What is a Whole
Faculty Study Group?
Whole-faculty study groups involve all the school's certified
faculty, notes Murphy (1997). Faculty members--including administrators,
teachers, counselors, and other certified personnel--meet in
groups of four to six members for one hour each week to discuss
ways to improve student learning. Finding the time to meet
requires a consensus on the part of the faculty that students
will benefit from the faculty's group discussion focusing on
curriculum and instruction.
There are five principles that guide the WFSG process.
- Students
are first.
- Everyone
participates.
- Leadership
is shared.
- Responsibility
is equal.
- The work
is public.
The
Whole Faculty Groups at Wanda Gray Elementary School for
the School Year 2006-2007 are listed as follows:
| Group Number |
Topic |
Names of Participants |
Essential Question |
| Group #1 |
Reading |
L. Keltner, J. Joellyn, S. Hanson, S. Milburn |
What do we need to do in order to help our children develop
and understand figurative language within poetry and prose? |
| Group #2 |
Reading |
K. Fiedler, B. Kern, M. Bryant, D. Foley |
What teaching
strategies can we apply to diversify our vocabulary instruction? |
| Group #3 |
Writing |
M.K.McMullin,J.Blackwell,C.Barrett,
J.Nibbelink, P.Allison,G.Graham |
What do we need to learn about the students' spelling,
grammar, and punctuation in order to help students improve
and learn? |
| Group #4 |
Higher Order Thinking Skills |
A.Hartley,K.Harvey,H.Hill,
H.Vondrasek, L.Stewart
|
How can we, as music teachers, apply higher order thinking
skills in our classes? |
| Group #5 |
Reading |
C. Howser, A. Pollard, A. Kennedy, L. Hill, C. Gillespie,
S. Rippee |
What are
our best resources for teaching these two particular
targeted objectives using the CA buffet?
1.
Locate and interpret key information in illustrations,
title, chapter headings, table of contents, charts, diagrams,
graphs, glossary, captions, and maps to answer questions.
2. Write informational reports, diary/journal entries
and
friendly letters that address an intended audience and
purpose. |
| Group #6 |
Reading |
M. Marshall, B. Sweet, L. McKelvy |
How can we
assist 2nd grade students, through speech and language
sessions, to increase their vocabulary skills
using the Text Talk component in the new CA adoption? |
| Group #7 |
Reading |
C. Thompson, L. Ludlam , G.Cardin, J.Craig |
What do we,
as teachers, need to learn in order to teach students
to improve vocabulary skills? |
| Group #8 |
Essential 55 |
L. Cooper, C. Norman, H. Ray, D. Hightower |
How
can our students improve their writing skills? |
|
