In-service Middle School

3/17/2017

This meeting really took me by surprise. Growing up and throughout my

time teaching, the word teacher in-service was always mentioned and all I
ever got out of it was that it was a day off for students and maybe a possible
free day for teachers to catch up on work.

I was half wrong. The first potion of the day reminded me as if I was in my
Doane Fast-Track Program classes. Middle school teachers from the school
district commencing in the cafeteria, talking about topics taking place in the
classroom, what kid did what that shocked them or what they said about
another. What troubles are taking place, as well as what amazing skills are
taking place.

The main topic discussed by a couple of teachers leading the presentation on

assessments and best practices. After some short examples, we broke out in
our groups and worked on a worksheet that followed along with a computer
presentation and discussed the topics presented.

Our PE group then met up with all the other PE teachers in the district, high
school, middle school and elementary included. The PE department head
lead the short meeting about new computers and the transitioning to HPs
and what is taking place among the district.

The last half of the day was set aside for teachers to catch up on any work,
grading or discussions that needed to take place.

Looking back, it was interesting to see the wide variety of teachers in the
district and how they handle their classrooms, kids and issues at hand. As
for PE, not much is needed to be done for the last half of the day, so for me it
was a great opportunity to talk with others to get their take on questions I
had.