Today was our January Staff Development Day. Our leadership team decided that we would forego traditional PD today and offer parent-teacher conferences. Our teachers were allowed to arrive at noon. Conferences ran from noon to four pm and again from five pm to eight pm.
Prior to the holiday break, our teachers each mailed out postcards to parents to invite them to attend today’s session. No one really knew what to expect, but I believe everyone was pleasantly surprised.
Teachers were arranged at tables alphabetically in order to best allow the invitees to locate them. We ran the session as a modified “speed-dating” format with an air horn every seven minutes to indicate it was time to rotate.
Not every teacher was fully engaged for the entire day / night, but it did allow the teachers to have meaningful planning time in-between meetings with parents.
It also allowed us (as a campus) to bring our teachers back in a supportive, yet low-stress environment for their first day back.
There were a few lessons learned. Lessons that will allow us to make some changes prior to next January – but overall, I think we have started a new tradition that was well-received by teachers and parents, respectively. A true Win-Win.
Very busy day tomorrow with State Legislators and top ISD Brass coming to our campus for tours of our Magnet Programs. I, personally, also have a significant to-do list that was not completed today. Boys basketball will end the night for me.
Have a great Tuesday. I’ll share more tomorrow.
— Bill
