Posts by Gretchen Schultek Bridgers

Beginning professional development with an effective ice breaker activity is a popular opening activity. This helps warm up the audience to the learning experience as well as get to know each other better. An ice breaker tends to be unrelated to topic being presented at the learning session and is a common interest or skill…

School safety has become top priority for schools as of late due to the many tragedies our country has endured recently. This has caused many school districts to review their safety procedures so that all students are protected while learning at school. This post will cover 4 ways to strengthen school safety for all students.…

Providing professional development on lesson design can be quite fruitful for teachers. Lesson design is a deliberate practice where teachers plan on a macro and micro level, meaning they zoom in and out to ensure all lessons are aligned and thorough. The skill of designing lessons can be hard to master, but consistent practice builds…

Teaching adults is different than teaching kids. Even though both are engaging in the process of learning, how they learn (and need to learn) are different. To ensure a successful and enjoyable experience, knowing how to teach each subgroup is important. In education, adults have to continue learning through professional development [PD] to keep their…

Collaborative planning is a strategy whereby teachers sit together to develop cohesive, aligned lesson plans for all subject areas. Schools utilize this process in various ways which impacts the results. When expectations differ among school sites, the effectiveness of the developed lesson plans differ within the same district. Over time, poor collaborative planning habits create…