It’s the last week of vacation. Do you know where your child’s teacher is?

For more than 100 Vicksburg Warren School District teachers, the answer is, not enjoying the last days of summer but voluntarily confined to the Warren Central Intermediate School gymnasium, taking a two-day training workshop on “cooperative learning” — classroom strategies that keep kids working together, actively involved in their learning.

“Absolutely, I think the kids will respond. I think it will be a wonderful attraction to keep all the kids engaged,” said Renee Channell, a seventh-grade English teacher at Warren Central Junior High.

“We are definitely learning new things,” said Erica Taylor Wilson, a biology teacher at Warren Central High School. “New ways to get kids into groups, ways to get them to open up more with each other and get everyone involved, instead of just one or two students in the group doing all the work.”

About 110 teachers of kindergarten through 12th grade, from every school in the district, attended the workshop that began Monday and ends today.

“They were not required to be here, but they’re here,” Paula Johnson, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, said as she watched the gym full of teachers working together, answering questions and practicing on each other. “One of the challenges we have with all kids is engaging them in active learning and holding them accountable for their own self-learning.”

Presenter Sherry Franklin of Kagan Publishing and Professional Development likened the training to “filling a tool box” with items teachers can take to their classrooms. The “tools” range from two- and four-member team activities — some requiring only a minute or two to inject into a lesson and get students interacting and applying what they’ve learned — to team- building tips and activities to strengthen a class’s identity.

“It will greatly enhance the students’ memory of what they’ve learned,” Franklin said, and added that it builds kids’ self-confidence and willingness to take risks in the classroom.

Dana Road Elementary School third-grade special education teacher Beverly Guice said the workshop gave her “a lot of ideas” to use as she assists in classrooms and works with small groups of students on her own.

“I’m excited about what we’ve learned so far and looking forward to putting it into practice with my third- graders,” Guice said. “If you have students that are engaged, it means fewer discipline problems. If they have to work together, listen to each other and respect each other, it will help in all areas of the class and school.”

Channell is one of eight teachers who will inaugurate the first year of Scholastic Academy, the project-based junior high school program that targets high-achieving students. Her students will already be working in groups but the Kagan-developed strategies will help make sure every student carries his or her own weight and no one student dominates, she said.

“The best way kids learn is by collaborating,” Johnson said. “This will encourage them to build their social and emotional skills as well as their academics.”

Teachers earn professional development credits for attending the workshop, which is funded by federal funds specifically targeted to teacher training.