Have you wondered what teachers actually do during staff development days?

Garfield Re-2 administrators work on action plans and strategies to get the district to its goals of the highest-achieving students, the highest-trained staff and the highest-paid staff, as well as CSAP and No Child Left Behind requirements. As the district develops those plans and strategies, it identifies the training required to achieve the goals.

In an energetic effort to offer its students the most optimum use of their time and improve student achievement, the Garfield Re-2 School District has teamed with the Center for Leadership in School Reform. This group of educators is dedicated to the philosophy that to improve student performance, first improve the quality of the schoolwork – work that is engaging and enables students to learn what they need in order to succeed in the world.

The Working on the Work (WOW) framework suggests ways to improve the quality of content, organization of knowledge, measurement of achievement, nurturance of creativity, and novelty and variety of tasks. It also offers practical guidelines for redesigning classroom activity so more students are interested in schoolwork, and in making clear connections between what students are doing and what they are expected to produce.

On Jan. 20, both Rifle Middle School and Riverside School brought in a Step Up to Writing trainer. Success For All consultants were at Kathryn Senor Elementary to continue training and observe the discussions. At Roy Moore Elementary School, the staff reviewed math and discussed character education. Both Esma Lewis Elementary and Wamsley Elementary worked on WOW protocols to get feedback from other teachers about the quality of lesson plans and reflective conversations. The elementary leadership team members also met with these teachers and helped them create more engaging lesson plans.

At Rifle High School, Six Trait Writing training was held across the curriculum, along with CLSR protocols, CSAP assessments, designing writing lessons across the curriculum, and using WOW protocols. Most everyone in the district designed lessons around writing.

During the staff development day, elementary teacher leaders spent the morning in intensive training from the Center for Leadership in School Reform, and secondary teacher leaders spent the afternoon in CLSR training. During the remaining portion of their days, teacher leaders shared what they learned with the rest of their grade level teachers.

By use of these tools, the Garfield Re-2 School District is creating a message – that its students deserve the absolute best design to maximize student engagement and student achievement. These students can then confidently face the challenges of the real world.