Professional Development

The Professional Development Department is committed to coordinating efforts to provide daily opportunities for training and support for our SCSD Staff that would help them to maintain continuity in communication and learning for our SCSD Students & Families during the Covid19 Pandemic & beyond. The following is a summary report of that work for the past two calendar months.

The following professional learning offerings were available to staff

• Best Practices in Blended Learning Environments

• Choose Your Text: A Collaborative Book Study About Being Antiracist
• Content Area PD by Grade Level
• CTE District PD
• Delta Math
• DreamBox
• Explore Your Digital Content Asynchronous
• Fuse Face to Face
• PL- Change Agent 101, 102, 103
• PL- Connection Coordinator 101, 102, and 103
• PL- Core 4 Captain Series 101, 102, 103
• PL- Management Master 101: Effective Management Strategies to Promote Student Engagement
• ENL 101-Accountability Under ESSA
• ENL 102 Data Analysis & Accountability Under ESSA
• ENL 104 An Introduction to ELLevation
• ENL 201-Unlocking English Language Learners Potential
• ENL 204 -Culturally Responsive Teaching for Multilingual Learners
• ENL 303 Difference or Disability
• ENL 304 Leveraging Cultural and Linguistic Diversity for Academic Achievement
• ENL 305 Cultural Etiquette and Greetings
• ENL 306 Refugee Deep Dive: Understanding Refugee Students

Positive Feedback Quotes - February/March

• Engaging in changes we could do based on our lessons.
• Using the rubric to evaluate our current practices and how we could change to be more flexible with pace and choice.
  
• Taking this class led me to create a student tracker/playlist.
• It was so helpful that this PD session was really about answering my own questions!
• It gave me the tools and the time to explore resources deeper than I have before.
• The small group work was the most helpful and enjoyable.
• Getting to talk about sections of the book that we liked or that resonated with us instead of just answering cookie-cutter questions
• This session gave us a lot of time, fair time, to read sections and complete coursework in the allotted time frame. It was nice to work in groups where people were reading the same book, but just as nice having break out rooms with people with another book.
• Opportunity to learn and grow.
• Personally, I think that the hybrid model was the most helpful part of this course.
• I liked having 4-5 meetings because I really loved the discussions and hearing from other group members, but I also liked the flexibility to be able to do work on my own and engage in online discussions.
• I think that this will be very beneficial for me to structure my course assignments with this kind of student tracker/playlist.
• It was helpful to go over the differences between the new and old core 4. I like talking about the difference between personalized vs. Personalizing
• I appreciated how the theories of personalized learning are evolving because that is what personalized learning is all about.
• Reflective of my own instruction comparing new knowledge to previous knowledge of core 4 and personalizing learning
• Very helpful information to assist in classroom instructions.
• More experienced teachers sharing strategies and tools available to new teachers.
• The most helpful thing about this session is that we were able to check in with other ENL teachers in the district and learn about what applications they are using to make their materials.
• It gave me time to plan my unit and see where I want to spend more time and take less time in the unit.
• Very to the point and not dragged on. Provided us with resources to give us time to digest what we are looking at. Especially as a new employee in Syracuse City, it is greatly appreciated.
• Great Course content, design and pacing. Activities are relevant and meaningful.
• Independent work time, helpful resources, choices embedded in work time, small group discussions
• I thought it was really helpful to look at both Core 4s and complete the Venn Diagram about them really showed the improvements that were made.
• Great information and very useful to help our students advance. Also, the set-up - learn, engage, work, collaborate, debrief and next steps.
• I love how you provide time for coaches to come in and work with individuals! Great Job!!!

Constructive Feedback Quotes - February/March

• I would rather collaborate with peers through a verbal discussion than on canvas.
• Additional time and other PD.
• More deep discussions about culture, schools, and our roles as educators
• Give us more time to be able to dive into the unit ourselves. Everyone is going to teach it a different way so if you just gave us the pacing guide let us look through it and go through it on our own time.
• Having some of the documents before our meeting just so I could've reviewed them before break.
• I would love to see more online videos about it during PD.
• More workshops where we can talk with other teachers and just talk about what is working in our classrooms.
• Do these book studies in person
• More sessions for chatting. The conversations are very strong and helpful.
• Additional opportunities to further our knowledge and understanding to grow as people and educators.
• More book studies with a similar format to this.
• It would be great if you could continue offering these so that we could explore additional titles!

Each month we will be highlighting the coaches and lead teachers in one or more buildings doing amazing things in the District. The spotlight school is:

Henninger High School

Disciplinary Literacy Coach

Professional Superpower: Dedication

Most rewarding part of the job: Supporting all of the hard working teachers in the building and district.

Positive impact my work has on staff and students: Post-Covid has been harder than any of us could have imagined. My goal is to help teachers and students bring back the joy and passion in teaching and learning.

Something special about my school community: Henninger is a family. These are unprecedented times, but the Henninger staff has continuously bounced back, supported each other, and moved forward.

Mathematics Lead Teacher

Professional Superpower: Upbeat and good-hearted

Most rewarding part of the job: The most rewarding work I do is to help to build positive relationships between staff and students.

Positive impact my work has on staff and students: The things I do help students gain confidence and take on academic challenges where they find multiple forms of success.

Something special about my school community: The Henninger community is resilient!

Science Lead Teacher

Professional Superpower: compassionate and patient

Most rewarding part of the job: Helping students realize their full potential and watching them walk the stage.

Positive impact my work has on staff and students: My work helps us to meet the students' needs both inside and outside the classroom.

