To accommodate teachers and create more curriculum planning, D127 administrators made the decision to change the late start schedule to every Wednesday morning for the upcoming year.
“The change to late starts allows more time for teachers to meet and collaborate,” said director of curriculum and instruction Tracey Landry. “Teachers are looking forward to having a solid block of time to reflect with their colleagues.”
Starting every Wednesday next year, teachers will have meetings to discuss curriculum, share ideas and plan their schedules from 7:45 to 9:10 a.m., when students are not in attendance.
“I will feel more confident because I have more time to work with my colleagues and learn from their experiences,” said social studies department chair Chris Kubic.
Teachers and administrators will collectively work every Wednesday rather than every other Wednesday, keeping the students’ work and learning environment in mind.
“We already have such high quality teachers and instruction, but I think this will allow us to continue to offer responsive teaching,” Landry said.
The amount of late starts allows for collaboration across departments as well. Since some teachers teach in various subjects, they can take this valuable time to meet with more than one department.
“It allows more time for teachers from math to work with teachers from science, because they do not get that time very often,” said Principal Dr. James Roscoe.
Administrators hope that by improving curriculum structure among classes and departments, it will enable students to make more connections in their learning.
“It allows them to talk about how students are performing and how we can tweak the instruction to meet students’ needs,” Landry said.