MTA Today - Summer 2016

Paid Advertisement Paid Advertisement

Lexington Learns Together should be a model for PD

Continued from Page 13

archetypes in myths and legends. As the session wrapped up, there was little doubt that those in the room could implement and adapt the methodologies highlighted by the instructor.

Anyone walking into the classroom halfway through would have seen a group of adults engaged in a vibrant, authentic conversation about what characters in a painting might do later that evening. But what was so striking was that we were not discussing the painting solely in terms of tomorrow’s lesson plan or learning objective. We were talking about this painting because it was fun. Educators don’t have to think in the language of learning objectives and Common Core all day long.

Lexington Learns Together is fun — and that’s OK. Teachers who have fun in the PD classroom are more likely to translate what they’ve learned to their own classrooms.

Lexington Learns Together was first presented to us as innovative, and it is. But it shouldn’t be. It should be the norm. When professional development works, we develop more than just our professional selves.

Del Nero and Olivier-Mason are English teachers at Lexington High School.

Photo by Sarah Nathan
The MTA marchers in the Boston Pride Parade on June 11 did double duty — showing
support for the LGBTQ community and spreading the #keepthecap message to the
crowd along the route. Holding the banner for the group were Hull teacher and
MTA Board member Deborah McCarthy, Lexington student Lucy Sabian and Revere
Teachers Association President Erik Fearing. Salem’s Most Visited Museum