Lacey Teachers Focus on Development

With state aid for the Lacey Township School District dwindling, formal training for teachers has done the same, Superintendent Richard Starodub said. But Lacey teachers have taken the initiative in developing Focus Groups, a form of workshops for teachers and by teachers.

“There’s a great attitude and commitment among our teachers to professionally develop, grow, and get better. It’s something that you can’t go out and measure,” Superintendent Richard Starodub said.

All Lacey schools participate in Focus Groups but the programs vary depending on need.

Focus Groups consist of one-hour lessons on topics such as literacy centers, helping struggling readers, integrating technology, strategies to increase achievement, classroom management, and mathematics.

“Focus groups developed out of a need,” said Vanessa Clark, assistant superintendent. “Overtime, different Focus Groups have been run in each building based on a need that the administration felt was necessary at that particular time.”

The teachers and staff who present the Focus Groups have attended workshops or training in a specific area. The groups meet either an hour before or after school.

By participating in Focus Groups, teachers are offered Continuing Education Units (CEU).

“The prospect is to encourage our staff to take workshops that enhance their professional development in their discipline,” Clark said.

The State Department of Education requires teacher’s to remain current by participating in professional development, Clark said.

Within a five year cycle, teacher’s are required to get 100 hours of professional develop, which equates to 20 hours per year.

One CEU is granted for 10 contact hours. Once five CEU’s are accumulated, the teacher’s salary increases by $250. There is a maximum of 1,250 CEU’s.

There is an approval process for focus groups to be considered for potential CEU’s. If the focus group is in line with the state core curriculum standards, CEU’s may be granted.

One example of a Focus Group is when the Forked River Elementary School installed promethean boards, Supervisor Jessica Cellini implemented focus groups to educate teachers on how to use them effectively in the classroom.

Cellini has been facilitating Focus Groups at the Forked River Elementary School for two years. Before she became a supervisor, Cellini taught for ten years at Mill Pond Elementary School, where she attended several Focus Groups.

Cellini transferred the concept of the groups to the Forked River school beginning with just math and literacy groups. Now the school has developed additional groups on People Always Lending Support (PALS), English as a Second Language (ESL), and Integrating Technology.

“I choose the lessons or ideas to speak about based on the needs of my teachers and students,” Cellini said.

One of the most impactful ideas that have come out of a Focus Group is a school-wide rubric for scoring writing using the Six Traits, Cellini said.

“This has enabled our students to benefit from the common language and rubrics that are used school-wide as their instruction grows year to year,” Cellini said.

The PALS focus groups have helped to create and plan school-wide events such as the Literacy Fair, Math Fair, and All Children Exercising Simultaneously (ACES) Day.

“Focus Groups benefit the school and the district by allowing teachers to meet on a regular basis to do such valuable things as give the opportunity to share ideas, use data to drive instruction, and modify curriculum to differentiate for the needs of all learners,” Cellini said.

First grade teacher Lauren Mahar has been attending Focus Groups since 2009, when she began at Forked River Elementary.

“Attending Focus Groups has been extremely convenient and rewarding,” Mahar said. “The focus groups have tackled countless topics and subject areas pertaining to all aspects of elementary school teaching and learning.”

Since her first year as a teacher at Forked River, Mahar has been able to transfer ideas and implement methods, centers and lesson plans into her classroom, she said.

“Not only do I acquire unbelievable ideas but the Focus Groups give me an opportunity to bounce ideas off of my experienced colleagues and other seasoned veterans,” Mahar said.

Through Focus Groups, the staff has been able to broaden their approach to teaching, creating a more valuable learning experience, Mahar said.

“When teachers are on their best game, students are as well,” Mahar said. “As long as we frequently better ourselves as educators, we will continue to produce bright, well-rounded, significant members of our community.”

Although the Forked River Elementary is one of the more active schools with Focus Groups, they are implemented at each school in the district, Clark said.

There have been Focus Groups on the laptop cards that were purchased for Macs in the Lanoka Harbor Elementary School.

As per Principal James Handschuch at the middle school, there has been an emphasis on professional learning communities, which promotes an environment in which teachers seek and share learning and then act on what they learn.

At Mill Pond, last year, a good amount of Focus Groups were spent reviewing various math programs because the current program installed at the school is approaching 14 years old, Clark said.

Although the school district intends on purchasing a new math series for the next school year, up until now they have been relying on math workshops and Focus Groups to stay up to date, Clark said.

Lacey Patch sat through three Forked River Elementary School Focus Groups recently to get a feel for the concept of growth and development throughout the school district.

Here are some of the concepts introduced at the various Focus Groups:

Math- Developing Meanings for the Operations

• Introducing four problem structures to effectively organize and support students’ mathematics learning, help students grasp the meaning of the operations, help students interpret a variety of mathematical problems, and prepare students for the variety of real-world contexts they will encounter.
• Introduce a Bar Model Approach, a variation of the draw a picture approach, according to Singapore textbooks to enable students to solve difficult math problems.

Instructional Strategies to Increase Achievement- Homework and Practice

• Homework policies should vary from grade to grade and the purpose of homework should be made clear- to practice a skill or strategy, develop time management skills, foster positive attitudes towards learning and school, and to communicate the idea that learning also takes place at home.
• Four Principles for Homework- the amount should vary from grade to grade and student-to-student, parents’ involvement should be kept at a minimum, purpose of homework should be identified and not considered a punishment, homework should be commented on and graded.

Literacy Centers- Writing Centers

• The environment, materials and activities should vary from grade to grade.
• There should be a balance of what is being taught, creativity, and the student’s interests.
• Provide differentiation such as open-ended activities, a word bank or photo book, color coding tasks and editing or conferencing checklists.