Staff Development
The ethos of all Professional Development Programs is to provide staff development that enables teachers to upgrade content knowledge, pedagogical and professional practices that correspond to complex topics in all areas of the curriculum. Because we hold to this principle that teacher knowledge comes first, many of our Professional Development workshops are governed by teachers’ needs, request, interests, and questions. Moreover, much of our Professional Development program is rooted in the decision to shift teaching from teacher centered pedagogy to making our classrooms into learning communities that interest and engage our students in the learning. To achieve this goal, our Professional Development program promotes intellectual pluralism bringing our teachers, many who hold various perspectives and levels of expertise, together to engage in dialogues and practicum that enables them to name their challenges, reaffirm their successes, and optimally augment their pedagogical repertoires and understandings as teachers. By continuously improving instruction and services to students, teachers will be able to promote social and emotional intelligence, optimize instructional goals, pedagogically enhance student learning, become technologically adept to facilitate learning, and create a true 21st century global learning environment.