Back to School for Students, but Teachers Never Left

Summer isn’t just a three-month vacation for teachers at , many of whom are attending class while their students are sunbathing or hanging out at the mall.

Every year, the school sends about a half dozen Lower School teachers to the Reading and Writing Institute at Columbia University—a workshop for teachers who want to learn new instructional techniques—as well as a number of other educational seminars and conferences.

“Our teachers do just a ton of professional development over the summer,” said Lower School Director Kelly Goula. “While it’s back-to-school time for students, many teachers have already been back to school.”

Goula said the school has been sending teachers to Columbia’s workshop for the last several years. The weeklong seminar pairs teachers with a variety of professionals—authors, professors, researchers into reading and writing best practices—and gives them strategies to tailor their instruction to meet students’ needs on an individual level.

“(The workshop) allows a teacher, because of the flexibility of the instruction, to be able to individualize instruction,” said Goula. “Our students love to read and love to write, and I think that’s because” of what the teachers are learning.

The teachers also benefit from going as a group, she said, because “it increases the likelihood that whatever is learned is reinforced.

“They walk away feeling like incredible professionals,” Goula added. “They feel like they’re on the cutting edge of instruction.”

Several Lower School teachers also attended a technology conference in Philadelphia over the summer, participated in “responsive classroom” seminars (which impart methods for creating a community-oriented classroom environment), and took part in “in-house curriculum work,” according to Goula.

The school year officially begins Thursday. New students report for orientation on Wednesday.