Parents and Teachers Present School Project in PTLA’s Sixth Session

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By Sophia Xiong
CCBP Graduate Assistant

Parents and teachers presented group projects in the final Parent Teacher Leadership Academy (PTLA) meeting of the academic year at the Bryant Conference Center on March 12.

“I want to thank all of you for making an investment of your time to support your school team. I know what that means to you,” said Andrea Ziegler, director for Community Education, Center for Community-Based Partnerships (CCBP). “Thank you all for the extra effort you made to come to these evening events.”

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the PTLA graduation ceremony has been moved online. The virtual graduation celebration will be on Facebook (UA Parent Teacher Leadership Academy page) Thursday, May 7 at 7 p.m. The celebration will include prizes and PTLA grant winner announcements.

Parents and teachers joined together to present their group school projects. There were two rounds of presentations, giving each school the chance to their projects and explore other teams’ projects.

Tuscaloosa Magnet Schools–Elementary presented their project “Math in Motion,” which is a continuous project from last year. This project helps students learn math in a more practical way. Honors College students were invited to be paired with students from second to fifth grades to help them learn math through different activities. “We tried to get more parents and more UA students involved this year,” said Allyson Pitzel, a fourth grade teacher at TMS-Elementary. “We also added second grade this year.”

Rock Quarry Elementary displayed their project “Building the Future with STEAM.” (STEAM stands for science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics.) This project encourages students to get involved in the different fields of study and for schools to invite specialists from the different STEAM fields to visit so that students can have conservations with them.

Maxwell Elementary School displayed projects from its “Arts Night” program and University Place Elementary from its “Multicultural Party.”

Because these projects require financial support, CCBP Executive Director Dr. Jim McLean presented information on how schools can apply for funding. Following his remarks, teams spent time working on PTLA grant applications.