By the time the summer winds down and students are back in the classrooms across the district, over 800 MMSD teaching staff will have been students themselves.

They will have participated in one or more of the 35 professional development courses offered by MMSD Professional Development with the purpose of broadening and improving their own skills.

Fifty one MMSD teachers/staff will have been instructors of teachers/staff during the summer, teaching a broad range of courses focused on meeting the academic, social/emotional, or health needs and strengths of MMSD students K-12.

The broad range of courses includes:

• Spanish Boot Camp
• Literacy Coaching
• Non-Biased Culturally Relevant Assessment
• Co-teaching in an Inclusive Classroom
• Learning Mathematics in the Primary Grades
• Science for Grades 6, 7, and 8
• Brain Development and Challenging Behavior
• Heart Saver A.E.D. in Pediatrics,

to name a few.

In the schools, teachers are participating in Equity Book Studies, learning to implement a K-5 Math Block, preparing to pilot a new math program, studying resilience theory, and coordinating instruction in multi-age classrooms, to name a few. This does not include the multitude of staff going back to the classrooms of colleges and universities to complete additional degrees, certification programs, or teach courses themselves.

So, what do teaching staff do in the summer? They go back to school!

Class: Learning Geometry in the Primary Grades

One of many summer courses for teachers offered by MMSD is this 20 hour course intended for pre-kindergarten through 3rd grade teachers. The teachers/students are building polydrons, a task they will have their students do in order to learn some fundamental principles of geometry. Sixteen MMSD teachers participated in the course offered in late July.

Mazie Jenkins is the instructor for this class. She's an instructional resource teacher for elementary grades in MMSD's Department of Teaching and Learning.