Teachers’ prep week

Teachers enthusiastically cheered Burbank High School Principal Bruce

Osgood after he spoke about his hopes for faculty collaboration in

the new school year at the school’s final day of staff development

workshops on Tuesday.

“This week I’ve seen some of the greatest educators come together

over how to educate children,” Osgood told the group from a podium

draped with a sign that read “How will you up your game?”

Staff development took place at the school from Aug. 25 to Tuesday

in preparation for student’s return on Thursday. Teachers

participated in workshops and seminars designed to help them prepare

for the new year and collaborate with other teachers in different

subject departments.

“I think it motivates them and refocuses them on the kids and the

needs of the kids,” Osgood said. “They pick up special skills and

strategies for class.”

Teachers worked in groups to make posters listing the

characteristics of “greatness” to go along with the week’s theme

“going from good to great.”

They attended seminars on the subjects of developing the

philosophy of education, test data and effective lesson planning.

Doug Grimshaw, a new teacher at the school, said he found the

session on lesson planning the most helpful.

“I have to make new lessons this year,” said Grimshaw, who will

teach 10th-grade world history and 12th-grade government. “It was

encouraging to collaborate with other teachers.”

Different academic departments teamed up to examine how their

subject matters interconnected with each other and how they could use

this for more effective teaching.

“It gave us a chance to look at testing date and how we can

improve student achievement through cross curriculum,” said Denise

Nelson, who teaches in the foreign language department.

Teachers were encouraged to create comprehensive curriculum that

will help students see how the subjects relate, for instance, how

health and anatomy can be taught in relation to physical education.

“They’re developing things for the year and learning what skills

carry over, and sharing lessons and strategies,” said Osgood.

Teachers came together as a group in the school’s cafeteria on

Tuesday morning to give overviews on their department’s plans for the

coming year and how they would seek to improve test scores.

Evan Thomson, spoke on behalf of the science department.

“We’re looking at problems with different things and identifying

weaknesses and we have some plans to correct them,” said Thompson,

adding that the science teachers had plans for more experiments this

year.

Frank Barberia spoke for the social studies department about

raising the level of expectation for academic honesty and getting

kids who don’t always participate more involved.

“We’re going to look at and be critical of the assignments we’re

giving,” he said, noting economics graphing projects and government

papers that teachers in the department would assign the students in

the coming year.

Teachers also found that the staff development workshops help them

build a sense of community after a summer apart.

“School is about education and learning to do things, but its also

about community,” said Bill Gallimore, an American sign language

instructor at the school. “This gets us back where we need to be for

the new year. When the other teachers support you it brings out your

best.”