DAVID LANGFORD CONFERENCE

Nineteen staff members from across all grade levels participated in a four-day conference at Furman University this August.  This team took their last week of summer vacation to learn new teaching strategies that focused on empowering students.  

Last year, Buena Vista began incorporating the Baldrige method of school improvement.  Through cooperative efforts with the Carolina Center for Excellence, teachers began using different tools within their classrooms to help students take more responsibility for their learning.  After seeing results in their classrooms, teachers were excited to participate in a summer institute led by an expert in the field of quality improvement, David Langford.  

The conference was a huge success!  From day one, David Langford's excitement and passion for student improvement was contagious.  Teachers listened, discussed, collaborated, questioned, and most importantly, learned.  Each participant received a huge binder full of examples and explanations of the quality tools needed to help students take ownership of their learning.

Below are pictures of the teachers as they participated in different activities that week.  A big THANK YOU goes out to the PTA who paid for each teacher's spot in the conference.  The team is excited to bring what they learned back into the classroom and share their knowledge with the rest of the staff.  

Teachers listened carefully as David Langford explained a process for change.	Mr. Ross, Mrs. Phillips, and team have fun pretending to be nerve endings making brain connections.
One of Buena Vista teams works collaboratively through a problem-solving process called PDSA (Plan-Do-Study-Act).	Mrs. Smart and Ms. O'Steen learn how to carefully observe each other.
Mrs. Vicks laughs as she tries to make ten changes to her appearance.  This game really got you out of your comfort zone!	Mr. Langford helps this team work through the PDSA process.
This is an example of a Correlation Chart.  At the end of each day, participants would use a sticky dot to mark their level of enjoyment and learning.  As you can see, by the last day we were off the chart!	Click on the link to find out more about Baldrige at Buena Vista!