Abby Conner

November 13 14, 2014

ARA Conference
ARA Conference
For the past two days, we have attended the Alabama Reading Association Conference.
The first session on Thursday was one where everyone attended. The speaker was Neil Waldman
who talked about his art program that he developed in the Bronx. It is called the Fred Dolan Art
Academy. Its purpose is to motivate the teenagers of the Bronx to get good grades in school and
help them develop artistic skills that will help them get into college once they graduate high
school. I thought that it was a very good session. I enjoyed listening to him speak. I was, and still
am, a little confused as to why he was the speaker who kicked off the Alabama Reading
Association Conference because he did not really talk about reading.
The next session was the smaller sessions. I had a hard time picking which session I was
going to attend. I finally settled for Reading in Special Education Classrooms: Strategies that
Work. It was led by Dr. Renitta Goldman who is the professor of Special Education at UAB.
She was hysterical. Before the session actually started she had the entire room laughing. Her
session was accidentally commandeered by some people who were there to talk about
Augmented Reality and ways that it can be used in the classroom. I think that they were just the
introductory people, but they talked for so long and there were so many questions about
augmented reality that there was no time for Dr. Goldman to speak. I was sad about that part, she
was quite funny at the beginning and I was looking forward to her presentation.

The next session was the lunch session. The speaker was Ann Marie Corgill who is the
Alabama Teacher of the Year. She spoke about how she was reading the book Thank You Mr.
Faulker to her students and the janitor of the school stopped by to listen to the book. He then
asked her if he could borrow it. He was over fifty years old and until he read about a girl who
had dyslexia in the book, he did not realize that he had dyslexia as well. He had been
undiagnosed his whole life.
Friday morning the morning session was called Thinking Intensive Learning: Close
Reading and Viewing for Understanding and the speaker was Stephanie Harvey. She spoke
about the difficulty of finding appropriate texts for students because of the way that books are
divided by grade level. She provided many examples where childrens books had been awarded
difficulty levels beyond what they should have received because of something that the scanners
did not correct for. Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone was tied with some of the highest
difficulty literature because of names like Dumbledore and Quirrell and words like Qudditch and
Quaffle were used so often in the text. Stephanie Harvey also talked about allowing student more
time to close read passages. She then spent about ten minutes with the entire ballroom close
reading a pictograph about sharks. We hardly made a dent in the pictograph in ten minutes
because we were reading it closely.
The last session that I attended was the smaller sessions on Friday morning. The one I
attended was entitled Integrating Technology into Common Core: Using Technology Tools in
English Language Arts and the speaker was Debra Riser. One thing that I distinctly remember
about the session was that Debra Riser kept asking questions that only a teacher with a few years
of experience could answer. It was the only time in the whole conference that I felt like an
outsider who did not belong. I know that her intention was not to alienate myself or the several

other students who were there. Her intentions were to reinforce the bonds that the experienced
teachers share, but at the same time there were about ten students in the room who were unable
to answer her questions or participate in the discussion. I really enjoyed this session. I know that
some of the ways that Debra Riser mentioned to incorporate technology and vocabulary into the
classroom are some that we have learned about in class such as wordle and alphaboxes. I
appreciated the numerous handouts she provided for us and I know that I will look back on them
again in the future.
The last thing that we did at the Conference was have a Samford student one-on-one with
Donalyn Miller. That was pretty amazing. I really enjoyed her book and I beat myself up all day
that I did not bring my copy for her to sign. I wanted to know every book that she has ever read
and loved. Her voice sounded different than the one used in my head to read her book. It is weird
how real life is always different to books. I thought that it was a great experience and I was
encouraged to read all of the books I can get my hands on.

Abby Conner
November 8, 2014
PLP Reflection 1
PLP Reflection 1
Today was the first PLP meeting. We took a personality quiz to determine our exact
personalities. I was awarded the personality type INTP. I do the best with what Ive got. The
strengths of the INTP are that they are great analysts and abstract thinkers, they are imaginative
and original, open minded, enthusiastic, and honest and straightforward. Some of the weakness
for the INTP are that they are very private, they are withdrawn, insensitive, absentminded,
condescending, loathe rules and guidelines, and they second guess themselves.
According to the personality quiz, I am 93% introverted. I feel like while this is an adequate
description, it does sound a bit daunting considering all of the extroverted personalities that are
involved in the education field.

