On Monday, November 28, North Union along with Big Walnut, Buckeye Valley and Marysville held a waiver day professional development session at Marysville High School.

This was an opportunity to afford colleagues across four districts the opportunity to engage in conversation, sharing and collaboration. The keynote speaker for the morning was Dr. Willard Daggett from the International Center on Leadership in Education. His topic was “Preparing for the Challenges and Opportunities of the Next Three Years.” His message focused on the Race to the Top initiatives of reducing performance gaps, doubling the college enrollment of students aged 19 and under, the implementation of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), and preparing students for the next generation of technology in the workforce. 

During breakout sessions, district administrators led grade-level discussion sessions addressing where teachers felt their individual school and district currently stood in the implementation of the new CCSS.

The second part of the session was based upon the “burning issues” of each teacher. Teachers shared what each district has done in local professional development and shared artifacts such as curriculum maps and lesson plans aligned to the new standards. Teachers then were able to discuss actual components of their class. Teachers discussed the comparative analysis document provided by the Ohio Department of Education that explains content that is new to their grade or subject area as well as content that is no longer a focus for them. Conversations also turned to lesson plans and available resources each teacher uses in their classroom. The networking and partnerships that were built during the day have continued as teachers are now discussing and sharing common resources digitally. 

Photo used with permission Marysville Journal Tribune.