教师专业发展会议讨论混合学习和创建反种族主义课程的重要性

Given all of the variables unique to the upcoming academic year, 今年7月，保利商学院的教职员工花了两周时间参加重要的职业发展研讨会. The goal? To give our teachers takeaways and tools to improve learning and equity in our classrooms. 由于2020-21学年的到来将带来很大的不确定性和不断变化的学习环境, our teachers are doing everything they can to address important issues head-on.

Themes: Remote Learning, and An Anti-Racism Curriculum

This year’s sessions focused on two major themes. One homed in on the challenges and opportunities of teaching in remote and hybrid circumstances, looking at both academics and the social-emotional impact on Poly students. 另一项侧重于如何设计反种族主义课程和培养一个没有微侵犯的学校环境, fostering inclusion for all students—not an easy task, given the history of educational institutions in this country.

Poly was founded more than a century ago, and like so many other schools, was established without the consideration of Black or Brown children in mind. The biases and racism that stem from this are part of the infrastructure of our institutions. Progress has been made over the years, 但在乔治·弗洛伊德被谋杀之后，以及随后在全国和世界各地爆发的群众运动之后，保利的教师们正处于清算的中心. How will Poly make substantive anti-racism changes, not only to its curriculum but also to the school’s culture? While there is no magic wand to undo centuries of racism in systems designed to exclude, there is an urgency to make tangible steps and face the problem head-on at Poly Prep.

Presentation by Dr. Jackson Collins

Accomplished scholar and Prep for Prep Associate Executive Director Dr. Jackson Collins was the keynote speaker at Poly’s annual professional development program this year.  In his presentation “Behind the Veil, 学术上有才华的有色学生(SOC)谁参加独立学校的经历的研究,” Dr. 柯林斯深入了解了黑人和布朗学生面临的挑战，以及他们如何转化为一个被排斥的环境. 这项研究包括了保利大学的学生，以及来自8个不同州74所学校的其他学生, 他谈到了缺乏种族素养和持续的微侵犯是如何在排斥中发挥主导作用的, and suggested steps that could be taken to break the cycle and change the system.

After Dr. Collins’ presentation, attendees broke into smaller groups to discuss their reactions and takeaways. 低年级的讨论集中在实施反种族主义对话和课程的障碍上, and teachers were honest about their fears that they might say the wrong thing without realizing it, that they aren’t sure how to begin racism conversations, and the challenge of determining what’s age-appropriate for younger students. Peers gave helpful advice 说, “It’s so important to model what public learning looks like for our students, even if it’s uncomfortable. When children ask a science question that we don’t know, we don’t ignore them. We commit to exploring the question together! The same should apply to questions around race and equity.”

Read more about Dr. Jackson Collins’ presentation.

Hybrid Learning in Academics

Other workshops and presentations explored the challenges of remote and hybrid  learning environments, as Poly faculty prepare for an unprecedented year ahead. “We will all be reinventing teaching yet again!” Visual 艺术 Department Chair Laura Coppola ’95. “There is no precedent for in-class and virtual teaching happening simultaneously, 因此，我们都必须考虑如何让学生在课堂上和家里都保持专注，以及他们如何单独或共同做到这一点.”

“In the Visual 艺术,” Coppola said, “我们在考虑哪些材料和美术用品适合在工作室学习，哪些适合在家学习. 我们已经讨论过学生如何利用在家的时间为一个基于工作室的项目做准备或研究, 或者，有些老师可能会找到两个相关但不同的项目，学生可以根据他们当天的位置来做.”

Without in-person classes, 在确定远程教育的有效性以及如何正确衡量远程教育时，教师们面临着意想不到的障碍.

请注意, at the time of this story’s publication, 保利的重新开放计划的重点是让尽可能多的学生回到校园，利用其整个戴克高地地区提供户外学习，同时根据需要灵活地无缝切换到虚拟学习.

“In the STEM groups,” session facilitator and math teacher Stephen Bates, “Lower School faculty discussed many ways to incorporate formative assessments across the STEM areas, 而中学和高中的老师则了解了一些在线课程，可以进行形成性和总结性评估. In addition to utilizing the Google Suite tools, teachers looked at performance-based assessment, project-based assessment, collaborative tools, and methods for collecting ongoing student performance data. The hybrid model will look at assessment differently, for sure, but with the plethora of tools at our disposal, we can confidently say we can assess all of our students via multiple modalities.”

数学系主任玛丽亚·迪卡洛(Maria DiCarlo)主持了STEM领域的课程计划会议，她发现同事们“正在思考不同的方式，让学生在各种环境中参与进来.”

