technology class and Ms. Vance’s 7^th grade English class will pilot the use of the St. Andrew’s Moodle.

After researching Moodle, Mr. Bruce and Ms Vance spent time learning about Moodle installation and customization. Moodle proved to be more difficult to install and implement than originally planned as our two teachers needed to act as system administrators of the Moodle before ever having a chance to develop curriculum specific activities and modules. Fortunately, Moodle has over a million registered users with ample help available from both other teachers and Moodle developers through forums and help documents. Once the Moodle was installed, Mr. Bruce and Ms Vance were able to work on their class pages by adding modules that matched curricular needs and plans. Examples of available modules are forums, quizzes, lessons, polls, workshops, and blogs.

Due to the complexity of setting up the Moodle, Mr. Bruce and Ms Vance plan to pilot through January 2012 before opening the Moodle up for other middle school teachers to use. Ms. Vance will train interested teachers in a PLC (professional learning community) environment. Both Mr. Bruce and Ms Vance enjoyed the challenge and thrill of learning and implementing a new system, and both are excited about the possibilities this tool offers to the student-centered classroom. Feel free to view the St. Andrew’s Middle School Moodle at moodle.techcru.org.

Middle School Spanish Curriculum

Technology-Based Oral Practice

Jobe, Vance

Jessica Vance started by researching the available software and determining what would be the most effective tools to accomplish our goals for the project. She found a commercially available software called “Lingt” that is designed for use in the foreign language classroom to do the types of activities that we had envisioned. Next Jessica

familiarized herself with the “Lingt” software and learned how to use it to carry out the desired functions.

Rebecca Jobe started by developing a set of oral prompts aligned with the vocabulary and grammar presented in each chapter of the Exprésate textbook series covered in Spanish I-B. She then found native or near-native speakers to record those questions and chose which recordings to use in the final project.

Next, Jessica and Rebecca created assignments for the Spanish I-B class by uploading those recordings to the “Lingt” site. During the course of the year, Rebecca will direct students to these assignment and they will use them to continue strengthening their listening and speaking skills. These assignments can be found at:

www.lingtlanguage.com/rjobe

UPPER SCHOOL:

Secondary Science Curriculum

Science Faculty Retreat 6-12

Wick, Sexton, John, Andrews, Tucker, Osborne, Latreille, Campbell, Albach, Hall, Jones, McGhee

Teachers of science in grades 6-12 gathered at the Well Spring Retreat Center at the Wessendorff Ranch for four days in early June. The main goals for the retreat were to vertically align our curricula and to construct a skill building scope and sequence that gradually builds from year to year. We started with a discussion of the NSES science content standards for high school and compared them to our current course content. Although there are a few gaps, we were surprised to find how many of them we already cover. This allowed us to relax a bit; we had feared that in achieving depth and mastery in our courses we might have sacrificed coverage. Although there are some gaps (particularly in health and in astronomy), we were overall quite proud to cover as much as we do without giving in to rote memorization.

Although we seriously considered re-organizing the 10th and 11th grade sequence of Physics and Chemistry, we eventually concluded that our current arrangement served the kids best. We did rethink some of our Physics 1 content choices in order to make it lead more naturally into Chemistry 1. Also, a substantial revision of 7th and 8th grade content was laid out in broad outline and then refined at a later gathering of 6th-8th grade teachers.

The only discussion that we had to cut short was on the topic of "inquiry and science teaching." Time permitting, we will take up that thread in our department meetings in 2011-2012.

Mandarin Curriculum

Instructional Applications of Quizlet

Hou, Yang

What Was Learned:

We have learned the functions of quizlet.com. We practiced using the activities and games Quizlet provides and discovered how to create the decks efficiently.

Implications for Teaching:

Teachers of different subjects can use quizlet.com to create an interactive classroom. It is especially useful for a language classroom. Students can also use quizlet.com as a study resource, so they can be autonomous learners without solely relying on teacher’s instructions and textbooks.

Quality of the Experience:

The quality of the experience was great! We were delighted to share with our colleagues what we learned.

9^th Grade History Curriculum

Digital Tools & Research Skills

Kriese, Fitzsimons, Kountz, Jansen

The 9^th grade history faculty collaborated with Barbara Jansen (technology and library) on integrating our History curriculum with various technology and research methods. Our collaboration incorporated the wide range of 9^th history writing assignments with school technology skills and humanities department research curriculum. The work was done during a number of meetings where we collaborated on lessons that will be incorporated into this year’s curriculum. We went through each unit and specified goals and objectives and created plans to meet those objectives. With Barbara’s help we were able to include a number of technology- based lessons that will further the skill development of students in that area as well.

The work we did was very productive and will be a great help to all of us teaching history this year. The workshop will provide a more coordinated effort and united curriculum, as well as align departmental technology and research goals.

