Olmsted Falls City Schools offer teachers new perspectives

OLMSTED TOWNSHIP, Ohio — Former Cleveland Browns coach Bill Belichick is known for his creative defensive mind.

However, the future NFL Hall of Fame inductee said he learned the most about defense during the one year in his career where he coached the offense: tight ends and receivers.

It offers teachers the kind of new perspectives that Mark Kurz, principal of Olmsted Falls Middle School, hopes for with newly created, cross-curricular cohorts designed to enhance lessons and instructional activities.

“As a district, we have been involved in designing and delivering classes for children,” he said. “Teachers usually meet within their department.

“This year we wanted to get them talking about creating lessons for children, designing and delivering lessons, by mixing the staff.”

On a professional day in October, when students were not in class, 65 high school teachers were grouped into a dozen cohorts of three to five members.

Teachers meeting other teachers is not new. In fact, this time with their colleagues in the department is built into a weekly schedule.

What made these cohorts so special is that they consisted of teachers from different disciplines.

“So we put together an art teacher with a math teacher and a gym teacher,” he said.

“The idea was that it would be a professional conversation about 20,000 feet above their classroom so they could all benefit.”

Middle School Assistant Principal Michael Sislowski added, “At first glance, it feels and seems crazy to think of music teachers attending math design or art teachers participating in the design of language arts lessons.

“But through experience we have discovered that there is so much value in people sitting in a room together. By simply changing the perspective, you can really create lessons that fit the students where they are.”

So far, the results of the first cohort meeting have been positive.

The director said about 75 percent of staff responded that the innovative session was meaningful, with 100 percent noting that they would do something based on what their colleagues suggested.

“Also, 65 percent of teachers said they would be willing to watch another teacher or have someone watch them to see how they are engaging kids,” he said.

“That’s just another level of learning when you go into someone’s classroom outside of your content area to see how he or she does things with kids.”

The plan for the future is to use the cross-grade, cross-subject cohort model at future teacher professional days.

“This is not a one-year initiative,” Sislowski said. “This is something our district will be passionate about: designing engaging work that makes kids want to learn the content.

“So we will continue to grow this year and find new ways to enrich our education.”

Jim Lloyd, superintendent of Olmsted Falls City Schools, said he is proud of the efforts.

“If teachers, regardless of grade level or subject area, can come together and use a common language to talk about instruction and look at it critically through a similar lens, it is a valuable and powerful professional endeavor that will improve student outcomes will improve,” he said.

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