We started the day with a really cool keynote speaker named LeDerick Horne. He talked about his struggles growing up with a disability that was never truly explained to him in school, and talked about the things that eventually led to his success. He's a great example of why it's important to provide our learners with special needs the proper accommodations and the same high expectations that we would have for any other student. He also presented some of his poetry, and told us about the narration he did for this video celebrating the 35th anniversary of IDEA. Great history lesson on IDEA in just 5 minutes, btw! His presentation was a great way to start the day!
These are the two tri-boards I put up for the poster session! |
In addition to everything else today, I attended a workshop on spelling and vocabulary. It was great to hear that a lot of what I'm doing in my classroom is in fact supported by research and gets the approval of my state! I did take a few things away from the workshop that I think I'd like to make sure that I am doing though. Here are the points that stuck in my mind:
1) Never ask your kids "Who knows what this word means?" If you expect them to know it, then why are you teaching it? Chances are they don't know it but will take an incorrect guess that will then be stuck in all their minds! (I KNOW I've been guilty of this one.)
Just for fun, check out the wallpaper in my room's bathroom! Haha. |
3) Don't assign vocabulary words as spelling words. If you're assessing spelling, assess spelling. If you're assessing meaning, assess meaning. It took me the first 7 years of my 13 year career to realize this for some reason...
I was excited to see several books on mindfulness featured. I promise to write a post soon about what we're doing with mindfulness and centering activities soon! |
So now I'm free to roam the Hershey Lodge and sit in my plush Hershey Kiss themed hotel room until tomorrow morning! My contribution to the conference is all done, so tomorrow I get to just sit in on presentations all day! I'll try to share any nuggets of wisdom I gain from them!
I have to say, the conference SWAG(stuff we all get!) leaves a little to be desired! Haha. I remembered when you used to get full samples and books and stuff. I guess it's the recession... The Hershey bar on my pillow is pretty sweet though! (pun intended)
Click here to grab it for 3 clams. |
Grab these for the ridiculously low price of 2 bucks! You can have these for life...or 4 fried apple pies from McDonalds for like 5 minutes. Trust me, pick this. |
Anyway, that's it til next time! Thanks for reading!
Holy moly that is a lot of ice!! I am glad you got yourself scraped out! Thanks for sharing with all of your blog readers the "nuggets" of wisdom you are learning or being reminded of. I love the one about vocabulary---I am definitely guilty of that one! Yikes!
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to read about what you are going to learn tomorrow!
Katie
Mind Sparks
I'm glad your presentation went well. I have been guilty about breaking point number one as well. It makes sense though. I will have to be careful of that one. Enjoy the conference today.
ReplyDeleteMary
Fit to be Fourth
Good thing you drove up the night before - that is a serious amount of ice. Thanks for the spelling and vocab. info. I am just starting Word Nerds so I can see some re-vamping of my program coming : ) Glad your presentation went so well, just a classroom teacher, pfft!!
ReplyDelete