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 #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!

Summer Professional Development # 4- All Things Google Summer Camp

Yesterday I attended my 4th conference of the summer! I went to Stockton College for the All Things Google Summer Camp. The keynote speaker was really good. She spoke about getting students to think about the questions that GOOGLE cannot find the answers for. It was a lot of fun. Then I went to the first session-Creating An Assignment In-Box using Google Forms. I actually knew a lot of the information there, but it was a good review. I had never thought to ask students to share the URL link of their projects on Google Drive instead of sharing the actual document with the teacher. I also learned how to add on different "scripts"-the ability to have the spreadsheet graded or send a mail merge to all participants. My second session was about using QR Codes in the Classroom. That was a  fun session. We found a lot of resources to create QR codes. We started brainstorming ideas on how to use them in the classroom- like as a scavenger hunt or on worksheets for students to use. After lunch with some colleagues I met at TeachMeetNJ 2012, I went to my 3rd session-Using Google Forms to help Student Research. It is an easy way to collect information from anywhere in the world. Finally, my last session of the day was about cresting a Google Site for your classroom. I had always gotten confused in the past, but listening to the instructor, it was actually quite easy. 

                              Overall, it was a great day!

From the Keynote Speaker

In my 1st session

Eating Lunch

In my last session

Getting our PD Certs.

Summer Professional Development # 3- National Writing Project:Immersion into the Writers Workshop

This was a 4 day workshop that took place at Rider University. It ran from 9am-12pm. We were reminded about what a Writer's Workshop IS, as well as ways to incorporate the workshop into our classroom and curriculum of the district.

Day 1- We were introduced to the structure of the workshop. We discussed what makes a good writing community and what makes a good writer. We also learned about conferring with our students. MANAGEMENT IS KEY!! We also practiced a quick-write. These are 2-3 minute writing prompts based on different topics.
  

Day 2- We reviewed an article about various activities to use in a Writer's Workshop. We also just threw ideas around about how we've incorporated writing and reading into our tight day schedules. We also talked about Conferring again.

 

Day 3- We watched several conferences and talked about the qualities of a good conference versus a bad conference. We also talked about peer conferences. There was an adorable video about the different people in a peer review. It is the top 10 mistakes to avoid. Take a look at it here. We also talked about teaching grammar. It is a tough thing to do. It can easily be incorporated each morning in a morning message.

Day 4- We talked about teaching grammar again. We also mentioned "mentor texts". These are books that show different qualities of good writing. We then looked at several activities and created samples of each activity. Then we spent time looking for resources that would be beneficial to us. 

Overall, it was a FANTASTIC week! I was very happy with it. 

Tutoring Session #3

        Today was yet another great day. I am always impressed with the work that the child puts forward each week. She worked really hard on her math worksheets while I reviewed her homework from the previous week. She really enjoys math topics. She did have a little trouble counting some money. I made sure to give her a few word problems that deal with money for homework this week.

        After we reviewed her math worksheets we started working on her summer reading project. Last week we had answered questions on the book to get her thinking about the question at hand. This week, we worked on summarizing the book. Not every teacher will have read every book, so a summary is a great place to start. We almost completed the summary portion of her project. I hope to work on the first bullet point, and possibly the second one, when she returns after vacation.

        During this writing time, I had to prompt the student for several sentences. Starting them can be hard, so it was not a horrible thing. The problem arose when I would ask her what happened next, and she couldn’t quite tell me. I will try to help her differentiate between main ideas, and details. She knew the story well. I am happy she is still reading it.

We have not read a fiction book together during our session for two weeks. This week we did not read a non-fiction book out loud either. I apologize for that, however, we have been going back to the text of Belinda the Ballerina often for the project. She has 5 books with her- Belinda the Ballerina (F), Jamaica (NF), G is for Garden (NF-Picture Book), The Blind Men and the Elephant (F-Level K), and The Reluctant Flower Girl (F).

I look forward to seeing her work from this week, and to hearing about her wonderful time in Jamaica.   

        I am very excited for all of the progress she is making so far.

Summer Professional Development # 2- SMART Board Basics

Yesterday I also attended my 1st official summer PD seminar-SMART Board Basics. I learned how to use a SMART board in college a little bit, but never had really used it, or the software before. It was great to learn all about the software and how to create some cool things for the SMART Board. It really was an enjoyable experience.