Lower School teacher attends writing institute at Columbia

Ms.Tricia Anderson, Instructional Coach at the Evelyne Sheats Lower School, applied and was accepted into Columbia University Teachers College Winter Institute for Writing. She attended the institute over January 25 - 30. Participating in this institute was intimate and intense, with most of the work occurring in NY classrooms. Ms. Anderson received support in methods of staff development, her instructional coaching practice, and giving and receiving on-the-spot feedback.

 

The institute was devoted to studying student writing in order to find predictable patterns and needs to ensure that students are progressing as writers within and across years. While there, Ms. Anderson also learned how to help teachers provide individualized, responsive instruction to their writers. Tricia learned about how to best support teachers as they implement the Units of Study. The institute helped her to hone her demonstration teaching while in classrooms with teachers too.

 

Ms. Anderson has returned to Rabun Gap ready to coach other teachers, support a wide spectrum of teachers, and use powerful methods of staff development to differentiate support.