New Teachers Get Weeklong Introduction to Ossining Schools

Newly hired Ossining teachers spent a week learning about effective teaching practice, family engagement, safety and other topics as they prepare to meet their students on Sept. 6.

The five days of professional development for the 26 new staffers took place at Anne M. Dorner Middle School. On another floor at AMD, 15 second-year teachers spent three days working in depth on thinking maps, personalized learning and other topics.

Veteran teacher Mary Catherine Hillman spoke to new colleagues Thursday about the importance of family engagement and linking events like open houses to learning opportunities. Rather than just speaking to parents about rules, behavior and homework, schools and teachers should give parents tips on how they can help their children learn, she said. They should also engage parents about what teachers can do to help their students learn.

“Ossining is super invested in family engagement,” said Ms. Hillman, who piloted a program for Academic Parent-Teacher Teams in her kindergarten class last year at Park School.

Ms. Hillman, who will be at Claremont School this year, asked the teachers to create an action plan for family engagement and discuss it with a new colleague they hadn’t spoken with yet.

There was time for light moments and collegiality during the week, which ended with a bus tour of Ossining.

Before her session, new staff voted on which of four statements Ms. Hillman wrote about herself was a lie. Those who guessed that she doesn’t play the guitar got to choose a small prize, including a pair of mustache socks and a magnet. They all learned that she rode on a motorcycle through France, hiked the 225-mile John Muir Trail in California, and that her husband is British (making her two children “haff” American and “hawf” British).

On another floor at AMD on Thursday, Brian Alm, director of secondary teaching and learning, conducted a workshop on personalized learning for second-year teachers.

Teachers had to cut up a worksheet with examples of different types of learning and decide which column they best fit under: individualized learning (tailored to a student’s learning speed); differentiated learning (based on each student’s objectives, needs and preferences); or personalized learning (which is tailored to students’ needs and gives them more flexibility and control over their learning).

Ossining High School chemistry teacher Michelle Portillo said the second year of workshops was even more helpful than the first year. “It’s now deep-diving into some of these topics,” she said. “I’m enjoying it.”

Juan Prando, a new Spanish teacher at AMD, said he learned a lot during the sessions. “It’s helping me as a professional,” he said, “and it’s helping me meet my new colleagues.”