Teachers at Questar III’s Sackett Educational Center went back to school this summer – a learning experience that continues today.
Sackett was one of only 7 schools in the country selected to participate in a grant-funded literacy initiative with the Collaboratory for Adolescent Literacy Leaders (CALL) by the Education Alliance at Brown University.
The goal of this professional development program is to improve classroom instruction and student achievement by integrating research-based literacy strategies and building teacher-level leadership.
Teachers at the Schodack-based school are now implementing what they learned at a week-long training held at Brown University over the summer.
At this time, they were introduced to a framework developed by Brown that draws from research in cognitive psychology, linguistics, education, ELA, second language acquisition, and reading.
Teachers returned from Providence, RI excited to start the new school year.
“This is meaningful. It fits in nicely with what’s happening with the Common Core Learning Standards and the focus on literacy,” said Teacher Mary Bean. “In the end, these strategies will help us individually and as a high school.”
Collaboration with other teachers, both in-person and online, is a critical part of this learning experience.
Each week, Sackett teachers are required to meet together for 3 hours prior to the start of school. Additionally, they will observe each other’s classrooms and connect online with other content teachers across the country on a weekly basis.
Individually, teachers will also monitor their progress as part of personal and group reflections.
“This process has been amazing for the teachers,” said Literacy Specialist Carmella Prusko, who serves as the team leader. “We’re excited to see the impact on students.”
The impact will extend beyond the classrooms at Sackett. Next year, teachers – a group that also includes Joal Bova, Christine Carioto and Christine Miller – will train a second team of literacy leaders.
Bean and Prusko both think this initiative will serve as a model for their colleagues.
“It’s a learning experience and I’m happy to be part of it,” said Prusko.
Bean agrees. “This will help me do my job better,” she said.
For more information, please visit www.alliance.brown.edu/collaboratory.