Something special about my school community: Henninger has a strong sense of community and is like second family to many staff and students.

Fuse Syracuse (SyraFuse) strives to implement and scale personalized and blended learning across the Syracuse City School District by creating and training teacher leaders as change agents. The Fuse Syracuse initiative recruits a group of educators called Fuse Fellows for a 1-year fellowship. Fellows will be trained on personalized learning models and best practices, blended learning tools and strategies, coached on classroom implementation, and supported to establish their own “Lighthouse Classroom” to serve as a model of personalized and blended instruction in their building and district.

Fuse Fellows are passionate, curious innovators in their schools who model a growth mindset, and are open to trying new things and taking their practice to the next level. They are natural change agents for their schools, and welcome the opportunity to advance the field through their own leadership and instructional innovation. We are now working with cohort 6 of the fellowship!

Teacher & SyraFuse Cohort 6 Fellow

Professional Superpower:

Most rewarding part of the job:

Positive impact my work has on staff and students:

Something special about my school community:

Teacher & SyraFuse Cohort 6 Fellow

Professional Superpower: Patience

Most rewarding part of the job: It is extremely rewarding interacting with students and witnessing their personalities shining through as their abilities to express themselves develop.

Positive impact my work has on staff and students: My work positively impacts students and staff through open conversations around students' needs and helping them achieve personal goals.

Something special about my school community: Our school community has a great heart and sense of humor.

The Impact Team uses a Dialogical Coaching model. This model of coaching balances advocacy with inquiry to foster improvement. Both the coach and teachers are experts and learners. The dialogical coach uses both powerful questions and shares strategies within the Impact Cycle to help the teacher reach a personally set goal based on the classroom’s current reality. The metaphor is the coach and teacher as equal partners. This confidential partnership is entirely focused on making it easier for teachers to meet the needs of their students.

• Being an impact coach has opened my eyes to what hard work and dedicated teachers we have in our district. There is nothing more rewarding than working with teachers to help inspire their students to achieve their goals while also pushing themselves in ways they never thought possible. (Kristen Duffy)

• As an Impact Coach, I have been welcomed into many classrooms across the district from elementary to high school. I love working with different areas of expertise, but within that, I have been challenged to explore and develop new strategies to support student learning. Without the willingness of these teachers (and their students!), I wouldn't be able to try out or share strategies that work with other teachers and our population across the district. (Stacey Marsh)
  

• I was coaching a teacher at one school whose students were struggling at their independent stations. We talked about creating individual, visual checklists for students, but we were still trying to figure out where to keep them. I visited another classroom where the students had individual checklists on their desks, in name tag sleeves. They could easily be switched out and students could use expo markers to check off tasks. I asked the teacher where she found them because I thought the other teacher would love them. She told me she got them at Target and went into her closet and grabbed two packs for me. She insisted I give them to the other teacher because it had helped her students so much. Even though she didn't know the other teacher or even which school the other teacher worked at, she insisted I bring them to her. SCSD is filled with creative, smart, thoughtful, generous teachers who want to support and teach ALL students! (Maureen Gridley)
  

• I feel like I learn so many new things from the incredible experiences and areas of expertise of our Impact Coach team on a daily basis. It is hard to choose just one moment! An example would be working with Liz Hartnett this fall in an elementary SpEd room. Her ability to make connections and build relationships with the teachers she is coaching is amazing. She puts the teachers at ease and guides them forward with such finesse. Liz also taught me the what, why and how of visual agendas, an incredible tool to help students and staff know what to expect and stay on task throughout the day! (Laurie LeFever)
  

• After several cycles, I was struggling to offer solutions to a teacher. I asked Kristin to assist and her approach gave me such insight. She reminded me that one's current reality is constantly shifting and it is important to ground our work in that. I appreciate working with teachers who are willing to engage deeply in their work and having a team of colleagues with diverse expertise on whom to rely. (Carrie Wolfanger)
  

• For me, one of my favorite parts of being an Impact Coach is the Fuse Fellowship. Working with teachers across the district as they develop new and innovative ways to reach their students as individuals is rewarding for all involved. The hard work they do everyday, is seen by many and makes these individuals wonderful leaders for those in their buildings and across the district! (Amber McKay)
  

• To date I have had so many enlightening moments as an Impact Coach working with our district’s teachers but my most memorable moment was when I was working with a self- contained teacher implementing station rotations. The students had lacked independence with material management , transitions and work completion however, with the right visual supports and structures in place we were able to roll out small group rotations in a timely and productive manner. The students and staff were so happy about the work being completed and the flow of the instruction, we celebrated this success with treats for students and staff. It has been such an honor and privilege to work with our district’s teachers and students in this role. Both students and staff have been welcoming and enthusiastic about working together to meet our goals. At each instructional level I have experienced so many great lessons and participated in many authentic activities. (Elizabeth Hartnett)

Impact Coach Office Hours: Need a bit of extra help to think through a plan for instruction? Seeking support with a digital tool? Sign up for a 20 minute PL support session with an Impact Coach: Monday-Thursday 8AM-5PM and Friday 8AM-3PM. By the time your session ends, you will have a plan and/or a completed task!

• 2021-22 Volume #1
• 2021 -22 Volume #2

Director of Professional Development
Syracuse City School District

Email: mtezuka@scsd.us
Website: http://www.syracusecityschools.com/districtpage.cfm?pageid=585
Location: 1005 West Fayette Street, Syracuse, New York 13204, USA
Phone: (315) 435-6358
Twitter: @SCSDPL