9^th Grade English Curriculum

Exploration of Mode, Audience, & Publication Format

Ebersole, Pomeroy, Jansen

This project aimed at incorporating different modes of writing into the 9^th grade curriculum. Although the 9^th grade English curriculum is rich in opportunities for students to critically analyze classic texts, we wanted to give students an opportunity to write in a more creative format, maintaining the mental rigor of critical thinking and analysis while expanding our students’ repertoire of written expression. We re-imagined our writing assignment for The Ramayana, creating an assignment that asks students to write in a fictional mode. Students will share their documents online, facilitating critical feedback and allowing students to share their writing with each other.

Latin Department

Development of SASLatin.org

Michaud, Luongo, Rist

This summer, Latin faculty Jennie Luongo, Andrew Rist, and Nathan Michaud continued work creating interactive online content for both curricular and extracurricular use. Jennie and Andrew focused their work on digesting advanced topical sources and creating section/chapter quizzes to be uploaded online. Andrew worked predominantly from The Meridian Handbook of Classical Mythology, while Jennie worked predominately from Allen and Greenough’s New Latin Grammar and Hadas’ A History of Latin Literature. We all also wrote certamen questions to be uploaded to our online database, accessible to students. Nathan focused his work on the podcasting component of the Latin department’s online work—learning to use podcast recording software Audacity, as well as editing and recording ten podcasts focused on Vocabulary acquisition. The department is looking forward to continuing to expand our podcast library and is planning grammar lessons, oral worksheets, and dramatic readings for future recording.

Chapel & Religious Studies Program

Development of Chapel Curriculum & Customary / Evaluation of Religious Studies Sequence

Leacock, Brandon

This summer chaplains Rob Leacock and Ashley Brandon worked together to create a Chapel Customary, to create a chapel curriculum for grades 1-12, and to look at possible changes to the Religious Studies academic course schedule. One of the many motivations to address these issues was a response to one of the Strategic Plan Objectives to “reinforce and communicate our Episcopal Identity through daily chapel, curriculum, and service opportunities […].” The Chapel Customary, which will be available to teachers, students, and families online, provides an overview of policies and procedures for daily chapel at St. Andrew's. A chapel curriculum was created which follows the seasons of the liturgical calendar, features readings from the Revised Common Lectionary, and addresses relevant themes and topics for each age group. Both of of these initiatives hope to create better consistency, clarity, and communication about the chapel program at St. Andrew's. Rob and Ashley also looked at possible improvements to the Religious Studies academic course schedule and created a new curriculum for the 7th grade trimester course in religion, which will now cover Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

Professional Development for Summer and September 2011:

Andrew Rist and Jenny Melanson both attended the Schools Attuned to All Kinds of Minds, 8/1-8/4, in Austin at St. Gabriel's. They also attended the ISAS Beginning Teachers Conference, 9/21-9/23, in Dallas.
Kristina Bishop attended the Texas Choral Directors Conference July 28-30 in San Antonio. She also attended Dalcroze Eurhythmics September 11 in Austin.
Jessica Michaud and Doug Eleby attended Responsive Classroom Training July 10-15 in Chicago.
Rebecca Kyriakides attended a 2-hour workshop at the Blanton Museum titled “Using Art as Communication in the Classroom" on Aug. 20. She also attended Dalcroze Eurhythmics Sept. 11 in Austin.
Dave Guidi attended the Texas Band Directors Association Convention 7/24-7/27 in San Antonio.
Jeff Osborne attended a week long AP Biology Workshop @ Texas A & M during the last week in June.
Lois Bentley attended the College Board AP Reading for AP Statistics exam June 2011 in Daytona Beach, Florida. She received 52 Professional Development Hours and 5.2 Continuing Educational Units.
Matt Kelly took an Italian I class at ACC June-July.
Vince Totero attended a Balfour Publishing Yearbook Workshop using Adobe InDesign July 25-28 at Baylor University.
Cindy Albach attended the All Kinds of Minds Workshop Aug. 1-5 at St. Gabriel’s.
Iris Plaxton attended an AP Computer Science Workshop 7/11-7/14 in Ft. Worth.
Elizabeth Guice attended a UCLA Counselors Information Session Sept. 23 in Austin.
Mary Kay Sexton attended Teach for Life-Nonviolent Communication for Teachers July 26-31 in Union, Washington.
Marsha Russell was a presenter at the AP Strategies AP Art History Workshop Sept. 27 in Dallas.
Kim Marie Suhr was a presenter at Austin Area Dyslexia Conference; Our Presentation was "The Sport of Handwriting" at Region XIII Educational Center in Austin on Sept. 22. She was also a presenter at “The Saturday Series: Phonics Plus” Workshop for New Teachers at Region XIII in Austin September 10. She attended the Gifted/Talented Institute – Models of Differentiated Instruction at Region XIII on June 29.
Michelle Roe attended the SHRM Essentials of HR Management July 22 & July 29 in Austin.
Tim McGhee attended an AP Government & Politics workshop at UT, July 23-27.
Chris McCoy attended the Des Moines Art Center summer exhibitions workshop August 12 in Des Moines Iowa and also the Frist Annual Fine Arts Fair September 17-18 in Houston.
Mike Kirkendall, Kama Bruce and Mercedes Osella attended an ISM Scheduling Without Conflict Conference June 26-July 2 in Wilmington, DE.
Ivy Hou presented and attended the CLTA-TX Conference on Aug. 27 in Dallas.
Colleen Kell completed an on-line workshop through SBEC “Inquiry-Based Learning Workshop” Aug. 14.
Courtney Itson visited the NEH, "Duke Ellington and American Popular Culture" June 26-July 2 in Fairfield, CT and New York City. She also visited the DFW Museum Forum July 25-29 in Dallas and Ft. Worth.
Mary Lynn Woodall attended the workshop "A World of Difference Institute: Diversity issues Facing K-12 School Communities" conducted by the Anti-Defamation League of Austin on June 17.
Claire Austin attended the ISAS Beginning Teacher Institute, Sept. 21-23 in Dallas.
Darrel Mayer attended a workshop “Intro to Dalcroze Eurhythmics” by David Frego Sept 11, in Austin.
Todd Stephenson and Doug Wick attended the ISM Conference “Chairing Your Department” July 17-20, in Wilmington, Delaware.

