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!

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.

Tutoring Summary # 1

About 3 weeks ago I was at the school I did my student teaching in. I stopped by my co-op's classroom to say hello. During our conversation, she offered me a tutoring position with one of the student's I had taught. The mother had asked for a tutor to help her daughter stay on reading level throughout the summer. I was very excited for the opportunity and jumped at it. I spoke with the mother and with my co-op to gather ideas of what to focus on during our sessions.

On Monday, July 1, 2013 I had my first tutoring session. It lasted 2 hours. We focused on math and reading.  I will also do some writing with her.

Before we began learning I showed and explained all that I had for her. She has a writing journal in which I would like for her to write in daily. It can be a letter to me, a story she makes up or a description of what she has done during the day. I showed her the reading folder she has, her homework folder and her reading journal too.  Then I gave her the option of whether to start with math or reading.

When she said math, I was able to assess where she needs the most help. I gave her two timed math fact pre-tests. These were only using the numbers 1-10. The first one was an addition paper. The second one was a subtraction paper. After that I gave her another “pre-test” with a variety of math topics learned in 2^nd grade, such as time, money, and comparing numbers/fractions. 

We then did some reading. She picked out a book for summer reading. I also picked out a non-fiction book for her to read. It was a biography on Harriet Tubman. Then we read another fiction book called Jamaica's Find. We also worked on some sight words. It was a great time and I am excited to see her progress. =)

 

Summer Professional Development #1- Project Learning Tree

This is really delayed and I apologize for that. Life gets very crazy.

On Saturday, June 8, 2013 I attended a workshop hosted by the Meadowlands Environmental Center. This workshop focused on ways to engage students in environmental education and was provided by the organization Project Learning Tree. This workshop provided me with a great curriculum guide for grades K-8. The guide has several broad topics that lessons are separated into. Each lesson tells me what grade level, time constraints, materials, etc. are needed to run the lesson. They also give us suggestions of related lessons, similar to the one we are looking at.

We not only looked through and understood the book but we participated in a few of the activities ourselves.  We examined different kinds of soil and then predicted how the soil would lay-soil, sand, clay, etc. One of the other activities talked about creating an ideal community-making sure there were resources available, housing, schools, etc. That was my favorite activity. I felt I could relate it to the NASA real time data lessons some colleagues created during the summer last year.

It was a great experience and I am excited to try and implement some of these lessons when I have a classroom of my own.

The Curriculum Guide

Using my iPad to take notes and looking through the Appendixes of the book.

Attempting to paint splatter a cottonwood tree leaf.

My dirt sample.

Playing a "jeopardy" search game.

AVPDS -A Very Professional Development Summer

Every summer since I started college I have had a "productive" summer. I worked, took classes, and spent my time wisely. I was excited for a summer off---until I realized that I am NOT the kind of person who can sit around and do nothing all day long. I have to be productive. So, what better way to be productive than enjoy professional development and grow in that way? 

I have to admit I am awfully exited for all of the PD I'll be attending. At times, I'll have a conference or workshop every day and other times I'll have something one a week. I will be updating my blog after each experience. 

As of 5/26/13:

• 7/8 SMART Board Basics @ Kean
• 7/15-7/18 Writer's Workshop @ Rider
• 7/22 All Things Google @ Stockton
• 7/31 EdCamp STEAM @ Linwood Middle School
• 8/8 Common Core Conference @ Kean
• 8/12 EdCamp Leadership @ Kean
• 8/15, 8/19-21 SMART Board Certification @ Kean
• 8/22 TeachMeetNJ 2013 @ Stockton

It's going to be AVPDS!!

Use the hashtags #summerPD13 and tell me what you'll be doing this summer. =)