The primary goal of any professional development is to promote permanent change in classroom practices.

BRITTINGHAM PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SEMINARS offer teacher coaching and teacher mentoring to assist teachers in being their very best. Teachers who have been coached in their classroom teaching have higher success rates with their students, experience higher job satisfaction, and stay in teaching longer than those who have not.

Research has clearly shown that one-shot teacher training sessions have limited long-range impact on instructional practices. Effective professional development requires an ongoing commitment by a district and teachers so that support can be offered as learning is applied in an instructional setting. Without this support, change is often temporary. In-school support allows teachers to gradually implement learning, building opportunities throughout the school year to revisit, discuss, question, and modify learning over time.

Several options are available for in-school support. MaryAnn offers this support only as an extension of previous professional development so that a foundation is in place prior to this experience.

Grade Level Meeting 
The focus of these sessions is to address specific grade level concerns in an informal setting. Meetings are generally individual grade levels although groups can be combined if time is limited. Depending on the number of days scheduled, each group meets for one to three hours to pose specific concerns. Teachers are asked to generate these concerns beforehand so that questions can be organized and MaryAnn can respond to the specific concerns raised by each group.

In-Classroom Observation
MaryAnn works with teachers in their own classrooms, providing insights and techniques in a non-threatening manner to help them attain their own personal goals. Many schools find that classroom visits can enhance teacher skills. In this design, MaryAnn rotates between classrooms to observe instruction in progress.  The purpose of this experience is to help teachers more closely inspect and fine tune discipline practices, reinforce effective practice and make suggestions to encourage reflection.

Invest in your teachers today by providing these valuable services in your school or district.