Teacher Training & Preparation

I was very fortunate to be asked to participate in "Summer Institute - Teacher Training" with my internship school, United Preparatory Academy - State under the United Schools Network.  It is a charter school that serves K-4 and teachers were required to attend for four weeks prior to the first day of school.  The first two weeks were geared towards year 1 & 2 year teachers.  The last two weeks, the 3rd and 4th year teachers joined the sessions, and a USN network retreat was also required.

As a Principal in Training, I was very impressed with the topics covered and was interested in knowing, What types of Teacher Prep and training was done at some of the public schools prior to the start of school and for how long?

Here are some of the major topics we covered with our teachers, staff and admin support staff:

1. Operations
2. Teaching Taxonomy - Strong Voice, Narrate the positive, what to do in the classroom,
3. Community Engagement
4. Curriculum, Instruction & Assessment - Lesson prep & planning, Demo lessons, Lesson
     rehearsals
5. Core Knowledge Training
6. Family Engagement - Home visits
7. History of USN, Philanthropy, Chartering policies
8. Scholar and Family handbook
9. Kickboard, DASL, TORSCH
10. Walk-through of hallway, restroom, recess, classroom and lunch procedures
11. Room Preparation
12. Cultural Awareness
13. Culture Camp - School-wide Discipline System
14. Grade Level Meetings - How we talk about scholars and families
15. New Family Orientation
16. School-wide Communication Norms
17. Kindergarten Orientation
18. Special Education Processes, Procedures and scholar review with teachers
19. Principal Review for all teachers - Unit 1 Design, Development and Assessment
20. Fire Drill Walkthrough, Lock down procedures - level 1,2, and 3

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