The Sunnyvale School District is one of many in the San Francisco Bay Area that Stanford Teacher Education Program (STEP) has worked with over the years on field placements to help prepare teacher candidates for their first year on the job. But this summer’s collaboration was different, bringing new graduates on site after a tumultuous year.
The collaboration was especially welcome as the district expanded its summer school program, responding to a mandate (and supplemental government funding) to accommodate more students. Some 700 elementary and middle school students were enrolled in Sunnyvale’s summer school program this year, about twice that of previous years.
“There’s been a huge emphasis this summer in particular on social-emotional well-being, establishing positive connections, and re-establishing school as school,” said Chin Chin Chiu, an SSD summer school principal, who works for the district as a behavior intervention services coordinator during the year. Students are re-learning the norms of classroom life: “How do I come into school? What is my routine in terms of how I transition into the classroom or transition out, or do my independent work or participate in group work, even things like playing at recess – all of those things we’ve had to re-teach,” said Chiu.
To read the full article by Carrie Spector go to: https://news.stanford.edu/today/2021/08/23/local-summer-school-draws-new-teachers-stanford/?utm_source=Stanford+Report&utm_campaign=15d4552e09-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2021_08_23_03_38&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_29ce9f751e-15d4552e09-52238769
