A group of Chautauqua Lake Central School teachers are pictured during the school’s recent Professional Learning Showcase with Eagle bags displaying the school’s new mascot.

MAYVILLE – Chautauqua Lake Central School students recently showcased what they have learned during professional learning opportunities with fellow teachers, school administrators and the Chautauqua Lake Central School Board of Education.

“Every year, our faculty sets two goals: one individual and one collaborative,” said Dr. Josh Liddell, Chautauqua Lake Central School superintendent. “These goals align with our district objectives and elementary and secondary school priorities. We encourage our teachers to select goals that they are passionate about that will ultimately enhance their instruction, overall school culture and our students’ learning experiences. This year their final projects were remarkable. Our professional learning plan and process has enabled us to make continuous improvements and grow as a district.”

Throughout the year, teachers are given dedicated time on half-days to dive deep into their goals. The days are filled with research, reading, workshops, data collection, collaboration, and implementation of new ideas. The Professional Learning Showcase, which is held in May, is the culmination of the year’s work.

“The PLC process as an educator allows teachers to collaborate together and share expertise with each other,” said Justin Akin, a Chautauqua Lake Central School elementary school teacher. “The dialogue that takes place during PLC meetings is a valuable way to gain insight from the professional experience of colleagues. Our PLC group collectively had over 100 years of teaching experience as we shared ideas to celebrate students’ mathematical successes. Each individual in our PLC group brought their strengths to our group as we analyzed student data and created a bulletin board that highlighted individual achievements of our students. Personally, I enjoyed the opportunity to highlight the accomplishments of our “Math Masters” with creative ways to showcase their accomplishments.”

Among the goals featured at this year’s showcase were exciting initiatives such as Robotics Programming and Enhancements, Student Curation and Best Practices: Art Show, Story-Based Learning in partnership with The Anne Frank Project, Unified Sports, Math Masters, Related Service Collaboration, and enhancement to the school’s Seal of Civic Readiness.

“In our PLC, we focused on collaboration between related services, specifically speech and occupational therapy,” said Elysa Meekins, one of the school’s occupational therapists. “This collaborative effort was both exciting and fulfilling, resulting in notable progress towards students’ goals. By promoting consistency across different settings within the school environment, we maximized the impact of our interventions and facilitated skill generalization. Through learning from each other’s expertise and staying updated on the latest research and best practices, we continually improved our skills and expanded our knowledge base. I particularly enjoyed the showcase because it is rare to have the opportunity to learn about the diverse and extensive subjects that are addressed within our building. Leaving the showcase, I felt a sense of pride in our district and was inspired with a wealth of new ideas.”