- Tracey Pyscher, Minneapolis Public Schools
Great Books K-12 Success Stories
Minneapolis Public Schools
After piloting Great Books in 20 diverse middle and high schools this past year, the Minneapolis Public Schools system implemented Great Books districtwide and across the curriculum in grades 6–12.
Minneapolis administrators believe Great Books is the best fit for the district’s curriculum reform goals. “The Great Books texts and Shared Inquiry method offer both rich texts and discussion that support generative and critical thinking,” said Tracey Pyscher, secondary literacy and language arts district lead for Minneapolis Public Schools. “We recognize the fluidity of reading, writing, discussion (discourse), inquiry, and investigation as our foundations of English education and high-quality student learning,” added Ellen Debe, the district lead for secondary English language arts.
In the fall of 2008, 160 classroom teachers completed the core sequence of Great Books Shared Inquiry professional development. Since then, they have attended expanded professional development workshops. In addition, more than 150 special education teachers completed Great Books professional development in March 2009 and began using the program in their classrooms.
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Tracey Pyscher says . . .
“Great Books is working just as well as we’d hoped,” Pyscher said as the 2009–2010 school year began. “Students are participating with great enthusiasm. They’re thinking deeply about what they read and showing it in classroom discussions.”