Practitioners Summit
Strengthening the Effectiveness Framework
Summit – “Highest point,” “discussion of matters of great importance.”
Start the 2010-11 school year on a high point! Join fellow professionals to discuss matters of GREAT importance. There will be engaging sessions that model “best practices” for adult learners, some presented by national experts, but in keeping with the theme of a Practitioners Summit you will find that the majority of the sessions are presented by your peers, teachers who work beside you daily to ensure that students learn more. Every Summit participant will be asked to present, as they join a round table at some point during the conference to share their best practices. The Summit will include continuous learning, sharing with your peers, highlighting excellence and teachers taking ownership of their own learning.
The “Practitioners Summit” (formerly Summer Teacher Conference) will be held on July 27-29 with registration beginning at 7:00 the first morning and 8:00 on subsequent mornings. The conference is designed for all MCS teachers. Teachers who attend will be able to “trade” this inservice for inservice on August 4 and 5. July 29, the final day of the Practitioners Summit, participants will be dismissed by 1:00 and they can “trade” attendance on this day for either October 11 or February 21 inservice. The Practitioners Summit will also allow you to acquire professional development for the 2010-11 school year, per the new Professional Development Policy requiring 57 hours of professional development.
The new MEA Agreement requires “two, three-hour blocks of time for the purpose of room preparation during the first week of school when children are not present. The first three hour block should occur on the first day the teacher returns unless there is an administrative reason or action that necessitates the change.” Therefore, August 2, there will be three hours of inservice and three hours of room preparation. August 3, students register, you also may be able to schedule the second three-hour block of room preparation. August 6, the final three-hour block of room preparation time will be scheduled if it has not already occurred.
Teachers who attend the Practitioners Summit are not required to report to work on August 4 and 5. Teachers who did not attend the Practitiones Summit are expected to maintain the regular school calendar. On August 4 and 5 teachers who did not attend the summit will fulfill their inservice commitments in the following manner:
- Full day of Teach Like A Champion on-line training furnished by the district based on the book that all MCS teachers will receive prior to the Practitioners Summit
- Full day of online inservice supplied by the district on district initiatives. This may include an individualized menu that consists of specific Teachscape modules, block scheduling, differentiation, lesson planning, etc OR
- The school may elect to substitute ½ day of school-level inservice for ½ day of district inservice. Any school level activities must be entered into Avatar and approved through the approval process.
Essential sessions from the Practitioners Summit will also be placed on Mediasite or in online courses to be used for subsequent professional development throughout the district.
Teachers who attend the Practitioners Summit will scan their MCS id upon entry to the summit and initial at individual session presentations. A list of Summit attendees will be furnished to each school by the Department of Professional Development and Staff Inservice prior to the end of the first payroll reporting period.
The Practitioners Summit is the inaugural celebration of a true conference for Memphis City School teachers. The position of teaching is a professional one that the district intends to celebrate and provide the resources to enhance your work as a professional educator.
For more information about the MCS Teacher Effectiveness Initiative click
here.