Meetings prep teachers for school year

Middle School teachers worked diligently Tuesday to prepare for

students’ return to school Thursday.

Teachers from Jordan, Luther Burbank and John Muir middle schools

participated in staff development days on Friday, Monday and Tuesday,

designed to help better prepare them for the new school year.

“It gets me all the more excited for the school year,” said Rod

Rothacher, an eighth-grade teacher at John Muir. “It helps us get

ready.”

Teachers at John Muir Middle School learned about “thinking maps”

on Monday, which are different graphs and charts that help organize

material that students learn into visual and easy-to-remember charts.

They then made the colored graphs and posters about historical

characters, math equations and proper use of grammar. “Research shows

90% of what people learn is visual,” John Muir Principal Dan Hacking.

“This is another tool the teachers can incorporate into their lessons

during the year.”

Some teachers hoped learning more about the thinking maps would

help them to ease students’ transition from elementary to middle

school.

“It helps to be brought up to speed on them,” seventh-grade

English teacher Lynn Rothacher said. “The students learn them in

elementary school so there’s a certain comfort level when the

students use them.”

Some teachers use the thinking maps to compliment their teaching

styles and lesson plans.

“It enhances it and give it another dimension,” said Carol

Flesher, and eighth-grade English teacher who uses the charts to

teach students to more easily design back stories for characters they

create.

Teachers from the three middle schools participated in another set

of workshops held at Luther Burbank Middle School on Tuesday, where

instructors rotated to different groups of teachers and addressed the

topics of bullying, plagiarism, and methods for teaching students

with learning disabilities.

Instructors and administrators are hoping to find ways to deter

middle school students from plagiarizing their work, which has been

made easier because of students access to the internet, according to

Hackings.

“We want to brainstorm on how we can stop it from happening, and

from being an epidemic,” Hackings said.

Justin Riner, an eighth-grade English teacher from John Muir

Middle School who attended Monday’s session on thinking maps, looked

forward to attending Tuesday’s session on bullying.

“Bullying interferes with how kids learn, it curtails their

learning ability,” he said. “It will be interesting to know what they

suggest on how to handle it inside and outside of the classroom.”

Teachers also attended meetings on Tuesday for their respective

departments with teachers from different schools to discuss teaching

plans and ideas for the new school year on Tuesday. Some looked

forward to exchanging ideas with fellow teachers.

“Our colleagues are our best resource,” said Flesher.

The professional development sessions ended on Tuesday. Wednesday

will be a teacher workday for the middle school teachers. Students

return and instruction begins on Thursday.