AUSSIE

Blog entry posted February 8th, 2010 by Bernadette McKinlay

AUSSIE consultants are currently active in several of the Districts of Long Island and there is a great deal of enthusiasm amongst this team of AUSSIE professionals about what is happening in their schools.  A recurring theme is the wonderful openness of the teachers, with whom they are working, to embracing new ideas and a keenness to learn new ways of working.  The other great advantage is the district wide approach that is adopted on Long Island, with strong and committed leadership teams who seek consistency throughout their schools. Below are just a few examples of what is happening in a few of the districts AUSSIE is working.

In East Islip the quest is for a broader, shared understanding of what best practice looks like, about how children learn and about the best ways to support quality teaching and learning. This is creating a great environment for ongoing growth.

In Babylon teachers are exploring Backwards Planning concepts in the context of a comprehensive Staff Development initiative. Under the direction of a strong leadership team, positive change is really being embedded in Babylon. Curriculum mapping is planned as the next step.

The final example to share is the exciting work that is happening in East Meadow.  Results there are really telling a story of success. In fact one local newspaper felt it was so newsworthy, they ran a story about scores “going through the roof” in one East Meadow school.  This year, teachers, together with their AUSSIE consultant, wrote a curriculum to go with Laurie Anderson’s latest book, Chains. The 650 students were so enthusiastic about the book, that parents bought copies to read themselves and it became dinner conversation in many East Meadow homes.  The culminating project was a book review. When Laurie Anderson heard about this, she offered to participate in a Skype interview with the students and to post the school’s curriculum on her Website.

These are just a few examples of the exciting happenings in our Long Island schools.  If you have any success stories you would like to share, we would love to hear them. Please submit any feedback, comments or your own story below…