The Department of Teaching and Learning is proud to share the 2010-2011 District goals.  Through a collaborative culture and shared leadership, highly effective teams will utilize data to implement a five-day writing program for all learners to develop effective composition mastering appropriate grade level skills in focus, support/elaboration, organization, integration, and voice.  Teachers will continue to develop strategies to personalize learning for the whole child, and teachers will further enhance and expand learner-centered environments incorporating modern information and communication technologies.  Keeping these goals in mind, professional development has been created and will continue throughout the year to support teachers in reaching these District goals.


Language Arts Professional Development Opportunities

District 102 is progressing in their use of MYAccess®!, an on-line writing tool helping to take our students into the 21Century.  By using MY Access®! In the classroom, teachers can provide students with the practice they need to improve their writing skills. The program's powerful scoring engine grades students' essays instantly and provides targeted feedback, freeing teachers from grading thousands of papers by hand and giving them more time to differentiated instruction and individualize the learning environment. With MY Access®!, students are motivated to write more and attain higher scores on statewide writing assessments. All teachers who are instructors of writing, in grades 4-8, will participate in further training this school year and continue with training for the next several years.



We are also building the leadership capacity of our own teachers to lead in the area of writing. We have selected some of our talented teachers to participate in a 6 + 1Traits ® Writing Assessment for Trainers Institute in Chicago.  This core group of trainers will then provide staff development to all teachers on the 6 + 1 Writing Trait Model, writing in the teaching-learning cycle, and how the cycle relates to balanced literacy. They will also instruct on student goal setting, providing family support, and lesson planning.  Institute days as well as building professional development will focus on the 5-Day Writing Model, UbD units, writing rubrics, as well as concept lessons for the 6 + 1 Trait.


Personalizing Learning For the Whole Child


Beginning with Summer Academy in June, and continuing this school year, teachers will have an opportunity to participate in professional development on differentiation.  We will continue to utilize our own talented staff for different offerings like Best Practices for ELL Students, Differentiation for All Learners, and Differentiation for Talented Students. We also plan to continue supporting Tier I Social Emotional Learning through professional development from the Division of Teaching and Learning.


We have several teachers and administrators that will participate in professional development using the on-line tool ASCEND. This is an intervention program that is used for students that are in RtI (Response to Intervention) for math services. The purpose of this program is to benchmark students’ abilities, discover their area(s) of weakness, and provide specific corrective instruction. The goal is to accelerate learning to diminish the discrepancy between the student’s skill and expected skill level.


We also have a district-wide in-service for all teachers and administration sponsored by Loyola University’s Chicagoland Partners for English Language Learners (CPELL). The CPELL program is dedicated to creating effective teacher leaders in multicultural, multilingual schools. Due to many of our teachers participating in their Master’s program, our district is offered professional development to help build all teachers’ aptitude for working with ELL students.


21 Century Learning~ Transformative Learning Environments


Classrooms in District 102 continue to be state of the art learning environments. Many rooms are equipped with technology carts that come standard with a VCR/DVD player, a projector, document camera, and speakers. All rooms have white boards, multiple multimedia computers, and TVs. We are pleased to support the initiative of providing Promethean Interactive White Boards in all elementary classrooms this next year.

To support the new technology, we have a cadre of D102 local trainers who participated in an intensive three-day training this past spring designed to create a group of local trainers for the District. Starting in the spring of 2010, the cadre created several courses designed to build the capacity of teachers in D102. Starting in Summer Academy and continuing throughout the school year, teachers have the opportunity to attend many levels of training on Promethean. Some professional development classes are Promethean Essentials Beginners, Promethean Essentials Intermediate, Promethean Advanced, and Promethean Ancillary Equipment. We also offered Social Emotional Training and Math training using the Promethean board.

Other 21Centry Professional Development courses are Wikis, Blogs, and More; 21 Century Communication, where staff has the opportunity to learn how to create wikis and blogs and implement the tool with students, as well as Digital Literacy, how to transform and deliver curriculum in new ways. The course gives attendees practical activities to bring back to their classroom to infuse their teaching with 21st Century skills. Another course, Photos and “Philm,” helps teachers refine their use of importing and organizing digital media for use with students. It also explores the use of iPads with students and digital media. We also offer Informational Literacy, which educates teachers on the how to access information efficiently and effectively, evaluate information critically and competently, and helps teachers understand the ethical and legal issues surrounding the access and use of information. Another class that infuses technology and curriculum is Literacy Expands: Multiliteracies in the 21-Century Classroom. This class meets the needs of students, recognizing they are mulit-literate. The Course examines curriculum and instruction practices and identifies openings for critical engagements. Common classroom practices that are examined are community building; interactive read aloud, interest groups and drama. The course also examines social networking tools like wikis and blogs, with special interest given to 6+1 Traits of writing.

We have also worked with outside consultants to discover ways to transform student learning in classrooms using rich media sources available through Discovery Education (DE) Streaming. We explore the benefits of joining the Discovery Educator Network, and work to become a STAR Educator. As well as offering a new strand of professional development provided for by some of our talented staff.


Mentoring and Induction Program

District 102 is in its third year of a State-approved mentoring program. Aptakisic-Tripp school district recognizes the importance of entry-year support as a significant bridge to professional practice.  Our mentoring program offers professional development for the mentor teachers as well as new teachers.  Our conceptually developed mentoring program focuses on the qualities of mentoring, commitments, roles, and responsibility through several meetings throughout the school year.   Mentors work with new teachers to develop individual plans for new teachers and create mentor logs that reflect formal and informal meetings between the mentor/mentee.


New teachers participate in monthly meetings comprised of topics that have been determined to be high value to a District 102 teacher.  The professional development topics for the school year are, working with ELL, RtI, and special education students, student assessment and grading, communication and conferences, 6 Traits Writing, ISAT preparation, and record’s day procedures. New teachers will also have the opportunity to develop a collegial relationship with other mentors through activities at each meeting as well as participate in any other professional development provided at D102.

For more information on Summer Academy offerings please read the attached brochure. The second session of Summer Academy will begin the week of August 2.