Last Monday, teachers and staff attended a virtual professional development day, an annual event consisting of various workshops, meetings, and presentations that takes place after Regents week. 

Assistant Principal of Organization Ellen Fee said that members of the School-Based Staff Development Committee (SDC), which consists of school administrators and a group of teacher leaders, prepare for the schedule of activities and professional learning opportunities. 

“This year’s event was divided into two parts,” said Ms. Fee. “At the beginning of the day, [teacher-led] groups presented [to the faculty] for over an hour. The second part was to choose your own presentation [to see]. There were several choices and different zoom spaces where people could see the presentations.”

English teacher Brian Sweeney, who is one of the teacher leaders on the SDC said that the teacher-led groups had spent “the whole fall working in teams to learn more about specific teaching topics.” After trying out different teaching methods related to their chosen topics, they then “report back on what they’ve learned to the whole faculty” at Professional Development Day, he said. Every teacher is part of at least one group. 

After the group presentations, teachers selected a topic to learn more about. English teacher and department teacher leader Katherine Lipinski ran a session on culturally responsive and sustaining education, a “key priority” in their teaching philosophy. Social Studies and Instructional Support Services (ISS) teacher leader Guy Martin “worked with Science and ISS teacher Valeria Jacobs and Physical Education teacher Adam Adamkiewicz to design a session that addresses strategies to support students within a Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) framework.” 

Dr. Martin said, “Specifically, we discussed techniques for modifying instruction to ensure that all students’ needs are met.” This session focused on “the need to conduct more thorough family outreach for students,” he said. 

Rather than focusing on educational practices like Dr. Martin and Ms. Lipinski, Mr. Sweeney said he ran a session on “how [THHS] can expand St. John’s course offerings,” which focused on describing to teachers “how they can offer more college level courses in the future.” 

Another session, run by science teacher leader David Stern and math teacher leader Alice Brea, focused on how to use “performance tasks” in classroom instruction.

Overall, THHS faculty members said they found this time to be beneficial to reflect on their teaching methods and standards, and refine their goals for the new semester.

“We get so wrapped up in the every day of what we do inside our classrooms,” said Art teacher and teacher leader Antonio Montalvo. “It’s nice to see what other departments and other people are doing, and it’s inspiring because you can get ideas to implement in your own teaching practices.”

Dr. Martin said that Professional Development day is “about examining our instructional practice to consider strategies to improve student outcomes.”

Students have also recognized the potential impact of Professional Development Day on their own classroom experience. Sophomore Owen Garcon said, “I see this as an opportunity for teachers to come together to understand certain aspects of their teaching methods that they can alter in order to provide an efficient class for their students to thrive.”

“We try to convince our students that learning isn’t just about a grade, [but] about constantly striving to improve yourself,” said Mr. Sweeney. “In the same way, it’s important that teachers try to keep learning about how they can improve as teachers and individuals. These days are important because they allow us time to do that.”