A new school year brings a fresh start for children returning to the classroom and a renewed challenge for teachers to add innovative teaching methods to their instructional approach.  To assist teachers in meeting the challenge, Floyd County Schools will hold the system's first "Kickoff Classic" this Friday with teachers sharing successful classroom strategies to enhance student learning with other teachers.  The "Kickoff Classic" will feature teachers from Floyd County Schools and special guest technology experts in the day-long learning experience at Model High School and Model Elementary School.

Dr. John Jackson, superintendent of Floyd County Schools introduced the idea of a professional development day for the system in school calendar development discussions last fall. "We have tremendously talented teachers in our classrooms in Floyd County Schools and it is exciting to see them have the opportunity to share their instructional expertise with others across the school system," commented Dr. Jackson. "It is wonderful to see the talents of our teachers showcased."   

The day of learning for teachers will begin at 9 a.m. on Friday morning and include six-45 minute learning opportunities packed with informative sessions for each staff member in the system. The "Kickoff Classic" will have a clear theme of improving the use of technology to assist learning.  Guest speakers with educational technology expertise will feature Cat Flippen, an instructional technology specialist with Oconee County Schools; Joel Frey, local school technology coordinator at Harbins Elementary School in Gwinnett County; P.K. Graff, STEM teacher at Forsyth STEM Academy; and Dr. Gilda Lyon, STEM coordinator for the Georgia Department of Education.  The sessions will also feature local teachers and administrators including local technology in the classroom guru Lee Green, senior instructional technologist for Floyd County Schools.
  

A small sample of topics for the day include gamefying learning, maximizing Google Classroom, great apps to use in the classroom, tips for student and teacher use of "Bring Your Own Technology", blogging in the classroom, digital student portfolios, 3-D printing and Makerspaces, STEM and STEAM in the classroom, using the  Flipped Classroom and many more topics important in the modern learning environment.  An example of how the topics are important for teachers is the Flipped Classroom.  This innovation involves teachers putting instruction on video and posting to YouTube for students to view for homework.  Flipping instruction to homework frees class time for projects, group learning and questions.

"Teachers share and learn from one another every day," stated Barbara Smith, director of school Improvement and professional learning and co-coordinator of the event. "We just have not had a day where every education professional in the system could come together in one location to share successful teaching methods that are yielding impressive results in classrooms across the system."  Ryan White, instructional technology coordinator for Floyd County Schools and co-coordinator added, "We are really excited about the variety of topics that will be available in this one-day conference setting - especially the quality keynote presentations planned."  
  

A complete list of topics and session leaders is available on the "Kickoff Classic" website.