The start of school always brings many adjustments and changes in a family’s life. Parents, children, and staff have many new responsibilities and they can be seen in different ways throughout the school and community in these first few weeks. A couple weeks in we are just getting past the daily routines and protocols that come with learning in a new classroom, or attending a new school, and now we have another shortened week.
Early release days have been a part of our school for the past 3 years. With so many of our staff focused on the day-to-day routines, coaching, or volunteering after school there isn’t a great time for us to develop our teachers with the best educational practices. We have four different days throughout the year to provide professional development and learning for our staff.
I wanted to give you a brief overview of these days this year. Our elementary staff will be working through three different educational practices: faith nurturing, restorative circles, and technology in the classroom. Each one of these are vital to the depth of education every child receives here at HCS. We are very excited to see how we can continue to build these aspects of teaching into each of our classrooms. Middle School will be working on being reflective while aligning their report cards, assessments, and daily teaching practices to help inform instruction. We want to give specific feedback for children so that in our partnership in learning they can work to grow in their knowledge of God’s world.
I know these days can throw a wrench into a daily schedule, but I do thank you for allowing us the time to continue to develop and grow our teachers and our school in these areas. If you would like to know more about these practices, or what goes on for the teachers during these days, please let me know and I would be happy to share more.
In Christ,
Justin Knot, Director of Curriculum and Instruction
