At Legacy School, we believe great teaching is never finished learning.
This summer, two of our teachers–Mrs. Babbel and Mrs. Scott–had the opportunity to take that belief all the way to Orlando, Florida, when they attended the Get Your Teach On (GYTO) National Conference—and they didn’t go just to bring home a few new ideas. They went to learn, practice, collaborate, and bring that learning back to our entire Legacy team.
Thanks to a generous grant from our Legacy Parent Advisory Board, our teachers spent four days immersed in professional development designed to give educators practical strategies they can put to work immediately in their classrooms.
And the learning didn’t stay in Orlando.
Learning From the Best—and Seeing It in Action
Get Your Teach On takes a different approach to professional development. Rather than simply listening to presentations about instructional strategies, educators have opportunities to see those strategies modeled and experience them in action.
The 2026 GYTO conference offered 24 hours of professional development, including research-backed workshops, hands-on learning, and live model lessons with real students.
For our teachers, one of the most valuable parts of the experience was seeing what effective instruction actually looks like in a classroom. Model lessons provided an opportunity to watch teachers make instructional decisions in real time, engage students, respond to what students were showing them, and adjust instruction accordingly.
That kind of learning is powerful because it moves professional development beyond “Here is something you could try” to “Here is what this looks like when you actually do it.”
A Focus on How Students Learn
Our teachers also participated in specialized Science of Reading sessions, exploring research-based approaches to literacy instruction and ways to strengthen students’ foundational reading and writing skills.
GYTO’s conference programming includes Science of Reading sessions focused on areas such as phonics, reading and writing words, and small-group instruction.
This emphasis connects naturally with Legacy’s commitment to meeting students where they are and providing instruction that responds to individual needs. Professional learning helps our teachers continue to build their toolkit so they can make thoughtful instructional decisions for the particular students sitting in front of them.
Bringing Orlando Back to Omaha
The real value of professional development isn’t measured by what happens at a conference. It’s measured by what happens after the conference.
That’s why our teachers brought what they learned in Orlando back to Legacy and helped lead our first teacher inservice of the school year.
During our inservice, they shared strategies, modeled techniques, facilitated conversations, and worked alongside their colleagues to consider how the ideas from GYTO could be adapted for our own classrooms and students.
Our teachers weren’t simply passing along notes from a conference. They were helping turn professional learning into shared practice.
That collaborative approach is an important part of who we are at Legacy. We want our teachers to learn from one another, reflect on their practice, try new approaches, and continually look for ways to make learning more meaningful and effective for every student.
Investing in Teachers Is Investing in Students
We are incredibly grateful to our Parent Advisory Board for making this opportunity possible.
Their support allowed two Legacy teachers to experience high-quality professional development—and, perhaps even more importantly, allowed that learning to ripple throughout our entire faculty.
At GYTO, educators are encouraged to return to their classrooms with practical strategies that can be implemented right away. That’s exactly what we hope to see at Legacy: teachers who are energized by learning, willing to share what they discover, and excited to keep growing in their craft.
Because when teachers grow, students benefit.
We are proud of the time and energy our teachers invest in becoming better educators, and we are thankful to the Legacy community members who help make that growth possible.
Here’s to a new school year filled with curiosity, collaboration, and a continued commitment to helping every Legacy student learn, grow, and thrive.
