Need at Lower Campus:  We need additional Reading Corp members for next year.  There is information and an application process online at Minnesota Reading Corps.org.  There is an educational credit that could be applied to a student loan or college classes.  If anyone is 55 years of age or older the education credit of $5500 for a full time Reading Corps member can be applied to a child or grandchild if used within seven years.  Check out the website or talk with Jan Parrish for more information.

Lake Harriet Community School Professional Development Focus

We are excited to announce a new professional development opportunity for our entire staff next year!

Our staff continually reviews our data throughout the school year and makes appropriate decisions about instruction based on the data. This spring the data showed that, at both campuses, our advanced learners are not making adequate yearly growth. We believe that every child should achieve at least a year’s growth each year in school, so this is an issue we need to address.

To that end, we have been working with the Minneapolis Public School district to develop better ways to serve our students’ needs. Next year, our two campuses will join together to spend a year with Melanie Crawford, MPS Director of the Talent Development and Advance Learner Department, to learn new theory and methodology to better address these needs.

Here are the topics we will cover next year:        

1. Introduction to Talent Development:  How can talent be developed in all learners?
2. Foundations in Advanced Learner Education:  Learning how to design challenging differentiated learning experiences that are strongly grounded in the grade level standards.
3. Tiering:  Learning to ratchet up the intellectual demands for learners who master content more quickly, while staying focused on academic standards as the whole class.
4. Making Space for Inquiring:  Learning to advance the learning through inquiry and independent study model for authentic research with thorough inquiry.

The training will take place on site at LHCS, both before school starts in August, and on an ongoing basis throughout the year during the staff’s regular professional development time. It will provide a great opportunity for teachers to develop tools to better serve our advanced learners and inject inquiry-based learning and creativity into the classrooms in ways that will benefit all of our students. This opportunity for our entire teaching staff to go through this training together will also strengthen connections between grade levels and between our two campuses.

We will continue to update you next year as to our process. Look for updates on the Academic link on the website.

Jan and Walter