Summer Professional Development #10-Montclair University 21st Century Teacher Camp

This summer I participated in my first MOOC. MOOCs are Massive Open Online Courses. This particular one was offered by Montclair State University through their  ADP Center. This 8-week course focused on various technologies that can be used in the classroom. Each module had a different focus and followed a similar format. There was a discussion forum based off of an article or video we could view. The project each week was different. One week it may have been a lesson plan while another week a behavior plan. I really enjoyed each week's module, discussion and project. I am happy to have participated and earn 40 hours. I cannot wait for next year's camp!!!

Summer Professional Development #9- TeachMeet NJ 2013

On Thursday, 8/22/13, I attended the 2nd annual TeachMeet NJ at Stockton College in Galloway,NJ. Once again, I loved every minute of it. I had a fantastic time. I headed towards Stockton at 6am and arrived there a little after 6:30. Registration started at 7am. I saw two of my friends from college as I checked in. It was great to catch up with them. It started around 8:30am. During the 1st session I went to a conversation about picking the right app for your curriculum. I thought he would give us more suggestions on different apps to use, but he gave us information on how to better EVALUATE apps that we use. It was good information. During the 2nd session, I presented my 1st EVER professional presentation!!!!!! I was so nervous. There was actually a lot of people that came in. Almost every seat was filled! :) I started a few minutes early, and finished early! Then I was able to try and better explain some things that the audience wanted to understand. At the 3rd session slot, I went to the session on Infographics. I can't wait to try and make some more soon! I then attended sessions on Pinterest (finding good resources), a mystery Skype (how to have children guess your location), how to become a Google Certified Teacher, and how to better use ClassDojo in the classroom. I met up with my friends for lunch and then we went to the app smackdown. I love this part of the day because you are able to see different apps that are used by educators that you may not have connected with that day. Instead of more sessions like they did last year, there was an option for a more "hands on" or in depth discussion on a few of the sessions. I went to one that talked about easy ways to flip the classroom. It was a great time overall.

               

Summer Professional Development #8- Edcamp Leadership

Today was my 8th professional development session of the summer. I attended Edcamp Leadership at Kean University. It was attended by a lot of administrators and supervisors. It was nice to be able to network with such a great group of educators though. I attended the first session with Jessica that talked about using Google Apps to address the Common Core Standards. It was cool to see how easy it can be to have teachers use Google Apps that address the Common Core Standards. Then we went to another session on using WordPress to create a great website for your district. After lunch we went to a session that talked about Hiring, Interviewing and Retaining New Teachers. It was cool to see what other principals look for when they search for applicants. Then I sat through a tutorial of how to build a WordPress website. Overall, it was a great time. I have one more workshop before the end of the summer. =) Can't wait!

Summer Professional Development # 7- Kean Institute for CommonCore-Statewide Teacher Conference

Today, August 8, 2013, I attended the Kean Institute for Common Core-Statewide Teacher Conference at the Kean University STEM building. WOW! It is such a beautiful building. I got a free book when I signed in! I was so happy to get a free book, especially since they were on my reading list. Our morning keynote was given by Dr. Tracey Severns, Chief Academic Officer at the NJDOE. She presented about the Role of the Teacher in regards to the Common Core Standards. She showed us one of those e-cards, and it was true for a lot of us. We are so OVERWHELMED with all of the things we need to do to be great teachers.

Tracey gave us a lot of great information regarding the CCSS and the PARCC assessments. Then we split up into groups based on our subject area and grade level. I went to the middle school group. It was great to get a grasp on the CCSS and how to implement them into the classroom setting. We had a nice lunch and a really moving lunch keynote. We sometimes forget that we do ACTUALLY matters. Check out the following speech from a then ten-year-old boy. It's SO good! 

After lunch we broke into our groups again. This time, we took a closer look at the actual standards. We gathered ideas and resources on how to implement them in the classroom. Overall, it was great. I am excited and can't wait to really try to dive in and teach these standards. 

Summer Professional Development #6- EdmodoCon 2013

Yesterday, Wednesday August 7, 2013 was EdmodoCon 2013. I was excited since it was my first EdmodoCon ever! I missed the keynote because I was at the gym but was able to catch the first mini session from the LeanIn company. She spoke about creating girls who want to take on leadership roles. We usually do not expect that of women and girls, because most of our country is run by men. Then I watched the first session about integrating the Common Core Standards into Edmodo. It was very interesting. Then I got a phone call for an interview, so I was unable to watch a lot of the afternoon sessions. I logged back in around 7:00pm and saw the last few sessions- Flattening the Classroom with Edmodo and Rethinking Collaboration in the 21st Century. Overall it was a great learning experience.

Summer Professional Development #5-Edcamp STEAM

On Wednesday, July 31, 2013 I attended Edcamp STEAM at Linwood Middle School in North Brunswick. It was my 1st Edcamp experience and I LOVED IT!! I went with a childhood friend and now a colleague, Jessica. It was her first Edcamp also. We got interviewed by Classroom Closeup. Who knows, we may end up in an episode!!! =) The first hour or so was spent networking with fellow educators and setting up the session board. At Edcamps, the participants create the sessions. I decided I would host one. I chose the 4th time slot. I titled the session: "Tracking Evidence & STEAM-How do we effectively track this?" It was a good chance to meet other educators and have a great discussion on assessment and tracking evidence with all of the different curricula in our schools.

The first session we went to was about how to incorporate STEM/STEAM into the Elementary Classroom. It was good. We met a lot of teachers who teach at all girl private schools. It was interesting to see and learn about the different kind of programs there are to help introduce engineering to the elementary grades. The second session we went to was about creating a STEAMy Classroom Environment. Classroom management and classroom design is a HUGE passion of mine. It's hard as a new teacher to say what works and what doesn't because I haven't had a classroom of my own, yet. One day I will and the tips I heard will come in handy.

After lunch we went to one session about using New Media in the classroom. When it wasn't what we expected it to be, we left and went to a session about Flipping the Classroom. We learned a lot of different ways in which to do this. Then came my session. I LOVED IT! We had a really great discussion on portfolios and getting children involved in what is assessed and what is not. After that we went to see if we won anything. Jess got a copy of the Inspiration software. I didn't get anything, but we did network with some awesome educators. I think the best part of the day was getting a tweet from a principal of a school in Manville. He said it was great to meet us and he would be lucky to work with us one day. =)

Overall, it was a great experience. I can't wait for Edcamp Leadership on 8/12 and for Edcamp NJ on 11/23!