thedailytimes.com : Your 24/7 news source

After four years of planning for a ninth grade program, Maryville's teachers have finally turned the corner.

Nearly all of the program's 23 teachers attended a retreat on Tuesday and Wednesday at Eagle's Ridge Resort in Pigeon Forge.

Maryville freshmen will still take eight courses under the new program. Students will operate on a block schedule for half their school day. English, math, science and computer applications will now be taught in a year-long format.

Maelea Galyon, technology coordinator for Maryville High School, is supervising the ninth grade program. The program's three ninth grade teams will have common plan times, which are designed to help teachers focus on academic advisory. Teachers can discuss student progress, hold joint parent-teacher conferences and will meet with Galyon once a week.

"This will change how we train ninth-graders," said Galyon. "Every kid will be known, so anonymity isn't allowed."

"Our belief is this will raise the achievement-level of everyone including those on the accelerated path. It will smooth the transition (between middle and high school) and better prepare them for the rigor of high school," she said.

Teachers will have to communicate and function as a team for the program to function at its full potential, said Galyon. So the two-day retreat emphasized team-building exercises.

"We're trying to build a really, really strong foundation," she said.

The retreat was also the first time all the instructors had been together to discuss the program at length. "This is what I've waiting for ... all of us to be together," said Galyon.

"I'm really encouraged with everyone's willingness to be involved (with the program)," said Kathy Reiss, an English teacher. "My best experiences as an educator involve collaboration. After all, working with students is a collaboration. However, (teachers) often don't have enough time to share ideas (with other educators).

"We're talking about what we hope will happen (with the freshman program). It's really good we're talking about it before school starts. It will make us more effective as a team. I'm glad Maryville High School is willing to put so much effort (into the program) before we get started to make sure we get off to a good start."

"Since we're all new to teaming, this will help us develop better as a team," said Ginni Jabbour, a math teacher. "This (retreat) developed the camaraderie needed for this program," she said. "I've learned a lot about my team members and I understand how our group interactions will continue to grow."

Teachers also discussed potential inter-disciplinary instruction lessons on Wednesday. The preliminary brainstorming was aimed at finding ways to make required texts -- such as Nancy Farmer's "The House of the Scorpion" and Sean Covey's "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens" -- more relevant for students.

"As the year (progresses), we will find it more natural to plan across curriculum," said Maria Willard, a science teacher. "During our common planning time, it will be natural to discuss what's going on in each other's class and tie things in."

"It makes sense to build our ninth-graders up. It will help them to become even more successful students," she said. "*The practices we teach them hopefully will extend to their senior year and beyond."