Online learning for younger students brings its own unique difficulties. Head of Lower School Dr. Francis Yasharian shared examples of tech tools that could be used in the classroom as well as virtually, like the learning customizable game Kahoot, and apps like Kami and Edpuzzle. 

“It is an expected challenge to keep students engaged online,” Athletic Director Kristin Cannon. “We need to be enthusiastic, thoughtful, 开放, 有爱心的, and vulnerable to share our own challenges with our students. The same traits as when we are in the same physical space at school, but with many added challenges. Building trust and relationships with our students online to start the fall will be paramount.”

“Every teacher’s goal was maximizing student involvement and maximizing student learning. Throughout the sessions, my fellow faculty shared some really creative ideas!”

玛丽亚E. DiCarlo, Ed.D., Mathematics Department Chair

In another workshop, In Grading for 股本 in the Hybrid Model, led by History Department Chair Maggie Moslander, the question addressed was “What do you wish your students understood about how you grade?他们讨论了詹姆斯·鲍德温(James Baldwin)的《澳门银河官网》(The Price of The Ticket)，同时考虑如何实现公平的评分, 一位老师表示，她与其他老师合作，所以她不是唯一关注评分作业的人. 

Ms. Moslander and English teacher Sarah Whalen co-led a session on anti-racism teaching in the humanities, introducing “strategies to make our grading more equitable, meaning more accurate, motivational, and bias resistant, and to help teachers think through how they might implement them in their classes.” In the session, 他们讨论了如何确保所有学生都能更好地理解他们收到的评分和反馈, as well as the motives behind it.

“我对教师们在这些研讨会上表现出的参与程度和承诺印象深刻, and look forward to continue working on how we can make our classrooms safer, 勇敢的, more equitable, and more actively anti-racist.”

Maggie Moslander, History Department Chair

“The goal was to give faculty pedagogical strategies, drawn from my experience co-facilitating SEED at Poly, to make their classrooms more actively anti-racist. The first strategy, serial testimony, 这种分享学生想法的做法是否依赖于定时的学生口头回答，而不是自由的讨论，以确保时间的民主分配，从而让每个人的声音都参与到对话中. 我们还讨论了创建教室的重要性，让学生在分享他们的故事时感到被支持，以及我们积极寻找故事并将其带入课堂, perspectives, and views of those who may not be well represented. 最后, 我们谈到了将个人故事与更大的社会系统联系起来的重要性，这样我们就可以更好地帮助学生理解他们自己的“位置政治”与系统性种族主义的关系,” Moslander.

Social-Emotional Learning in a Hybrid Environment

学校心理学家和学习专家在罗尔的混合模型中主持了社会-情感学习的会议, 中间, and Upper School teachers. 中间 and Upper School Psychologist Karen Ezra P’16, ‘19, ’21 said that this is a time of “emotional dysregulation,” given world events, and asked teachers to think about what students might be feeling as they return to school, 说, “A child who is unsettled is unlikely to relate to and connect with other people.”

Emily Prior, Academic Enrichment and Student Support Chair, Poly Prep Lower School, led one of the Lower School social-emotional professional development sessions. She was candid about how she’s been affected by current events, helping to emphasize why the sessions were so vital for students and teachers alike.

“My own emotional state is naturally in flux and I imagine I’m not alone,” she reflected after the workshops. “Though I’ve always valued social emotional growth as the bedrock of a strong education, I’ve never felt it more than I do right now. 我们经历了前所未有的转变，我们的学生和更大的社区需要在整个过程中感受到一种联系感. 学生们很快就能判断，学习是与他们的情绪状态冲突，还是支持他们的情绪状态，我认为我们的工作是向他们展示后者.”

“我知道努力工作是用心工作，感觉我们肯定是在用心进行这些对话，为来年做准备.”

Emily Prior, Academic Enrichment and Student Support Chair, Poly Prep Lower School

她的演讲旨在为教师们创造一个交流和反思个人小学经历的空间. “在整个会议期间，每个人的脆弱给我留下了深刻的印象，同事们让我感到鼓舞,” she said. “我知道努力工作是用心工作，感觉我们肯定是在用心进行这些对话，为来年做准备.”

Elijah Sivin, Director of Service Learning, History teacher and Co-Director, Institute for Ethics and Leadership, 他总结了这次专业发展研讨会:“同事们的敬业精神给我留下了深刻的印象. Although it’s summertime, people are thinking deeply about education from a number of angles. Conversations about race, equity, technology, and values were vibrant and collegial. The experience made me eager to get back to work with my colleagues.”