High Tech High -- Professional Development

COLLEGIAL CONVERSATIONS AT HIGH TECH MIDDLE
Second Saturday of every month, 10:30 am - 11:30 am (lunch following)
Thanks to a generous grant from the CA Department of Education, High Tech Middle is pleased to host Collegial Conversations. Collegial Conversations are hosted by High Tech Middle, not the HTH GSE. High Tech Middle School invites you to participate in monthly round table discussions about teaching and learning with educators from all over Southern California. The first Collegial Conversations was held at High Tech Middle on November 14 and over 35 educators participated from around Southern California. Collegial conversations runs from 10:30-11:30am, followed by an informal discussion and lunch from 11:30-12:00pm.

During these Collegial Conversations, teachers will collaborate in small groups to discuss student work, projects, assessment strategies, and dilemmas using various protocols. These discussions will help educators to improve and inform their teaching practices, while introducing conversation protocols that can be utilized at their own school. It is also a great way to network with other educators.

For any questions about Collegial Coversations or to RSVP please contact Andrea Barrett at abarrett@hightechhigh.org Please put Collegial Conversation RSVP in the subject line, and include your name and school in the email. [see sample agenda]

Collegial Conversations at a distance^(BETA)

Due to popular request, we are piloting a distance version of the collegial conversations. On Saturday, February 13, from 10:30 - 11:30 am PST, in addition to the usual conversations located in Point Loma, there will be two additional options for people who can not make it to our physical location. We will be offering a hybrid version of the collegial conversations so that participants can join one of the in person conversations from a distance. We will also be offering a fully online version of a conversation which will only occur in a virtual space. Check back here for more information prior to the event. Know that this is our first time attempting this, and we may not fully pull it off. If you are risk averse, come back for our March conversation at a distance, which will likely be more highly polished. For Collegial Conversations at a distance, lunch will not be provided.

For more information about the fully online version of Collegial Conversations at a distance, click here.

For more information about the hybrid version of Collegial Conversations at a distance, click here (coming soon).

FALL RESIDENCY
Wednesday, October 7 through Friday October 9, 2009
This residency will be tailored to teachers and school staff who are new to project-based learning and the High Tech High design principles. Agenda items will include "HTH 101: An Overview", "Project Based Learning 101" as well as classroom observations.

WINTER RESIDENCY
Wednesday, January 27 through Friday, January 29, 2010
The focus of this residency is Presentations of Learning and other forms of assessment at High Tech High schools. New and returning teachers will have ample opportunities to observe classrooms and interact with HTH students, teachers, and administrators.

Registration is full and currently closed. The Exhibition Residency registration will be available in February. Draft Agenda [ PDF ]

EXHIBITION RESIDENCY
Thursday, March 25 through Friday, March 26, 2010
The focus of this residency is to observe the process of HTH schools preparing for their annual exhibition of student learning. During Exhibition Night, scheduled for Thursday, students from HTH schools exhibit their work in a dizzying array of creative formats. Past exhibitions have included a World War I era restaurant and cabaret, an art gallery, a museum-like exhibit on the history and physics of baseball, simulations of faraway ecologies, and many other thought-provoking and educational displays.
2009 Agenda [ PDF ]

SUMMER INSTITUTE
Monday, June 28- Wednesday, June 30, 2010
The Summer Institute is HTH Learning's largest annual event. Practitioners, school leaders, community partners, and charter and small school advocates from across the country come to High Tech High to learn about our principles and practices and network with colleagues engaged in new school development and reform efforts. The Summer Institute features interactive sessions on topics such as project-based learning, integrating math and science, working with diverse learners in heterogeneous classrooms, and more.
2009 Agenda and Program: [ PDF ] 2009 Session Descriptions: [ PDF ]

In addition to the residencies and institutes listed above, you and your colleagues are invited to observe other events at HTH as listed below (contact us for specific dates). Should you choose to attend one or more of these, we will do our best to tailor an experience that meets your needs.

Presentations of Learning
Mid-December 2009
In these end-of term presentations, organized differently at the different HTH schools, students present and reflect on their learning over the first half of the school year.

Transitional Presentations of Learning
Mid- to late June 2010
In presentations to panels comprised of faculty and community members, students offer evidence from their digital portfolios to show that they are ready to proceed to the next grade.

For more information on Professional Development and Educator Training
at High Tech High, contact: Julie Holmes or Hayley Loendorf at
(619) 398-4902