Our October 22 continuity event was a major hit with 12 participants representing 4 years of Summer Institutes (not bad considering we're 5 years old). We changed the location to UH Hilo but we still had one teacher from Waimea and one teacher from Kona attending. Yeah!
What made this continuity so successful?
The elements of a successful continuity. . .
1.
Variety = Two teacher consultants sharing demo lessons from different grade levels and with very different teaching styles. It's not that hard with the "taskmaster" present to keep the day flowing.
Lynn Nagata brought us into her elementary classroom and took us through a poetry writing workshop with "happy memory poems". Since she does this every year, she was also able to let us see her student anthologies.
Tamara wanted to try theatre of the absurd with her middle school students and she really challenged our thinking. We didn't think we could do it, but we were all able to write our 20 line monologues for our own Theatre of the Absurd in 20 minutes. Along the way, all of us, including Tamara, went on a journey of discovery by talking pedagogy and practice, parameters and assessment possibilities.
2.
Joy = Writing and Sharing - we wrote together, we learned together, we shared together, we laughed together, we rejuvenated each other.
3.
Food - duh. What's a Writing Project event without food. Sorry, no pics, I was busy eating.
Three elements to a successful continuity - Variety, Joy, Food. I hope all your professional development opportunities have the same elements for success.
Aloha, "The Taskmaster"
The next continuity session is scheduled for January 7 in Kona (tentatively at Kealakehe elementary).
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