News Detail
Professional Development Abounds
Apart from student programs and faculty and staff salaries, there is no more important investment than professional development at Annie Wright. The Head of Schools and the Board of Trustees insist that every penny of this budget, supported by tuition dollars and the Annual Fund, is spent, no matter what other competing demands might exist. The diversity of trainings so far this academic year demonstrates the depth and breadth of lifelong learning — in the best interest of our students and always with an eye toward continuously improving our already amazing program for students.
Here's a snapshot of professional development since the beginning of the 2015-16 academic year:
- Design and Maker Movement Workshop, Nueva School, California: Middle School Design team of Wagstaff, Hunt, Price, along with Romano and Heath
- FabLab, Tacoma: Wagstaff
- Northwest Association of Independent Schools Fall Educators Conference on Diversity: 21 teachers and administrators, all three divisions
- New York City Professional Theatre Workshop for Teachers: Gettel
- Creative Writers Workshop: L. Barber and Adams
- Washington State Housekeeping Association: Minor
- Math in Focus, two all-day workshops: entire Lower School faculty
- Math Coaching Workshop: Venkatesh
- IB trainings in all three divisions: various teachers and administrators
- Stanford Design School training: Lower and Upper School teachers
- National Coalition of Girls Schools, Workshop on Girls, Wellness and Mindfulness: Waters and Stokes
- Kinesiology Taping Workshop: Verbovski
- Washington State Foreign Language Teachers Annual Meeting: deSandoval, Scott, Flores
- Video training series for teachers, Epinephrine administration: Coumou for entire faculty
- Diversity and gender in elementary schools: Dicks and Buennagel
- Diversity and gender in secondary schools: Strate, J. Barber, Stowe
- Learning and the Brain: McConnell
Additionally, each Monday afternoon is set aside for teachers to meet in mixed level "topic" groups, self-selected study opportunities of various issues about pedagogy and best practice. This year, groups are investigating aspects of diversity and globalization, maker movement and design, best practices for educating boys, differentiation (with an eye to the top end learners), math instruction from Kindergarten through advanced calculus, health and wellness, approaches to teaching and learning (an IB continuum strand), faculty growth and peer mentoring, and authentic engagement (helping kids commit to passions in and out of the classroom).
