By Rachel Phillips
Teachers across campus gathered to attend FVHS’s first ever “Snaplearn” staff-development sessions Aug. 26.
Teachers drifted to four classrooms to hear 10-minute presentations from fellow staff and even from students. Topics ranged from the new FVHS app, to using BBN effectively, to incorporating Instagram into the curriculum.
The idea emerged when five FVHS teachers attended an Edcamp conference last January. English teachers David Theriault and Sean Ziebarth worked hard to bring the fast-paced seminars to the campus last Monday.
“We wanted to call it Speedgeeking,” said Theriault, “but that’s not really all the sessions are about. We wanted teachers to be excited about the sessions and we didn’t want to restrict the topics to only technology or school-related ideas.”
Both teachers and students gave presentations on topics they considered themselves “experts.” For example, Minh Thu Le (‘14) gave a presentation about using Instagram in classrooms.
“I thought it was awesome because it was a real role reversal,” said Le. “It was nice to be the one teaching the adults for a change.”
Theriault hopes to hold the sessions again soon as soon as staff development takes place again in January. He would like to invite parents to the sessions to hear and to give their own perspectives on new ideas for FVHS.
“By keeping it fast and keeping it focused, we’re more able to absorb the information we’re told,” said Theriault. “This is only the beginning of a long series of developments on this completely fresh perspective on education.”
