In the past two weeks, the Language, English, and Humanities, Philosophy, Religion and Social Science (HPRSS) departments met with outside specialists for workshops on professional development.
Department days are opportunities for faculty to take a step back away from day-to-day teaching and engage with longer-term projects that can address potential issues facing the departments. Ms. Amy Foster, the head of the HPRSS department, spoke to the breadth of events that department days have been used for. “Last year, HPRSS brought in Tom Jehn from the Harvard College Writing Program to give an evening workshop focused on the teaching of writing and providing helpful feedback to students on their writing. And we had a couple of department days that focused on the redesign of our courses in preparation for the implementation of the new daily schedule.”
This year, the HPRSS and English departments paired up for a combined department day that focused on how teachers can make classrooms places of greater equity and inclusion. They worked with an outside facilitator, Ms. Emily Chiariella, from Education for Good, a consulting organization specializing in diversity and equity in K-12 education. Mr. Ned Gallagher, a faculty member of both the HPRSS and English departments, said, “It was an unusual opportunity for faculty from both departments to be gathered together and for the faculty members to exchange ideas.”
Occasionally, department days take teachers off campus for training experiences. Ms. Foster said, “A popular Department Day was a visit to Wesleyan, during which we visited classes and interacted with a panel of professors who spoke with us about how they felt we could best prepare high school students for the transition to college academics.”
Since last year, Mr. Georges Chahwan, head of the Language Department, has aimed to align the departmental curriculum with the standards instituted by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) and to further the department’s emphasis on performance-based assessments.
During the language department day this fall, an ACTFL speaker, Mrs. Lea Graner Kennedy, was invited to Choate to provide training on grading and conducting performance assessments. Mr. Chahwan explained, “Mrs. Kennedy prepared an agenda and material for the day that contained group work for the entire department — different scenarios and exercises that would be performed in pairs. These scenarios were meant for faculty members to be placed into the shoes of their students.” By the end of the day, faculty had completed training on how to incorporate curricula, lesson plans, and assessments into language presentation and performance.
Dr. Matthew Bardoe, head of the Math Department, addressed some concerns that may arise from missing a day of class. “Department days are disruptive to the students and teachers, but they are necessary to keep teachers up to date on their craft.”
