What happens on Fridays when the halls are quiet and the last of the students have been picked up after early dismissal? That is the time when we invest back into our faculty and staff through professional development.
Experts tell us that investment in the professional development of the educator is one of the very best ways to see improvement in student achievement.
As with our student learning, we are making great strides toward continuous improvement in professional development of our faculty and staff as well. Some of our areas of focus each and every month will include:
- Focused professional development sessions. These sessions might cover teaching techniques, technology usage, classroom management and more. We have a new online evaluation system that will allow us, over time, to target the needs of the faculty when planning these sessions.The sessions might be conducted by our own staff or by outside experts. In fact, we have already had outside experts from Summit Ministries, Bob Jones Math and Shurley Grammar on campus and we are scheduled to have professors from Louisiana College here soon.
- Biblical worldview development for all faculty and staff. All faculty and staff will participate in readings and discussions aimed at improving knowledge and understanding of the principles of our faith and how it applies to the work done on campus every day.
- Collaborative time for faculty. During these times we might have department meetings, grade level meetings, vertical meetings where we coordinate teaching across grade levels, committee meetings, and more. These collaborative sessions among teachers on both campuses are important to ensure continuity and alignment between teachers and grade levels. They also help to identify holes or blind spots that need improvement.
- Division meetings. These are times when each division (upper school, preschool, etc.) conducts business specific to their specific area and the faculty can look ahead toward important events.
FAITH AND WORLDVIEW DISCUSSIONS
I am enthusiastic about the focused faith and worldview discussions planned for both our faculty and staff and already happening in our classrooms.
As
Christians, we commonly throw
around a lot of religious terms. However, we may all have various meanings or understandings for the same words. By reading common books and having common discussions, our fac
ulty and students can have a common understanding of the basic points of our faith and worldview.
I want to bring this discussion to you, too!
I will define "worldview," discuss how worldviews are developed, and discuss major differences among the major worldviews. This is an important aspect of what our students learn in Bible and apply in every other class. Let's make sure we are all on the same page. I look forward to seeing many of you in Opelousas on September 6th and in Lafayette on September 13th (8:00-8:40 AM in the library of each campus).
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