Educational Philosophy

List of 3 items.

• Idea Labs

   

  In the summer, teachers can engage in conferences or workshops, apply for a summer grant to work collaboratively on a curricular project or engage in an Idea Lab to further develop an innovative idea for the coming year.  

  
  

  A few Idea Lab examples in action are:

   

  • Upper School Math Department: The math team met to plan a pilot for the Connected Mathematics Project's 4th edition next year as part of a trial group. “We got early access to the updated curriculum and are trying to incorporate open-ended questioning, high-ceiling and low-floor tasks (tasks that all students can access but that can be extended to high levels), increased differentiation, and group work.” The team is looking forward to exploring a couple of the CMP4 investigations with sixth-grade students over the course of the school year.
    
    
  • Upper School Makery/Language Collaboration: A collaboration between the Upper School Makery teacher and the Spanish department. The project is designed for eighth graders and incorporates three parts: a written biography, a podcast, and a creative poster in the Fillmore style. Spanish teacher Anthony Sabedra said,  “Music is one of my passions and I wanted to incorporate the presence of women in music from the Spanish-speaking world.”
    
    
  • Lower School Teachers College Phonics: A facilitator from Teacher's College Reading and Writing Project to spend the day with the K-3 teachers and those who support language arts instruction in the Lower School during an engaging full day workshop. New instructional and student materials and books were purchased for this program and the first-grade team along with the Lower School Learning Specialist developed a fall implementation plan. Some faculty attended summer workshops on this curriculum and some will attend the fall TC Phonics Institute to further their understanding. “We are hoping this phonics program will provide important scaffolding for our students for our students’ reading and writing throughout the school year.”

• Professional Development Institute

  Summer doesn’t start for our faculty and staff when the final school bell rings! Each year, faculty attend the Professional Development Institute (PDI), which brings leading trainers and organizations to Burke’s for on-campus professional development the week after graduation. Offerings at past PDIs have included an Investigations Math training, an “Inclusivity by Design” workshop, differentiation of learning, the Burke’s EdTech summit, and a Service Learning Institute that integrated on-campus PD and service projects across the city. The time is used to collaborate on changes, additions, or innovations they plan to pursue in the coming school year

• Curriculum Conversations

  Faculty gather under the leadership of the Academic Admin team to engage in conversations about curriculum, new project ideas, and collaborations across subject areas. Each session begins with a series of prompts that include questions such as “what is a cross-grade or cross-disciplinary collaboration that would be exciting to see happen?” or “what is an aspect of student life at Burke’s that could connect to the greater community around us?”
  
  These conversations occur in both grade-level meetings and at Lower School and Upper School division levels to share observations and ideas. Out of these conversations, great things happen.