Abby Conner
November 15, 2014
PLP Reflection 2
PLP Reflection 2
Today was the second meeting for our PLP group. We talked about leading respectful
conversations with parents. Some steps in having respectful conversations with parents include:
the purpose of contacting parents, staying professional through keeping boundaries, staying in
initiating position throughout the meeting, complement the childs good behavior, and move
forward step by step. The purpose of the parent-teacher conference is not to befriend the parent,
it is to report your observations about the child in an effort to help the child.
For addressing touchy subjects or parents, we discussed building positive relationships
with the parents, improving your listening skills, saying yes or no with confidence,
understanding the blame cycle, apologizing when you are wrong and standing firm, but not rude,
when you think that you are right, managing aggressive reactions from the parents, responding to
strong emotions and/or confrontation, and being calm in a high-stress situation.

Abby Conner
November 21, 2014
PLP Reflection 3
PLP Reflection 3
Today was the third and final PLP meeting. We talked about getting students back on
track. Most teachers assume that a problem that the problem with students is one of motivation.
They think that they children are just not putting effort into paying attention or are not held
accountable for their actions and need to be pushed harder to achieve their full potential. The
teachers that believe this are missing the possibility that the children dont know how to pay
attention.
Some practical steps for building attention skills include working for a positive and
understanding emotional climate, establish reasonable expectations for behavior, set clear rules,
and discuss or negotiate them with the child, including consequences for infractions, and
establish a well-regulated classroom environment. Some classroom tips to help children stay
focused include chunks and breaks, timers, and cues. All of these tips include giving the child
some control over their ability to pay attention. They allow the children to work with the teacher
to ensure that they are on task.

Abby Conner
November 24, 2014
ELL Seminar Reflection
ELL Seminar
Today we attended an ELL seminar at Samford University. The seminar talked about
taking care of the student before pushing them to learn, the standards for ELL students, and the
SIOP method of instruction.
The first thing that the seminar talked about today was how to show care to an ELL
student when they have a tragic background. The seminar specifically mentioned the refugees
from Syria and the Ukraine who are being relocated to the US. These children speak little to no
English and have been through horrific events that have left them physically and emotionally
scarred. The children are then being relocated to a country that is completely different to their
own, where they may or may not be with their families, where they do not speak the language,
and they are being told to keep up with the standards of the American children. The seminar said
that the teacher should allow the students time to grieve. Sometimes the students will show up
to class and not be up to working. The student must be taken care of before the learning can
happen. This is not for the teachers to allow the students to slack, but they should be allowed the
time to heal.
The next thing that the seminar covered was the standards for ELL students. The
standards for ELL students are called the WIDA standards. They are five basic standards that
apply to ELL students of all ages. They include the ability to communicate for social and
instructional purposes within the school setting and the ability to communicate ideas and

concepts necessary for academic success in the content area of language arts, mathematics,
science, and social studies.
The last item that was covered in the seminar was the SIOP method of instruction. The
key components of this method help make the content comprehensible for ELL students. There
are eight different components to the SIOP method. The steps are preparation, building
background, comprehensible input, strategies, interaction, practice and application, lesson
delivery, and review and assessment. Incorporating these steps into lessons ensures that ELL
students will learn to the best of their ability.

Abby Conner
November 13, 2014
Professional Development Choice
Staying Late at the ARA Conference
For my choice professional development, I chose to stay late Thursday at the ARA
Conference. I attended the session called Whats the Big Deal about Academic Vocabulary? It
was led by two speakers, Deborah Fitzgerald and Karen Rutledge-Bell. They discussed the
importance of academic vocabulary. We do students a disservice when we use different language
than words that they encounter. They emphasized that world knowledge not just word knowledge
is gained from a wider vocabulary. The difference between Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3 words were
discussed. Tier 1 words are words that a native speaker would use. Tier 2 words are more likely
to appear in text instead of speech. Tier 3 words are specific to a domain or field of study. Some
strategies to use when teaching vocabulary include alphaboxes, concept circles, word walls,
graphic organizers, and vocabulary notebooks or journals.