August 12, 13, and 14:
With the purchase of the student laptops and the teacher laptops, John Kvapil, Preston’s Technology Coordinator, instructed the staff on how to best utilize the new laptops. AEA Technology Consultant, Cindy Blinkinsop, informed the elementary staff on using various programs and websites with the students for primarily reading, math, and science skills, and she informed the secondary staff on programs and websites for students to enhance the learning in several content areas for 7-12 grades.
Several meetings were held throughout these days with groups of staff to review handbooks, emergency procedures, policies, new changes, and the challenges educators have in front of them across the nation.

The elementary students, families, PAC 4 Kids and staff were involved in Unpack the Backpack Night to help prepare and transition students into their next grade for the first day of school.

August 17 and 18:
AEA Data Consultant, Sally Rigeman, emphasized the importance to staff about collecting and analyzing student data to aid in decision-making for instructional purposes in the classroom. Analyzing student data also assisted in goal-setting within the district to determine areas of study for the staff’s professional development and for student instruction. Studying the data can improve student achievement when the classroom instruction is changed to meet the student’s needs.

September 9:
The District Leadership Team of seven teachers and two administrators chose the reading strategy of graphic organizers to be the reading comprehension focus this year in professional development. The Reading/Literacy Team consists of six teachers trained by Janet Stos, AEA 9 Reading Consultant. The Reading/Literacy Team has worked diligently to create good staff development for the rest of the teachers, and planning it for relevancy in grade level curriculum. Graphic organizers were introduced at this time.

September 23 and October 7:
John Woodin, consultant from Mid-Iowa School Improvement Consortium, taught the staff about accessing and analyzing the MAP tests (Measure of Academic Progress). The teachers are able now to establish growth targets with each student and access a list of skills each student needs to accomplish their target. Again, this will enable the teachers to change instruction to meet the needs of the students.

October 21
The Reading/Literacy Team split into two groups and taught the K-6 staff and the 7-12 staff about implementing graphic organizers for sequence and descriptive text structures which is taught to students to increase reading comprehension skills.