SSD Proud Moment Aug. 2, 2022
OpenSciEd Summer Institute
by Board President Elana Levens-Craig
We are so excited that the Board of Education approved our recommendation for the 6-8 District Science Curriculum in May of 2022! The process of selecting a rigorous and high-quality science curriculum has been in the making for a long time. Thanks to the Adoption Committee and Pilot Committee, we were able to offer a three day OpenSciEd Summer Institute on July 18-20. These three days were dedicated towards training our 6th-8th grade teachers, who signed up, on the various components of the OpenSciEd materials and provide support with the implementation Unit 1. We had 13 participants, 5 pilot teachers and 3 field testers attending or facilitating the three-day institute.
Our very knowledgeable and passionate facilitators/trainers consisted of our Santee OpenSciEd Field Testers and our OpenSciEd Pilot Teachers. Many collaborative sessions were spent developing the training and our focus over the three days was dedicated towards professional learning around these ideas for unit 1:
- Day 1: Anchor and supporting phenomena
- Day 2: Unit 1 Storyline/Teacher Edition Tour for 3 Dimensions/Explore supplies in material boxes for each lesson
- Day 3: Assessment/Evaluation
Here is our 2022-23 professional learning plan for all 6th-8th grade teaches. Any teacher who was unable to attend the summer training will be provided two professional learning days during the school year.
A feedback survey was given to all participants and these were just a few of the comments our teachers shared with us regarding their learning experience during the training.
- "Everything was so helpful. I really enjoyed going through lessons as a student. This experience allowed me to see how my students will think. I also found it helpful to go through the Google Drive and the TE to see all the important resources. It has made all the material much more manageable and less overwhelming."
- "I got so much out of the grade level session! Loved the opportunity to go through our specific unit, conduct lessons, talk through as students and as teachers how this should look, as well as the time to go through the TE-breaking it down, and showing where each of the resources are in the book. So much valuable information shared!"
- "My take-away from the grade level group sessions was- the collaboration amongst all teachers. It was very helpful to work with teachers who had piloted OpenSciEd."
- "The most impactful part of the training for me was experiencing the anchoring phenomenon and how it unfolded through the unit."
- "This was an amazing 3 days! CRT's, and Field Testers did an incredible job planning and giving us necessary information. Thank you thank you thank you!!!"