The Ouachita Parish School System is wrapping up its third annual T.I.P. (Teacher Induction Program) Academy this week. New teachers and teachers who are new to the district spent five days at the Central Office, working with the Instructional Team and will finish the six-day course on Wednesday at their respective schools.
“The Teacher Induction Program (TIP) has been one of the most beneficial additions to our yearly professional development schedule,” Superintendent Todd Guice said. “Our Instructional and Title II teams spend a great deal of time planning for the six-day event. Planning occurs for most of the year preceding the start of TIP in late July each year. The program allows our new teachers to come into their new schools and classrooms prepared to begin with their colleagues from day one.”
More than 150 teachers are entering their first year in the district. That includes teachers just starting their careers, as well as teachers who may have moved from out-of-parish or out-of-state.
“It’s been helpful to meet everybody else and not feel like you’re on an island,” said Sami Valentine, who is entering her first year as a teacher. “I am the only ELA (English-Language Arts) teacher at Woodlawn for third grade so just being able to co-plan with somebody and seeing how they look at it.”
Holly Comeaux is also starting her first year of her teaching career after graduating from Louisiana Tech. However, she spent last school year student teaching at West Monroe High School, so it is not completely unfamiliar territory for her. As a Civics teacher, though, the new curriculum for social studies is a big change, making the TIP Academy even more beneficial for the first-year teacher.
“The new social studies standards have changed a lot,” said Comeaux, who will return to West Monroe High School this school year. “They’re a lot more succinct and direct, instead of being a lot more broad how they were last year. In our sessions we’ve delved into how that changed and how to specifically look at them now.”
Zack Walker started his teaching career last year at Ouachita Junior High. However, as a late hire, he did not go through the TIP Academy. As he moves to Ouachita Parish High School to teach Physical Science and Financial Literacy, he said TIP has made him a better planner.
“It’s helped me to understand what I need to have ready to put my best foot forward,” Walker said. “I’ve already planned out my quizzes, my homework and tests for the first two 9 weeks. I got my syllabus done for both subjects, so I can just go in and focus on being a good teacher.”
While some teachers are starting their careers in Ouachita Parish, others are moving into the district after getting their start elsewhere. Kara Stephenson is a product of Ouachita Parish, but she spent the past 10 years in Bossier Parish. She will be teaching 6th and 7th grade ELA at West Ridge Middle School.
“I will say just a refresher in general is good for any grade level, specifically the differences and the way that we handle annotations, the guidebook, and the materials we have here,” Stephenson said. “Just having to learn that from a new perspective and having to retrain my brain … I think this is beneficial. I wouldn’t have looked at it in a different way.”
Adrianna Fitzwater is also entering the middle school side of the district. She spent her career in Union Parish and at Our Lady of Fatima and will now head to East Ouachita Middle School where she will teach 7th-grade ELA.
“Coming from private school where I created all of my things, I didn’t have these resources so it’s nice to take what is available to us and how to shape it into our classroom,” Fitzwater said.
Angela Rushworth is also making the jump from private to public school. She will be teaching Spanish at West Monroe High School.
“The evaluation rubric we are going to be using, I didn’t have that in private school,” Rushworth said. “Knowing what the expectations are and what administrators are going to be looking for when they come in our classrooms, that’s been extremely helpful. It’s lowered my anxiety level a lot.”
The six-day event may conclude on Wednesday, but Guice said the program continues throughout the school year with mentors assigned to each new teacher.
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