With the leadership and help of Mark Picketts, Hamlin’s Director of Program Innovation and Professional Development, teachers explored learning this year through inquiry projects that they personally designed. As action researchers, teachers used data, research, and reflection, to investigate, modify, and improve their teaching practice. 27 participating teachers in the Inquiry Project Year shared their findings with colleagues at a year-end celebration of learning on June 19th. This type of reflective work serves to make Hamlin a learning institution that continues to grow and strive for excellence in a variety of areas.

The following are just some of the topics that were covered:

-The creation of a mentoring and acculturation program for middle school faculty new to Hamlin

-The creation of a robust resource portal on HamlinNet for parents and teachers to find information on multiple attention and learning issues

-The creation of a system to better identify and support students who are introverts

-The creation of a golf unit that included designing a mini-golf course

-The creation of K-4 environmental education field trips, focused on service-learning and stewardship

-The creation of social studies curriculum with greater emphasis on social activism

-Exploring how we can make homework more consistent, easy, predictable, and meaningful

-The creation of a Spanish for Spanish speakers curriculum

-The creation of a visible scope and sequence for sharing what Hamlin does with coding and robotics

To learn more about a couple specific projects, please click on the links below:

http://pubs.hamlin.org/blog/2017/05/02/project-based-professional-development-2nd-grade/

http://www.hamlinblog.org/blog/2017/03/13/inquiry-project-year-environmental-stewardship/