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Wood County Schools gears up at Teaching and Learning Academy

By Gwen Sour 3 min read

WILLIAMSTOWN -- Wood County Schools began its third Teaching and Learning Academy at Williamstown High School this week, a week-long professional development opportunity for all teachers, aides and administrative staff.

The academy meets the direct needs of all education staff in the school district with 80 session offerings that include ADHD, dyslexia, First Aid and cardiopulmonary resuscitation. The academy also offered a partnership with Concord University to help teachers get credits toward necessary certifications.

Ashlee Beatty, director of curriculum and instruction for Wood County, said the school district used a survey to determine the needs for the learning sessions and what would draw attendance. After pulling the records, more than 3,100 individuals registered, Beatty said.

"I just think it's a testament, you know? This is summer; most of the staff are off-contract right now, I just think it's a testament to their dedication, to their work, to their students," Beatty said. "In turn, it will really positively impact our students. There are waitlists for almost every session, and we've tweaked them to get as many people as we can in. I think it really is a perfect example of how dedicated these educators are to their students."

The sessions start each day with keynote speakers. Tuesday's speaker, adolescent behavior analyst Sasha Long, tackled managing classroom behaviors.

Long asked, "What positive behaviors are you looking to increase?"

Her audience offered different answers: "Cooperative behavior," "kindness," "patience," "work ethic" and "intrinsic motivation."

Long focused on reinforcement of positive behaviors and creating an environment where students would want to learn.

"The phrase I always use is 'be the chocolate chip cookie,'" Long said. She said if everyone could make themselves and their classroom into something sweet, like the cookie, the behaviors of their students would be better for the rest of the year.

Experts from Wood County Schools held sessions throughout the day. Health services taught CPR and first aid, a science teacher led science sessions for new teachers, an academic coach led writing sessions for K-8, and a full-day session was for high school teachers to decode the SAT.

"It's really very varied, we try to make sure we have something for everybody," Beatty said.

In a classroom theater and English teacher, Doug Parks and Choral Director Kristen Allodi taught the importance of puppets in the classroom. Allodi insisted that puppets can include every subject and can encourage students to engage in the classroom.

"A lot of it is thinking outside the box," Allodi said. "With puppetry it can work into any classroom. In math if you're creating a puppet it can talk about proportion sizes ... problem solving, if you're thinking about word problems, tell the story through the puppet ... with language arts you're storytelling. Sometimes kids get scared of reading in front of people. The minute you use that puppet, the attention goes to the puppet, not on the child so it's a lot less threatening."

In the library, Julie Bertram the health services coordinator led a session on using an automated external defibrillator and how to perform CPR. Bertram covered the importance of multiple people with training throughout the school system.

"As long as everyone's trained ... that way when there's an emergency, everybody has their role and they know their role," Bertram said.

Bertram also insisted on the importance of the week-long academy.

"Yes. Very important. Pulling everybody together, getting everybody excited to start the school year but also that learning opportunity," she said.

Starting at /week.