Teacher Staff Development

Any organization, needs to have a plan for continuous and purposeful staff development.  I think sometimes, there is a feeling that staff development is only something provided to new staff.  At Sibley, and in our district, we are committed to ongoing learning; students and staff.  In fact, the only way that we become better and better at something is to continue to ask questions and learn from the information we are provided.  If we don't ask questions and are content doing things as we have, we miss out on improving and possibility.  This year, our district has adopted and is currently implementing a new reading curriculum known as Benchmark Literacy.  During our Reading and Language Arts instructional blocks, students are engaged in reading, writing, and phonics/word work instruction.  On November 8th, teachers spent half of that day learning more about its successful use and implementation.  On Tuesday of this past week, teachers in our building spent 2 hours specifically on the guided reading component of quality reading instruction.  Teachers, like doctors, need to be constantly learning and improving.  I don't know about you, but I am not going to see a Dr. that tells me that a practice used 30 years ago is still the best for me, and that s/he has done nothing since to learn more. Yikes! I would be looking for a second opinion.  Our work in reading over the years indicates that we are being successful, but we are not yet satisfied.  We are constantly looking at ways to improve what we do.  When we do, students benefit that much more from their time with us.  Proficiency on grade level standards is important, but individual student growth is paramount, and continual improvement through staff development helps us know how we can get that growth for all children.