Professional development opportunities
LKSD educators have stayed busy this summer with professional development opportunities taking place across the country.
Tina Cataldo, site administrator at Lewis Angapak Memorial School, traveled out of state to attend the International Society for Technology in Education conference in New Orleans at the end of June.
“This was my first time attending this conference and I was blown away by the size of the conference, thousands of people attending from all over the world and hundreds of sessions to choose from,” Cataldo said. “I attended sessions that would easily transfer and enrich our current technology/programs. The conference also offers all of the recorded sessions for use as professional development.”
Second grade teacher Anna Magalsky attended a five-day training on behalf of the Alaska Arts Education Consortium to learn ways to integrate art, technology and culture in the classroom at Sitka's ACT Institute.
“My learning experiences included how to integrate culturally relevant music, movement and art into classroom routines,” the teacher from Anna Tobeluk Memorial School said. “I also gained a menu of available technology-based resources to further explore.”
Whitney Spiehler, an instructional coach in the district, traveled to Abilene, Texas alongside the Directors of Elementary and Secondary Education for a training on best teaching practices.
“Following the conference, the LKSD team put together a plan to help teachers design and implement instruction that is challenging, interactive and authentic and encourage student-centered classrooms across the district. The team is excited to share strategies with all classroom teachers at all grade levels through professional development this fall,” Spiehler said.
All training was made possible by a summer professional development stipend provided by LKSD.