Eagle Rock Takes Some Professional Development Engagements Online

There is certainly little good that can be said about the COVID-19 health pandemic, but there have been some silver linings — you just have to look between the lines.

The coronavirus outbreak has forced every school in the nation to shut its doors and move the remainder of the school year online, and we here at Eagle Rock School & Professional Development Center (PDC) are among those organizations that have felt the brunt of that epidemic eviction. However, in our particular case, we have also been forced to innovate the delivery of our professional development engagements. And that has turned out to be a good thing.

We are both a residential school for high school-aged students who have shown a sincere interest in reengaging in their own education. And we also offer professional development services for educators across the United States who are similarly committed to making high school a more engaging experience for our country’s youth.

And that leads us to today’s post, which as you’ll see, highlights the work of our talented professional development team in action — something that would have been impossible for you to observe before the health pandemic forced us to deliver our engagements online.

Since the early 1990s, our professional development staffers have visited schools, education organizations, and conferences and seminars across the country, sharing what we know educational improvement. And now, in response to the pivot from face-to-face professional development engagements, our PDC team has launched an online professional learning community series, in addition to continuing supporting clients coast to coast. Open to the education community, the series is titled, “Join Our Community of Educators Grappling with, and Solving, Dilemmas,” and convenes at 10 a.m. Mountain Time each Thursday via Zoom.

Topics at these online sessions include Continue reading…

Not Your Parent’s Board Games — At Eagle Rock, It’s All in the Cards

Most everyone enjoys board games. Monopoly, Risk and Sorry come to mind when you think of tossing dice and moving little figures around on a board. However, a board game renaissance has taken place in recent years with a multitude of new and unique games being produced.

Eagle Rock School students have embraced this new golden age of board gaming and it’s not at all unusual to see clusters of students playing games in the library during their free time. One game that seems to have captivated these gamers in recent times is Dominion, developed by Donald X. Vaccarino.

Dominion_Card_Game

Dominion lacks a board (many “board games” do these days) and opts instead for a cards-only approach. It was the first of a genre called “deck building” in which players buy cards from a central market and add them to their deck. The primary objective is to have Continue reading…