I was able to attend this conference thanks to Donors Choose. I've had a couple of other projects funded, but this was my first professional development project. It was funded in less than 2 weeks! I had a couple of small donations made from family or friends, and then the Bill Gates Foundation began MATCHING all donations on PD projects! Thanks to an anonymous donor, 3M, and Sonic, the rest is history. I was able to get the entire cost of tuition covered, plus $200 towards my hotel stay. I am already planning on creating a project to go to I Teach K next summer in Las Vegas!
I literally have a notebook full of notes...and I feel like I could be ready to go back to school tomorrow. That's how good this conference was! I decided to go back through my notes and really think about what I want to implement right away in my classroom.
Here are my favorite aha moments...
- Don't try to read the book as part of the mini-lesson during writer's workshop! Guilty.
- 90% of the lesson is about illustrations at the beginning of the year!
- Let students "sound it out" on chart paper...teacher writing can go underneath.
- SeeSaw is an awesome digital portfolio tool! I plan on trying it!
- I'm going to try having "instructional groups" and "family groups" next year!
- "Flexible seating is not a shopping list!"
- Use punch cards for station work and post "all-star" papers for each child
- BUMP games are EVERYTHING!! I can't wait to start making these for my centers!
- HUGE changes coming for "buddy reading/read to self" time...LOL!!! HUGE.
- Create a "favorite box" of books to read over and over to develop prosody...
- If good readers can sequence the characters in a story, they can retell the story. SO many great ideas for characters and setting!
I can't wait to implement some great new ideas...more blog posts to come!
To top it all off, I WON a free year of ESGI! (Worth about $199!!) I never win anything. YAY!!!
I have so much to do before August 15th...but I am so excited to get started on it and share it with you along the way. In the meantime, check out these amazing kindergarten rock stars in the links below...and if you get the chance to see them in person, DO IT!!
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