Thirty-three English teachers from Lasallian secondary schools of the San Francisco New Orleans District recently gathered for the District’s annual English Teachers Workshop, held April 16-18 at Saint Joseph’s Camp on the Russian River.
Event participants were able to share best practices with one another, troubleshoot common challenges, and offer their insights with regard to the most effective approaches to the English education of those entrusted to our care as Lasallian educators.
Workshop sessions included “A Culture of Literacy at San Miguel High School,” facilitated by Karan Stewart and Beth Foster, English teachers at San Miguel in Tucson; “Fusing Social Justice with Critical Thinking, Reading and Writing,” facilitated by Chris Krantz, English teacher at La Salle Catholic College Preparatory in Milwaukie; “Reading – Best Practices and Challenges,” facilitated by Lissa Leigh and John Pelster, English teachers at De La Salle High School in Concord; and “Technology as an Effective Teaching/Learning Tool,” a conversation facilitated by Greg Kopra of De La Salle Institute. Participants also spent an evening rotating among small groups to share best practices with one another.
The teachers were universally positive about the workshop, noting in particular how much they appreciated meeting and getting to know their counterparts from other Lasallian schools in the District. In addition to the workshop’s formal sessions, participants took full advantage of break times, meal times, and social times to raise and discuss many other pressing issues related to the teaching and learning of English in our secondary schools.
This event is one of a series of District Education workshops sponsored each year by the District’s Office of Education. These “job-alike” workshops seek to accomplish five goals: to provide participants with time to meet and get to know one another; to provide participants with the chance to discuss common issues with one another; to provide participants with an opportunity for professional development; to provide participants with opportunities to share their best practices with each other; and to do all this in light of the Lasallian educational mission.
In 2015-2016, the District Office of Education will offer workshops for Academic Assistant Principals (October 26-27, 2015, at Mont La Salle in Napa) and for Mathematics Teachers (March 17-19, 2016, at Saint Joseph’s Camp). For information on these workshops, please contact Greg Kopra in the Office of Education, gkopra@dlsi.org.
Story contributed by Greg Kopra.
