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The students are gone, and the school bells are silent; but instead of packing for a vacation, some teachers in Mansfield ISD decided to begin their summer break by honing their skills even more.
Hundreds of educators attended the district’s free annual summer curriculum from May 29 through May 31. The sessions are open to all teachers in the district for a chance to learn new teaching techniques while earning their staff development equivalency hours.
“The teachers especially love that it’s them doing the presentations,” said Teresa Francis, advanced academics coordinator. “It’s not some person who hasn’t been in the classroom or doesn’t know what’s going or talking about some educational theory that doesn’t really have anything to do with what they do in their day-to-day job.”
A bulk of the planning for the conference begins January. Organizers said they research what’s relevant in teaching and use objectives they learned in other trainings to customize each session.
“We’re always looking for what we can offer our staff members that will be helpful to them,” Francis said.
Along with the core subjects, the classes covered topics such as leadership, CPR, gifted and talented, special education, dyslexia, college readiness and more. The sessions are centered around the district’s strategic plan, Vision 2020, which guides how Mansfield ISD will fulfill its mission of inspiring and education students to be productive citizens.
“It continues year after year to be a very popular event for our teachers,” said Christie Alfred, MISD’s chief innovative officer. “They really appreciate the fact that it’s focused on Mansfield ISD to the things that are specific to our teachers and to our district.”
The summer curriculum classes are held at Legacy High School, a centralized location for the staff. Organizers said that the goal each year is to provide quality lessons that can be immediately implemented in classrooms.
