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Spring 2008
Things are moving quickly at Southside School. Our students are putting in tremendous effort, and our programs and offerings are expanding to meet the needs of our students. It’s a great time to be a Bobcat! Teachers Assisting Teachers We are very excited about a new professional development program that we have begun here at Southside. As part of our continuous improvement efforts, our teachers are striving to seek out every method and strategy possible to reach all students with their learning. It is in this spirit that we have begun the Teachers Assisting Teachers program. Each teacher has been paired with a colleague to examine their instructional practices and the levels of student learning in their classrooms. Substitute teachers come in and cover one period of a teacher’s class so that the teacher may go and observe their colleague teaching a lesson. They gather information, make observations, and form suggestions as to the factors in the classroom that promote student success, and the factors that could be adjusted to maximize the student learning. These two teachers then get together and share what they observed. Later in the month, the teachers reverse their roles and the observer now becomes the person being observed. This method of peer coaching is firmly rooted in research and is one of the most effective means of sharing ideas and supporting each other in our quest to improve the learning of all students. It allows for conversations between grade levels and minimizes that amount of time that a teacher is out of the classroom for professional development. New Reading Program Our new reading curriculum has challenged our students
with robust vocabulary and a high level of rigor. This new curriculum,
combined with a doubling of the amount of time that we are spending on
reading instruction is paying off for our students. We are excited at
the growth and progress that we are seeing. In the field of mathematics,
we currently have teachers from each grade level team, representing our
school on the Mason County Math Committee. Middle School TREK Program Our middle school TREK program is also proving to be a huge hit with students. Children in grades 5-7 are learning valuable team building and sportsmanship skills through intramural sports. They are also working hard and having fun in the TREK program’s music, drama, and “Go” classes. These new additional programs have even generated after school options for our students. Mrs. Bennington is now offering an after school “Go” club on Wednesdays.! As always if you have any questions, or you just want to chat about the school, please feel free to give me a call. Sincerely, Tim Garchow |
161
SE Collier Road ‚ Shelton, WA 98584 | phone (360) 426-8437 Fax (360)
426-9970 |
