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Tag-Team Teaching
C-T Photo/Laura Schuler The old proverb, “Two heads are better than one,” has special meaning for the teachers in the Chillicothe R-2 School District because it describes the district’s philosophy of instruction in the classroom. The district has been operating with Professional Learning Communities for three years and, during that time, the shift toward teacher collaboration is not only evident, but in full swing at each of the school district’s student population centers. “It used to be that teachers taught in isolation,” said R-2 Superintendent Dr. Linda Gray Smith. She noted that before PLCs, teachers walked into their classrooms, closed the doors and either “swam very well or they sunk.” “By working together, you get the best minds to meet the needs of the kids,” Smith explained. Katherine Gibson and Jenny Hughes, who co-chair the district’s Professional Development Committee, spoke to Chillicothe R-2 Board of Education members about PLCs last week during the board’s regular June meeting at district headquarters. Hughes, who listed the district’s involvement in PLCs as one of the district’s strengths, explained that the program is “data driven.” “It’s not just that we’re covering the material, but asking, ‘Are they (the students) getting it?’” If the answer is “no,” Hughes said, teachers then work together to find ways to help the students learn. And, according to Dewey School Principal Pam Brobst, teachers can discover whether their teaching methods are effective through reviewing the assessments. “Assessments guide our instruction,” Brobst said. She added that before this process was used in the district, the blame for student failure was usually placed solely on the students. “And it’s not always the student’s fault (for not learning). Sometimes, we just need to change the way we teach,” Brobst said. |
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Bryan McKay’s third grade class at Dewey School takes an assessment test this (Wednesday) morning. The students’ assessments will be used to determine if the students have understood the material taught during the program, which ends on Tuesday, June 30. Assessing student learning is an important part of the implementation of Professional Learning Communities within the R-2 School District because it guides instruction and identifies students who may be struggling to learn a concept.