Summer Training
Recently, the first-years competed an anonymous evaluation reflecting back on the summer training and offering thoughts on what worked and what should be improved. In the four and a half years I have been Program Manager this was the most helpful evaluation any group has completed. People were thoughtful, honest, and most importantly, specific in their suggestions for improvement.
In the next few weeks, I'll be meeting with Germain (the co-director of the Mississippi Teacher Corps) and Ann (the lead instructor for the summer training) to review the feedback from the evaluations. Here are the suggestions I will offer for this year's summer training (please note that increasing both the rigor of summer school and the length have already been discussed and agreed upon):
1) Assign first-years Delta Autumn in June. They should blog about it, or complete some other assignment related to the book. Reading it in the fall is too late.
2) Create an assignment (blog/paper/something else) for The First Days of School. First Days is an enormously helpful book, but, currently, it is only given out as a resource. Many first-years don't read it.
3) Expand the crisis management role-plays (most often cited as the most helpful component of the summer training) to include regular situations as well as extreme situations. Make this a part of the summer coursework, rather than a workshop.
4) Incorporate the wiki into the summer coursework, with all lesson plans, worksheets, and exams, posted in an organized fashion and an agreed upon format.
5) During summer school, allow first-years to visit multiple classrooms to observe other teachers.
What else?
My Groups
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Mississippi Teacher Corps Updated: 7 days ago
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Peace Corps Updated: Nov 28, 2007
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Mississippi Teacher Corps (host) Updated: May 15, 2007
