What Are Teachers Learning During Professional Development Days?

Teachers in districts all across the state and country are not only required to continue their professional learning, but are generally eager to do so. In the Grosse Pointe Public School System (GPPSS), the district calendar provides for a number of scheduled opportunities for teachers and support staff to learn about a wide variety of topics related to instruction and learning. Many of these learning opportunities take place during the teachers' personal times, such as after school hours and in the summer, while a few take place during the school day during which students are not scheduled or during which teachers are released from instruction. Teachers also use personal time to work on post-graduate courses and degrees, do professional readings, and attend seminars, workshops, and conferences.



In addition to enhancing their set of own instructional skills, another of the essential components of an outstanding school district such as GPPSS is that our professional staff continues to review and make recommendations to the Board of Education for revisions to the curriculums. Our district does curriculum revisions on a continuous rotating basis, typically every five years for the core curriculum areas. For example, in the past few years, our district has revised and implemented new curriculums and materials in Language Arts, Science, Math, and Social Studies as well as in a number of other curriculum areas. In addition to devoting their time and expertise to these curriculum revisions, the subsequent impact of this upon elementary teachers is that they must become familiar with new curriculum content and student learning expectations in a number of areas within a very short period of time in order to continue and improve the level of student learning that is expected of students in the Grosse Pointe Public School System. This also means that teachers must quickly become adept as using new curriculum materials, such as text books, student assessments, and other instructional materials.



This past year, GPPSS teachers at the K-5 level have been focusing extensively on the new Math materials. The materials for Kindergarten are from the Harcourt program, while Grades 1-5 are from the Everyday Math program, in which students are taught to approach problem solving and computation in ways that are new to most teachers and students alike. This has required that teachers continue to attend workshops and professional learning opportunities throughout the school year to become proficient in using the materials and in presenting the lessons so that students can learn effectively.



While that may not sound too difficult to the casual reader, one must consider that these same teachers must also continue learning more about the other curriculum areas that have been revised and implemented in the past few years since, unlike teachers at the middle or high school levels, they are responsible for teaching all subjects.



The district understands that often, these half-days or full-days can create some childcare issues for certain families during the school year. Nonetheless, we trust that most parents understand the importance of teachers continuing their professional learning to enhance the learning of their students. We also try to minimize the amount of time that teachers are excused from instructional days, during which substitute teachers are hired to teach their classes, as we always seek to have the most highly qualified teachers working with our students.

We appreciate the patience and cooperation of our parents in supporting our outstanding, dedicated teachers as they continuously add to their instructional knowledge, skills, and strategies in order to bring the best instructional practices into their classrooms, with the ultimate benefit being improved learning for your child(ren). Thank you!

Parent-Teacher Conferences

Parent-Teacher Conferences will follow a somewhat new schedule this school year. In addition to the afternoon and evening sessions, we have added a morning session. The purpose for this is two-fold: to provide an opportunity for those parents to attend for whom a morning session works best and to better balance the number of instructional days between the AM and PM Kindergarten sections. To accomplish this, the traditional number of afternoon sessions has been reduced and a morning session has been added.

Students will continue to be involved in the conferences in most instances, but the amount of their involvement is determined by the individual teacher to best meet their goals for the conferences. Teachers also try to provide some time with the parent to speak privately without the student present. The difficulty lies in the schedule - we only have about 20 minutes per conference allotted due to the number of conferences that each teacher must accommodate in the 4 sessions. We truly appreciate your cooperation with being on time and respecting the time that the teacher has available for your child's conference. If you feel that you need more time to meet with the teacher following the conference, please schedule an additional meeting with him/her at a mutually convenient time. Our goal is to meet your needs for information about your child as well as to work with you in meeting your child's educational needs. We know that this can only be accomplished through open and frequent communication.

The schedule for the November Parent-Teacher (Student-Involved) Conferences is:

• Thurs., Nov. 6 AM School Only P-T Conferences 12:30-3:30 & 5:00-8:00
• Thurs., Nov. 13 PM School Only P-T Conferences 8:30-11:30 & 5:00-8:00

We look forward to meeting with you for the mutual benefit of your child. Please leave younger siblings home so that you can devote your full attention to your child's conference. Thank you.

Back to School for Parents

All of the Defer Elementary School students have been in school now for about one week. They have navigated the hallways, placed their names on their learning materials and organized them into their desks, cubbies, or lockers and have started to become familiar with their new daily schedules.

Now it is their PARENTS' turn to come to school! We would like to remind you that next Tuesday, September 16 is "Back to School Night". This is a parents-only activity designed to help all of our Defer parents become more familiar with their child(ren)'s classrooms, teachers, and curriculum expectations. In addition, we will be providing a brief overview of our new PBS (Positive Behavior Support) program at the start of the evening.

The evening begins promptly at 7:00 p.m. in the Defer Gym. Following the introduction of the teaching staff, we will have a brief power point presentation on the PBS program, after which Mrs. Michele Bauer (your PTO President) will address the parents regarding our outstanding Defer PTO.

Parents will then head off in various directions to visit their child(ren)'s classrooms. Two sessions will be provided in order to give parents the opportunity to visit multiple teachers. Specials teachers and professional support staff members will be on hand in the Gym to greet you along with refreshments provided the PTO.

Please refer to the Back to School Night flyer that you picked up on August 26 or 27 when you received your child's placement information, or call the Defer Office at 432-4000 if you have any questions. Please do not bring children to this activity. Thank you for your cooperation.

We are looking forward to seeing each one of our Defer parents at 7:00 p.m. on September 16 in the Defer Gym. Remember, you are the most important person in your child(ren)'s education and we are looking forward to working with you as partners in their learning.

Welcome to "Wardie's Words"

Welcome to my blog! I have decided to begin using this blog as another opportunity to communicate with Defer parents and guardians in an effort to provide you with current and relevant information on a variety of topics throughout the year. My hope is that you will visit the blog often or better yet subscribe to it in order to receive it automatically.

I welcome your feedback and comments at any time.

The building has been humming with activity as the custodial and office staffs have been completing their work in order to get the school ready for students on the first day of school on Wednesday, Sept. 3. A number of teachers have been in recently, anxious to get their classrooms and materials ready for their students.

The office staff will be sending a postcard reminder early next week to the parents of all enrolled students, reminding them of the Aug. 26 and 27 times to pick up their child’s packet of information, including their teacher assignment. PTO members will be giving out the packets in the hallway outside the office both days between 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m.

Two sessions are being held to welcome new Defer families. The first will be at 7:00 p.m. on Tues., Aug. 26 and the other will be at 9:00 a.m. on Wed., Aug. 27. We wish to invite any new Defer students and their families to this informal, informative gathering. We will meet in the Gym on the main (second) floor.

If you or someone you know has a prospective student who is not yet enrolled, please encourage them to do so by calling the District Enrollment Office at 432-3083 to make an appointment. It is extremely important to do this as soon as possible to assist us in our classroom placements.

The first day of school will be a half-day only, in the AM from 8:25-11:34 a.m. AM and PM Kindergarten students will both attend that morning on a reduced schedule. All of this information will be in your child’s packet when you pick it up on Aug. 26 or 27.

I am looking forward to seeing you and your children soon and working in partnership with you throughout the school year.