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Falmouth holds ‘Day of Belonging’ professional day to boost academic inclusion and UDL
Summary
District staff and teachers participated in the fourth annual Day of Belonging, with keynote sessions on academic belonging, Universal Design for Learning, MTSS alignment, AI literacy, outdoor learning and cross‑school collaboration.
Falmouth Public Schools held its fourth annual “Day of Belonging” professional development day this month, district leaders told the school committee on Oct. 25, saying the full‑day workshop focused on academic belonging and instructional practices that help all students participate and thrive.
District presenters Henry and Sonya described a day built around two priorities: help staff deepen the sense that “this class was meant for me” for every student, and provide practical lesson‑planning tools rooted in Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and multi‑tiered systems of support (MTSS). The district also invited Dr. Chris Bronke, who led the opening keynote and stayed through the workshop.
“In order to understand this a little bit better,” Sonya said summarizing the keynote, Dr. Bronke used an analogy: “you go to a party and you can be fed, but when you leave, right, you're not only full, but you're fulfilled.” The analogy was used to press the point that instruction should allow all learners to engage and gain meaning from lessons.
Teachers then selected choice sessions by grade or department. The program included sessions on culturally responsive instruction, language‑ambassador training for working with interpreters, the science of reading for adolescent learners, retrieval and memory strategies in math and science, and a hands‑on outdoor‑learning workshop led by Carmela Maesia, the district’s learning partnership specialist. The district also arranged four food trucks so staff could continue conversations during lunch and model inclusive cultural sampling.
The day included an exploratory session on artificial intelligence and classroom practice, using the Massachusetts Department of Education guidance document as a starting point. Presenters said the AI conversation was “heated” in the sense of high curiosity and varying opinions on appropriate classroom use.
Presenters told the committee that staff response has been positive and that many equity teams left the day with concrete annual plans to expand belonging practices across grades and schools.
Ending: The district said it will collect additional staff feedback and share evaluation results and next‑step resources with the committee; staff also invited committee members to attend future one‑hour workshops offered by the program.
