Another successful Professional Development session was produced

A follow-up that provided a positive response but one that also targeted additional time to analyze content was the theme when the second Delayed Opening Professional Development session was held in the Bridgewater-Raritan Regional School District on Tuesday, December 6.

This program was held at each of the 11 schools by a Bridgewater-Raritan Regional School District administrative team, which, according to Karen Jones, the Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum & Instruction, was planned to be goal-oriented and practical and that this work will continue throughout the year.

The first Delayed Opening Professional Development meetings were held on October 25, which set up the sessions that were shared on December 6.

 Ms. Jones explained the concentration of the second session.

“Administrators used feedback from the last Professional Development to plan for the December 6 Delayed Opening,” Ms. Jones said. “Feedback from October was overwhelmingly positive, but many teachers needed additional time to deeply explore content and collaboratively plan with teams or colleagues, which was December’s focus.”

Ms. Jones  reported that much of the planning for these sessions began at the end of last school year when the school district’s administrative team began “crafting  a district goal for 2022-2023.”

She also said that the “professional development was then planned by teams at each building to align with building and department goals.”

Ms. Jones broke down some of the topics shared during the meetings that the staff participated in on December 6.

“Additionally, there were specific sessions for targeted groups that included book clubs, special education training, a session dedicated to modeling explicit whole class phonics instruction, assessment discussions and development and a review of K-5 mathematics resources,” Ms. Jones said “Once again, teachers will be surveyed to provide their thoughts about the morning meetings. This feedback will be used to shape future professional development time.”

The other three sessions during the 2022-2023 school year are scheduled for Tuesday, February 21, Tuesday, March 21 and Tuesday, May 30.