Fry Foundation Grant
The Lloyd A. Fry Foundation is a private, independent grantmaking foundation active in Chicago philanthropy since 1983. The Fry Foundation awards over $7 million in grants annually to nonprofits throughout the city of Chicago.
Professional Growth Activities
- Faculty members voluntarily take a course entitled Studying Skillful Teaching I, taught by Dr. Ann Stern of Research for Better Teaching, Acton MA. The course includes thirty-six hours of class with additional time required for readings, experimentation, reflection, and written assignments. Class sessions consist of presentations, demonstrations, discussions, and videotaped segments of exemplary real-life classroom teaching. Participants are required to complete a number of assignments, including a case study and analysis of their efforts to help under-performing students; experiments in planning and expanding their repertoire of instructional and class management strategies; collaborative investigations of problems in student achievement; and reflections on questions posed in class and on assigned readings. Dr. Stern modifies the assignments for those participants who do not have classroom responsibilities.
- Faculty members may opt to attend the annual two-day retreat in which they learn, collaborate, and work on strengthening our professional learning community.
- Faculty members participate in mandated weekly collaboration periods. Teachers self-select a collaboration partner and meet once each week during their preparation period to discuss curriculum and classroom dynamics. Specific guidelines have been given to teachers to increase the quality of collaboration time. It has been suggested that teachers concentrate on one topic per month to promote an in-depth study of the topic; however this is not required. The topics under consideration are those that have been highlighted in the Senn staff development activities over the course of the Fry Initiative. Among these are the use of wait time, attribution theory, expectations and standards, and the development and use of rubrics.
- Faculty members voluntarily attend lunchtime sharing meetings at which time they discuss educational ideas and share successful teaching strategies in a casual atmosphere.
- Mandated Open Classroom Visits are days when every teacher visits the classroom of a teacher, not necessarily in his discipline, to observe the positive things that are going on in another classroom. Teachers are asked to make note of teaching strategies, atmosphere, bulletin boards and other displays, instructional materials, student materials, the interaction between students and teacher or among students, and other factors that contribute to instruction and learning. Teachers meet in mandated small group sessions within one week of the visits to discuss only the good things observed and how those good things might be used in their own classrooms. No teacher names are mentioned. This process occurs twice per year.
- Senn supports professional growth through institutional memberships and attendance at professional meetings. Senn provides substitute service, pays registration fees and provides stipends for attending meetings.
- Senn hosts one Saturday professional development per year which teachers attend on a voluntary basis. The topics related to those that have been highlighted in the Senn staff development activities over the course of the Fry Initiative.
- Make and Take Workshops are after-school meetings in which teachers review one topic from the Studying Skillful Teaching I class. After discussing the topic, the participants are given the tools and materials needed to make the items needed to implement the reviewed topic. The teachers will walk away fully prepared to utilize the technique. Both discussion and production encourage teachers to use the techniques promptly in their classrooms.
- Study group encourages teachers to read a specific article related to education and discuss it with their peers. There is fluidity in group membership based upon the teachers' interests in the article selected for discussion. The goals are to make teachers aware of current trends in education and to develop a formalized way for Senn teachers to reflect on their practice. This reflection is a key to a deep, sustainable change in teaching practices. It helps us in becoming more professional in our classrooms and with each other.
- Classroom teachers voluntarily participate in peer coaching. Peer coaching is a structured method of data collection and reflection through peer observation. Peer coaching is a four step process involving a pre-conference, observation, post-conference, and reflection. In order for peer coaching to be effective, there must be a high level of trust between the participants and specific rules must be followed. Although peer coaching is a complicated process, it is worth the time and effort as it brings collaboration and reflection to a deeper level and enhances growth as a professional community. The frequency that teachers participate in peer coaching depends upon the individuals in peer coaching partnerships.
Senn High School was one of six high schools awarded a five-year $1.2 million Fry Foundation High School Initiative Grant in January 2001. The initiative was directed at six principals who had demonstrated leadership skills as determined by the Foundation's board and staff with the assistance of several outside experts.
The directors of the Fry Foundation believe that talented leadership is at the center of any successful effort to improve organizations. Through the Initiative, the Foundation has provided resources to the six high schools to be used within a collaborative leadership framework. The Foundation gave each of the schools the freedom and flexibility to design programs best suited to their needs and their students. They only restrictions were that every program had to address the Initiative goals: to increase student achievement and improve the learning environment.
Senn has targeted the bulk of its Fry monies for ten professional growth activities with the goal of developing the faculty into a professional community.
Senn is proud to have been selected as a recipient of the Fry Foundation's High School Initiative Grant. We know that we are privileged to have been able to design a program specific to Senn and to have been able to modify and augment the program in order to further develop ourselves as a true professional community.