Professional Development for October 2011

Elizabeth Guice attended the Coast-to-Coast Counselors Breakfast with Dartmouth, Northwestern, Vanderbilt, Princeton, and UC Berkeley on Oct. 11 at Austin Renaissance Hotel.
Jeff McCrary attended the Texas Basketball Coaches’ Clinic October 16 at The University of Texas (Erwin Center).
Jim Heck participated in a Webinar: Building Crystal Reports Oct. 6-7 online.
Chris McCoy attended the Chinati Foundation Open House with guest artist Huroshi Sigumoto Oct. 7-10 in Marfa, TX.
Pam Craig attended and presented “The Sport of Handwriting” to new teachers at Region 13. She also attended the Austin Dyslexia Conference and presented in two sessions.
Perrin Shelton, KimMarie Suhr and Pam Craig attended a workshop titled “Differentiated Instruction” in early September at Region 13
Marsha Russell attended a one-day AP Art History Workshop October 15 in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Professional Development for November (2011)

Cap Brooks spent a week in Paris going to museums and galleries and exhibits, and a week in Provence visiting the sites of many famous paintings June 20- July 3.
Michael Rosensteel attended the TCDA (Texas Choral Director's Association) Conference July 28 & 29 in San Antonio.
Amy Harris attended a workshop at the University of New Mexico Suzuki Lab School October 20-22 in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Jim Currin, Rebecca Jobe, Kelly Edwards, and Sandy Flores attended TPRS (Total Physical Response Storytelling) Training October 27-28 in Irving, Texas.
Dan Dickey, Priya John, Bullard Jones, and Jennie Andrews went on a MS Science/Big Bend Field Trip Oct. 21-24. It was led by Sr. Dickey to prepare new MS Science faculty for the Big Bend trip in March 2012.
Jennie Luongo, Lauren Dill, Nathan Michaud, and Andrew Rist attended the Texas Classical Latin Association Annual Fall Conference 11/11-11/12 at Baylor University in Waco.
Rick Garcia led the Maestro Intensive Directing Seminar Nov 4-6, Nov 11-13, Dec. 2-4, Dec. 9-11 at Eastwood Hill B&B in San Marcos, TX.
Michelle Roe and Karen Cowan attended the ISAS Business Officers Conference in Austin on Oct. 20. They also hosted a dinner for all the attendees.
Kristina Bishop attended “Improvisation: Carpe Diem!” presented by Julie Scott to the Central Texas Chapter of the American Orff-Schulwerk Association on October 29 at Trinity University in San Antonio.
Chris McCoy attended the Houston Contemporary Art Fair, October 28-30 in Houston.
Josh Nelson and Robert Kauffman attended the “Learning and the Brain Conference” in Boston, November 18-20.

Professional Development for December & January (2011-2012)

Laura Longoria attended the NIAAA Conference (National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association) in Dec. in Indianapolis, IN.
Sandra Burnside, Jimmy Agnew, Jessica Nottingham, Jessica Michaud, KimMarie Suhr, and Pam Craig attended a Differentiated Math Instruction Workshop in January in Austin.
Elizabeth Williams attended a training on wellness and sexual health in Temple on Jan. 25. This was in preparation for the Human Development class she is teaching to the sophomores at the US in February.
On January 4, KimMarie Suhr, Pam Craig, and Mary Whitaker participated in Learning Ally (formerly Reading for the Blind and Dyslexic), a phone-in webinar on the use of audio books.
Kristina Bishop participated in a workshop by the Central Texas Orff Chapter of the American Orff Schulwerk Association on January 21at Trinity University.
Jennifer Melanson completed two courses (6hrs) towards her MA in History at UT.
In December, Pam Lawder, Nancy Keasler, Mary Lynn Woodall, and Colleen Lynch attended a workshop titled “Mean Girls” in Austin.
Colleen Lynch took and completed two graduate classes this fall: School Law and Teacher Supervision.
Laura Milton is currently taking 1 course at Drexel University, working towards her MED in Global and International Education.
Tan-wen Ivy Hou attended a workshop in Houston for Chinese Language Teachers on Jan. 21.

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