For three days in late June, that effort took a step forward as 80 experienced teachers joined a three-day regional gathering at Ottoson Middle School. Lynch, the Dallin School principal, and Bishop Principal Steve Carme are the Arlington point people in the two-year push to help new teachers. The institute could have accommodated 100, he said. Others manage classrooms in Cambridge, Boxford, Malden and Concord, among those represented. The parley came about this spring after two professors from Boston College approached Arlington.
Teachers like to do things that work.
To reach that goal, the institute leaders tried to help classroom veterans re-experience what they do well. That is, as teachers hone their class-management skills over many years, they may need help recalling what succeeds and what doesn't. During the three days, this occurred less through lecture and more via discussion plus role-playing. The exchanges could become pointed. On the institute's third day, teachers wrestled with a discussion of who is responsible when a classroom discipline issue spills onto the playground.