Literacy Practicum

Teachers spend a lot of time perfecting their craft. Each summer we ask our teachers to stop and reflect on the previous year. They attend a summer conference in Hillsdale, Michigan, and they spend over a week of in-service training before school begins. During the year, countless discussions are held on how to fine-tune their work. It can take years to become a master teacher, and we rely on these teachers to help train and coach those who are newer to the profession.

Four of our teachers, Ms. Jackett, Mrs. McNeely, Miss Mills, and Mrs. Pursell have been recognized by the Hillsdale K-12 Education Office for their excellence and have been asked to participate in a year-long practicum in which they will hone their literacy and math skills with the possibility of becoming literacy and/or math trainers for teachers across the country.

To begin their studies within the practicum, Mrs. Pursell, Mrs. McNeely, and Ms. Jackett traveled to Saint John’s Classical Academy outside of Jacksonville, Florida, and assisted with new school training. These trainings are put on by the Hillsdale K-12 Education Office as a way to train the staff of schools heading into their inaugural year. There were over a hundred attendees at this particular training! Our teachers were able to share their expertise and advice with the trainees as they prepared to start in their new school. 

The upcoming year will be incredibly busy for Ms. Jackett, Mrs. McNeely, Miss Mills, and Mrs. Pursell. They will spend the year studying the curriculum, writing papers, recording lessons, attending and hosting Zoom sessions, and presenting next summer at the Hillsdale Summer Conference in Classical Education. We are thrilled that Hillsdale has recognized the excellence of our teachers, and we are incredibly grateful that they have chosen to work with our students at Seven Oaks.