Ongoing Teacher Growth

by Andrew Kleyn

Much of our learning takes place collaboratively to further our collective knowledge and experience.

For example, this year we took our second annual trip to the Christian Educators Association Convention. The core topic was Cultivating Community in Christian schools which fit perfectly with the LCS theme. We had a chance to hear keynote speakers together as well as attend focused workshops.

Engaging in ongoing professional development allows us to teach with greater innovation and intentionality every day.

We also spent the year working and learning in Professional Learning Teams (PLTs), organized around teachers’ individual goals for their instruction. The purpose of PLTs is to provide a system for teacher learning and growth, increase collaboration among teachers at different grade levels, and to move forward initiatives for the whole school. This year’s teams met monthly and focused on areas such as project-based learning, implementing technology standards, and developing cross-grade learning partnerships.

Engaging in ongoing professional development allows us to teach with greater innovation and intentionality every day. It also models what it looks like to be lifelong, curious learners—an important learning goal for all our students.