Supporting Students with Learning Disabilities: PD Day at MMFS

At February’s Professional Development Day, MMFS faculty and staff learned from the best—MMFS educators. During a full day of educational workshops, our teachers, specialists, and administrators presented valuable insights and strategies for supporting students with learning disabilities. We often talk about “revealing brilliance” in our students with learning disabilities. This was a day when the brilliance of the MMFS staff was on full display.

Keynote Speaker: Natalie Huerta’s Research-Based Insights

The number of MMFS staff members who volunteered to present a workshop was impressive. The breadth and depth of the topics was also remarkable. The keynote speaker was former MMFS teacher and literacy coach Natalie Huerta. Natalie is currently a PhD candidate at Vanderbilt University’s Peabody School of Education. We were delighted to welcome her back to Brooklyn to hear her speak on “Practice to Research and Back Again: The Questions, Lessons Learned, and What That Would Mean For Me as a Teacher Now.” Her talk reinforced the importance of research-based teaching strategies in the classroom for students with language-based learning disabilities.

Workshops Covering a Wide Range of Topics

After starting the day with Silent Meeting, everyone attended a morning and an afternoon workshop. Topics included AI for teaching, Canva, gender, the CSE process, the MMFS learning disabilities curriculum, research projects, reading disabilities, occupation therapy, the Hero’s Journey, phonics, and our Quaker mission. Other workshops included sessions on ADHD and autism, mentoring students with learning disabilities, and the Hochman Method. Some covered fun topics like needle felting, the history of hip hop, and the history of video games

Collaboration Across Divisions

It was a wonderful day of learning from one another, across divisions. Upper school staff benefited from the wisdom of lower and middle school teachers. Lower and middle school staff got to learn from their colleagues from Sidney Place. We were One School with One Mission: brilliantly sharing our experience and expertise to reveal the brilliance in our students with learning disabilities.

Thank you so much to everyone who made this PD Day such a success. We appreciate everyone who presented a workshop or worked tirelessly behind the scenes to organize, order food, set up, print, shlep, and clean up at the end of the day. This was truly a community effort focused on sharing knowledge on teaching, nurturing, and supporting students with learning disabilities.