School News

Teachers Attend 2005 Inservice

By A. VERGEL
Published: August 23, 2005

GNYA Teachers attended the 2005 inservice organized by the Greater New York Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. The event featured a workshop on literacy in the content areas by Helen Meade, a Brooklyn College professor with an extensive background in adventist education.

Teachers from all schools in the Greater New York Conference, including GNYA, were present at the 2005 inservice workshop in the conference's headquarters. The workshop, regularly scheduled each school year before the beginning of classes, focused on literacy in the content areas. Featured presenter, Helen Meade, who teaches teachers to be literacy coaches, stressed the importance of making content relevant and of teaching vocabulary in the context of the content areas. The workshop included the sampling and discussion of a number of strategies useful in helping students build vocaulary in meaningful ways.

Through diverse group activities, Mrs. Meade, whose background includes 21 years of teaching with the Greater New York Conference and 13 years in other public and private educational systems, helped teachers understand ways in which to maximize student learning through reading.

Of special interest to teachers was an article shared by Mrs. Meade on the life-saving impact of a lesson on tsunamis for 10-year-old Tilly Smith and many other tourists in Thailand last December. Tilly, who had learned about tsunamis and their warning signs in her school, saved her family and 100 other tourists from the deadly tsunami. "Who says focusing on academic content is not relevant? The knowledge and skills we give our students have many applications in the outside world," agreed Mrs. Lazarus, GNYA's head math teacher, who was present at the workshop. For Mr. Palmer, accounting and physics teacher, "the [workshop] experience has proven that every teacher should know and utilize the [reading coaching] skill."

Greater New York Academy is committed to the continuous professional development of its staff through workshops, state-funded undergraduate and graduate courses, and tuition assistance for teachers pursuing further academic degrees.