August 22, 2024

 

Teachers from Apex Friendship Elementary, Middle, and High School recently collaborated in an activity designed to strengthen their connections with other educators, give them perspective on student learning progress, and increase their awareness of standards-aligned instruction. 

 

 

The day began with a PTSA-sponsored lunch at Apex Friendship High, where approximately 350 teachers gathered in the cafeteria. Teachers were then grouped by content area for breakout sessions at different locations on campus. Elementary grade-level teachers were assigned to appropriate content area groups. An administrator served as the activity facilitator for each group.

 

 

Connecting with others

 

Teachers were asked to reflect individually on the following question: What's the most essential skill for students to leave your grade level or course with? Once all the teachers had shared, they engaged in open-reflection questions related to what they heard and made connections to others. The purpose was to introduce past focus areas and emphasis for individual grade-level progressions.

 

 

Exploring goals

 

The second activity guided teachers in discussing what they will do this year. They worked with content specialists to choose a specific learning progress or strand of PreK-12 standards to explore. Teachers shared what was most important at each stage of learning and created visual representations. They explored and reflected on the most critical elements of what they had discussed and how that directly connected with their goals.

 

 

Teamwork makes the dream work

 

As the event wrapped up, teachers were excited to discuss potential future collaborations and helpful connections across schools.

 

“Getting together with the entire Apex Friendship staff today helped build our collective community across campuses!  The conversation I had within our small math group with teachers across all levels of learning, Pre-K through 12th grade, helped reinforce the continued need for building number sense, conceptual understanding, and critical thinking for all students.  We are eager to continue to build this collaboration to impact all students!”  -Danielle Overcash, 3rd Grade Teacher, NBCT, Apex Friendship Elementary

 

“Having all Apex Friendship special educators in one setting was an eye-opening experience of truly how much support we have for our special education students within our K-12 campus.” -Kelsie Hagermoser, CCR Teacher, Apex Friendship Elementary

 

“The collaboration between arts educators was enriching. Led by an administrative intern, we discussed and visually represented the threads of our common disciplines: art, music, theater, and dance. We all immediately knew how our programs naturally scaffold to meet our student's many needs. Teamwork makes the dream work!”  -Jenni Sonstroem, Music Teacher, Apex Friendship Elementary