Courtesy of LGSUHSD
During staff development days, teachers share ideas and strategies to strengthen student learning.
To students, the twice-yearly staff development days in October and March are a welcome break from the grind of school — a time to sleep in, catch up on work or take a bike ride. However, while students are relaxing away from campus, teachers and other staff members are hard at work trying to improve as educators.
Staff development days give teachers the chance to collaborate and learn about initiatives that the district is focusing on. Over these two days, teachers strive to help reach the vision identified in the LGSUHSD strategic plan, a 10-year plan from 2023 that outlines what the district hopes to accomplish and how they will achieve their goals.
But the impact of these days goes far beyond the one-time agenda; they spark ongoing work — from refining curriculum and aligning assessments to improving accessibility and instruction for all learners.
Collaboration leads to practical changes in teaching and assessment
Staff development days sometimes aim to help teachers keep pace with current academic trends. In recent years, a couple of days were mostly devoted to examining AI and discussing how to utilize AI positively while rooting out the negative aspects of it such as rampant cheating. For AI, education experts spoke at both campuses and tried to deliver a hopeful message about the changing landscape for schools.
Also, in the past, teachers have collaborated to implement new nationwide Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and National Science Standards.
Departments refine curriculum through essential learning outcomes and inclusive instruction
The staff’s focus for the past two years has been to adopt and identify Essential Learning Outcomes (ELO) for each class. The goal is that all courses can have a standardized list of what students must learn and achieve over the school year. The district hopes that having more clearly defined learning goals in each course can enhance students’ experiences by ensuring they learn relevant and necessary skills even when those classes are taught by different teachers.
English department chair Amy Keys said the English department has been developing ELOs for each class for a long time. In order to verify that teachers have been teaching based on the ELOs effectively, the English department uses the fall and spring writing assessments that freshmen, sophomores and juniors take.
“The writing assessments are essentially backwards planning from Essential Learning Outcomes. After identifying ELOs for each class, we design an assessment if we want them to be able to execute a specific skill by a date,” Keys said.
Keys also believes that in order for ELOs to be effective among classes, teachers make sure not only ELOs align with classes in the same grade level, but with classes in future years so that students can grow each year.
For the math department, teachers collaborate regularly to fine-tune ELOs for each course, which, according to math department chair Kristin Hamilton, can take years to finalize.
For example, the math teachers used new textbooks for Algebra 1, Geometry and Algebra 2 this year. Hamilton said the math teachers are planning to meet a week before finals to make a few tweaks to their ELOs for next year.
Hamilton noted that in deciding course curricula, teachers must tread a fine line balancing the rigor between regular, honors and AP level courses, contributing to the detailed process they take in making ELOs.
Another initiative that all staff are working on is a movement called Universal Design for Learning, which aims to help teachers to design instruction in a way that is accessible for all students, including those with language barriers or learning disabilities. This design approach recognizes the diversity of learners and helps teachers design more accessible lessons.
Within the math department, teachers have discussed ideas to offer students other ways of absorbing complicated information through methods such as annotations and video notes, which are essentially the teacher’s notes taken during class and recorded lectures during class. Hamilton said additional resources like these will especially benefit those who learn through repetition or have learning disabilities and may not be able to take notes in class.
Teachers balance standardization with individual teaching styles
On many staff development days, each department meets as a team or in course-alike smaller groups.
Hamilton said that while math teachers share spreadsheets with course details like grading and homework policies, each teacher has a unique teaching style that influences their emphasis on concepts and assessments. She acknowledged student concerns about standardization but emphasized that it’s unrealistic to expect identical tests and quizzes from every teacher.
Anatomy and Physiology and P.E.teacher Kris Orre is one of the district’s two Teachers on Special Assignment (TOSA) and is deeply involved in planning development days. He said one of the biggest challenges for the days is personalizing professional developments for every teacher.
“Like students, teachers are also unique learners who have inherent needs and preferences in how they learn,” Orre said. “Teachers have different understanding and motivations. The department chairs and I work around staff development days to have more freedom and collaborative work.”
Orre said staff development days are essential for fostering collaboration among teachers, and sharing their experiences helps foster long-term growth.
“Teachers share their successes and challenges, and they are able to find appropriate solutions for the challenges that they face,” Orre said. “Applying new ideas to ourselves and reflecting on them in our lives makes us better teachers.”
