STANDARD 6
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT: Educators and leaders participate in an ongoing system of STEM-specific professional learning.
INITIATIVES/ACTIONS:
- Provide STEM training to increase teacher efficacy
- Teacher’s seeking training for professional growth
As we have moved from our special program accreditation to school-wide implementation, we realized it is vital for teachers and leaders at Beaufort Elementary School to participate in ongoing professional learning. The culture of the school is to have a professional growth mindset. It is essential that we help teachers grow with their knowledge and experience of STEM so all students in the building have an equitable opportunity for STEM learning. Some of our staff members have attended Discovery Education training and brought back ideas to help their peers. Teacher leaders of Beaufort Elementary School attended the National Science Teaching Conference, which offers exposure to the most recent science content, teaching strategies, and research to enhance and expand our professional growth. During in-house professional development, all teachers have had the opportunity to experience several STEM challenges such as moon landing, candy crush, Breakout Boxes, and spaghetti towers. This type of modeling helps teachers incorporate engineering builds in their own classrooms.
In addition, faculty members presented at a Title I conference showing the impact of STEM learning for everyone in Title I schools. Additionally, they have presented to teachers how to incorporate STEM during the District Summer Institute. Teachers at Beaufort Elementary participate in weekly professional development during planning time which includes STEM learning. While attending a STEAM symposium, the principal was introduced to the idea of a schoolwide reading project. As a result of this new learning, Beaufort Elementary School initiated the One School, One Book initiative where the entire school reads an assigned chapter book at the same time. Students participated in a culminating STEM challenge based on an event in the book.