Centre for Teaching & Learning

Professional Learning and Growth

    • At Greenwood, we put into practice what the research tells us about the impact of professional learning.

Our teacher growth model is designed to support teachers at every stage of their careers.
At Greenwood, we put into practice what the research tells us about the impact of professional learning. Many studies have shown that optimizing teacher learning has a direct positive impact on student learning.

Over teachers’ first three years with us, we carefully support their growth. During this time, we focus on personalized learning and building The Standards of Teaching in the areas of instruction, assessment and reflection, and mastery.

    • Greenwood's teacher growth model ensures that our teachers have a solid understanding of personalized learning and provides opportunities for continuous learning.

Our Experienced Teachers

When our teachers reach Year 4, they shift into our 4+ model. Teachers in this group receive instructional coaching and develop goals that support student learning and well-being. At the end of each school year, 4+ teachers reflect on their growth through End-of-Year Conversations with the Executive Director of the Greenwood Centre for Teaching and Learning. Teachers can select the format for this conversation that best suits their subject and learning style.

Expand the titles below for few examples of End-of-Year Conversations.

List of 3 items.

  • Doug Brown, Arts Teacher

    Doug created his year-end conversation using an online software called Padlet. Padlet facilitates the creation of online bulletin boards. Doug used his Padlet to reflect on his entire year as a teacher and to assess his progress on his learning goals. He wrote down growth moments in real time, ensuring they didn’t slip through the cracks. At the end of the year, he took Mary through his bulletin board, and Mary created her own “post” to respond with her thoughts and suggestions for the future. “I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the process,” Doug says. “It’s rewarding to take a moment to reflect on all the great things we do as teachers.”

  • Julie Way, Science Teacher

    The foundation of Julie’s conversation was paper documents, which had been shared with and marked up by her Grade 12 Chemistry class. Throughout the school year, Julie focused on the concept of “sharing power” with her students. For example, in the Organic Chemistry unit, Julie sat down with her class over a cup of tea, showed them her unit plan and asked for their input into how to deliver the content. “I wanted to put them in the teacher’s shoes,” Julie says. “Organic chemistry can be dry - as they are the learners, I wanted them to have an opportunity to make suggestions on how to make the content more engaging.”

  • Ben Wright, Music Teacher

    Ben’s conversation took the form of a PowerPoint presentation with links. His conversation focused on Vocal Music, a new Greenwood course coming out of student interests. The class was vigorous and challenging; for example, each student was tasked with writing and recording a multi-track recording. A highlight of the course was a master class with Canadian soprano Leslie Bouza. “It was a very driven group of students,” Ben says. “The course affected and challenged each of them in a different way.” In his conversation with Mary, Ben went through examples of the work students produced and reflected on his first year teaching Vocal Music.

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