Sherman ISD Building Bearcats Magazine November 2017 | Page 10

SISD FOCUSES ON STRENGTHENING
TEACHERS
Campus tech specialist Lydia Noble, center, works with Jefferson Elementary teachers Kelsea Raborg,
left, and Tenise Blackshear, right, on high-level technology lessons. Sherman ISD teachers have access
to technology resources to assist with instruction.
Sherman
ISD’s
Curriculum
and
Instruction department
does more than
oversee
what
students are learning.
The
department,
led by Assistant
Superintendent Susan
Whitenack, focuses on
strengthening teachers’
skills, capacity and
effectiveness at all
levels in all areas.
the standard for
what a student
should know and
be able to do in
each grade level.
These standards
range from basic
understanding
to
complex
application of
knowledge in all
subject areas.
“A teacher has to
delve into each
TEK and ‘unwrap’
“Teachers and teacher Sherman High School math teacher Asa Thornhill guides students
during
small
group
work
during
class.
it. They have to
knowledge of their
really understand
students are the most
what a child would need to do to demonstrate a high
powerful tools we have in our district to increase our
level of learning,” Whitenack said.
students’ achievement,” Whitenack said. “Focusing
on the teacher, his or her skills, and the relationships
Sherman teachers focus on four main questions to
he or she builds with students and each other is the
create meaningful lessons for students:
starting point.”
1. What do my students need to know about this
In Texas, school curriculum is defined by the Texas
skill or concept?
Essential Knowledge and Skills, or TEKS, which set
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