Professional Development and Practices
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Ruth Culham - The Secret Sauce of Writing
On February 11, 2017 I was in attendance at a professional development seminar led by Ruth Culham in Tucson, Arizona. Within the 6.5 hour seminar Ruth covered a wide variety of subjects including revisiting the writing process, the writing process in connection to the traits of writing, and new strategies to implement within classrooms to aid in the instruction of writing. My biggest take away from this workshop was being introduced to Ruth’s own strategy of the "Writing Wallet". This strategy allows students have choice in what they write, it focuses on the process of writing, the traits students gain as they write, and it helps students improve through editing. What I enjoyed about this strategy was that it was not focused on the final product of the piece itself, but more so its purpose is to help students conduct the writing process, while giving feedback on the traits to help students gain these necessary skills for writing. This strategy works because it is one in which students work at their own pace, the modeling from the comes naturally, students are able to make decisions and their own choices, and it is manageable within the classroom environment. It is also student centered and works in a social environment, which in my opinion makes it a more effective strategy. This is a strategy that could be used in any grade level. It is one that I would like to incorporate within my own classroom because it is a great way to motivate students to write about subjects that appeal to them and to conduct work at their own pace. I am glad that I was able to attend Ruth Culham's seminar. I have left with more resources for my teaching repertoire and more knowledge about the writing process in general.
On February 11, 2017 I was in attendance at a professional development seminar led by Ruth Culham in Tucson, Arizona. Within the 6.5 hour seminar Ruth covered a wide variety of subjects including revisiting the writing process, the writing process in connection to the traits of writing, and new strategies to implement within classrooms to aid in the instruction of writing. My biggest take away from this workshop was being introduced to Ruth’s own strategy of the "Writing Wallet". This strategy allows students have choice in what they write, it focuses on the process of writing, the traits students gain as they write, and it helps students improve through editing. What I enjoyed about this strategy was that it was not focused on the final product of the piece itself, but more so its purpose is to help students conduct the writing process, while giving feedback on the traits to help students gain these necessary skills for writing. This strategy works because it is one in which students work at their own pace, the modeling from the comes naturally, students are able to make decisions and their own choices, and it is manageable within the classroom environment. It is also student centered and works in a social environment, which in my opinion makes it a more effective strategy. This is a strategy that could be used in any grade level. It is one that I would like to incorporate within my own classroom because it is a great way to motivate students to write about subjects that appeal to them and to conduct work at their own pace. I am glad that I was able to attend Ruth Culham's seminar. I have left with more resources for my teaching repertoire and more knowledge about the writing process in general.
Grade Level Team, Data Team and Faculty Meetings
Throughout the semester I have attended weekly grade level team meetings. These meetings serve the purpose of planning and preparing the following weeks lessons and activities. Having the privilege to see the 1st grade team work together to lesson plan and problem solve has truly opened my eyes to how wonderful team planning is. Together the team recalls past lessons that have been successful within their classroom, we present ideas, review student work, and think about our next steps. This process has helped me understand how helpful and successful team planning can be. Being able to call upon prior activities and lessons that have been successful in the classroom before allows me to create success within my own classroom.
For the first time this year, I experienced Data Team Meetings. These meetings are held to track and progress monitor students. The data team in which I am apart of is comprised of first grade and multiage teachers. Together the team comes together to find a focal point in which our students need to work on. We create a general lesson plan which allows us to modify based on our students needs and our teaching styles. Although, we have a collective summative assessment that we bring back to our following meeting to review. From there we assess student progress and continue to plan our next steps. This experience has opened my eyes to the wide range of student ability. It is truly incredible what students are capable of and what our assessments can tell us about our students.
This semester I also attended my first faculty meeting with the entire teacher staff within the school. This was extremely exciting for me as I felt as though I was apart of something much larger and greater than myself. It helped me realize how many wonderful people are out there that are passionate about our students and their learning. In this meeting we bonded as staff by playing a quick warm up game, which was followed by team collaboration on grading policy. In this meeting I learned about the grading system at my site. It was incredible to be able to work with all these people on something that we are all extremely passionate about.
For the first time this year, I experienced Data Team Meetings. These meetings are held to track and progress monitor students. The data team in which I am apart of is comprised of first grade and multiage teachers. Together the team comes together to find a focal point in which our students need to work on. We create a general lesson plan which allows us to modify based on our students needs and our teaching styles. Although, we have a collective summative assessment that we bring back to our following meeting to review. From there we assess student progress and continue to plan our next steps. This experience has opened my eyes to the wide range of student ability. It is truly incredible what students are capable of and what our assessments can tell us about our students.
This semester I also attended my first faculty meeting with the entire teacher staff within the school. This was extremely exciting for me as I felt as though I was apart of something much larger and greater than myself. It helped me realize how many wonderful people are out there that are passionate about our students and their learning. In this meeting we bonded as staff by playing a quick warm up game, which was followed by team collaboration on grading policy. In this meeting I learned about the grading system at my site. It was incredible to be able to work with all these people on something that we are all extremely passionate about.