We are excited to kick off our professional development opportunities for Middle Grades educators this month! Second semester early-aligned release professional development will continue to take place on the third Wednesday of the month 2:30-4pm: February 16th, April 20th and May 18th. The sessions will be sequential and build off each other; educators will be asked to apply the strategies learned during the sessions to their classroom practice and return to the following session with data to share and discuss with colleagues.

The focus of learning for the semester will be student collaboration and include learning about effective structures and routines that support collaboration, tasks that are worthy of collaboration and questions that garner content-rich discussion, scaffolds that support equitable participation patterns and access for diverse learners, and ways to collect data in your classroom related to collaboration and academic discourse.  These practices are grounded in anti-racist teaching and deeper learning.  Each session is framed to connect to Middle Grades priorities and will feature a collaboration structure and discourse routine educators can bring back to their classrooms. 

Descriptions of the session can be found on the linked slide deck along with agendas and zoom links for educators to sign on!

We are excited to learn together and to offer a space for educators to come together across schools to learn from each other.