Professional Development & Professional Meeting

Linking Literature
One Thursday, February 19th I had the privilege of
attending the Linking Literature Birmingham Area Reading
Council meeting. At this meeting, teachers from surrounding
Birmingham schools, professors, administrators, and college
students met to discuss the importance of literature and
different techniques for incorporating literature and reading
in your classroom. We had the honor of hearing Dr. Hill, a
professor in the College of Education at the University of
Alabama at Birmingham talk about her favorite childrens
picture books from the 2015/2016 (if theyve come out)
school year. Dr. Hill simply went through a picture walk of
sort and talked about why the books were her current
favorites and gave a brief overview of each. There were so
many books that I want to get for my classroom and myself.
There were funny, happy, sad, and all sorts of books to draw
out your emotions, which I loved. Once the professor finished
talking, we broke off into smaller groups and talked with a
teacher about a specific point. The group I worked with

focused on close reading strategy. This was great for me to

hear because it is a strategy I can apply to my clinical
placements and learn from. The teacher also provided each
of us in the group with resources to use if we decide to try
close reading with students. Her resources were so beneficial
and I plan on implementing this strategy when I have the
opportunity. This professional development was great for me
personally because I got to engage with materials and
resources that will impact my future classroom and I can
take and put to use, which is the whole purpose of a
professional development opportunity. This was a fun time
and I really enjoyed my time with the teachers and member
of the Birmingham Area Reading Council.

AMSTI Training
At the AMSTI training today, I had the opportunity to
hear about the importance and impacts AMSTI is making in
Alabama classrooms and the role students and teachers play.
Prior to the training, I had concept of AMSTI or what it even
was and how it related to teaching. I now know the

importance of AMSTI and how it plays an important role in

schools. AMSTI strives to provide teachers and students with
lessons that focus on activity-based learning, where the
students are engaged in math, science, and technology
lessons. I think providing hands-on lessons in these areas are
key to helping students strive in these curriculum areas. For
many students, these areas of study are difficult and
classified as not fun. The resources AMSTI provides
administrations and classroom teacher provides a fun
engaging lesson that helps students learn life skills through
activities. Something that was really appealing to me was
the different learning styles the AMSTI program provides,
which is important for differentiated instruction and success
of the students. When students are learning new topics,
presenting in multiple learning styles is beneficial to their
successes because all students can learn in what way is best
for them. Students learn through the AMSTI program the
importance of problem solving and how there are multiple
strategies for problem solving. This is life skill because there
are always multiple solutions to a problem presented in real

life. This is an engineering aspect and it is an important

concept for students to understand. The engineering side of
AMSTI really focuses on solving problems that people face
everyday because that again is a life skill students can carry
outside of the classroom. Being an advocate for your
students and providing them with the knowledge and
resources to be success is the end goal of your job and the
AMSTI program. I believe the adoption of the AMSTI program
would be a good resource for schools and would help the
teachers and students develop a deeper understanding of
the curriculum areas in math, science, and technology.
ACT Aspire Professional Meeting- Tarrant
Intermediate
Today, I had the opportunity to sit in on a professional
development opportunity provided for the fourth grade
teachers at Tarrant Intermediate Elementary. Over the next
couple of weeks, the students at Tarrant will be testing,
taking the Alabama ACT Aspire test. The presenter talked
about ways of promoting the students in performing well on

the test and how the teachers can prepare the students for
the test. The presenter mentioned award and award systems
that can be in place for students when they practice well on
practice tests and are engaged when learning/preparing for
the ACT Aspire. The Tarrant teachers already have a rewards
system in place called Learning Earnings. The students
receive prizes of sort when they do well on practice tests
and/or in class with assignments geared towards the ACT
Aspire. It was evident that the testing was frustrating to the
teachers. I think from what I have observed that many of the
teachers are tired of the pressure put on themselves and the
students to make a certain score. From an outsider looking
in, it seems as though there is a large emphasize on testing
and many of the teachers, teach to the test. I dont think this
is good for the students and doesnt promote an excitement
for learning in the classroom. Secondly, the presenter
showed the students scores from the previous year for
Tarrant Intermediate in the fourth grade. The presenter told
the teachers what areas/subjects needed improvements. I
think the teachers didnt take this too well, just simply by

observing their body language. I think the whole purpose of

this professional development was to inform the teachers of
ways to promote positive testing environments in their
classrooms and give the teachers resources they can use in
their classrooms. One of the teachers made the statement,
ACT Aspire doesnt affect the students grade, so they dont
try. This was interesting to hear and it makes sense why a
child would view the test in this way. I can honestly see why
a child wouldnt try their best if it werent going to affect
their grade in the class. I think it is important do not tell the
students that it doesnt affect their grade because then
many students will not put forth the effort to do well. Its
unfortunate that the students think that way, but it is how
many children think, not just here at Tarrant. Finally, the
presenter provided the teachers with resources and
PowerPoint presentations to show their students before
testing to promote healthy and happy testing environments.
I dont think many teachers will actually use these resources
before the test. This professional development was very
insight into the ACT Aspire and the amount of pressure the

teachers and students feel as they approach testing day. I

think there is an overemphasis on testing and it shouldnt be
that way. Overall, this professional development was very
helpful for me see and view the teachers side of testing and
how testing plays a large role in schools and in the classroom
teaching.
Making Thinking Visible
Over the course of this semester, I have had the
opportunity to engage in conversations with my PLC team
and Dr. Birkenfeld about the book Making Thinking Visible.
This book is very insightful on classroom management,
strategies, and resources to provide a better and more
successful learning environment for all students. Each
meeting, we had a leader discuss different parts of the book
and how we can use the strategies, resources, and materials
in Making Thinking Visible for our classroom/lesson planning.
I personally led the discussion during our third meeting and
we discussed strategies and ways of incorporating the
Making Thinking Visible strategies in our future classrooms

and lesson plans. Over the course of our meetings, I have

really learned a lot from Dr. Birkenfeld and my PLC peers.
The conversations have been so beneficial for my growth as
a professional and I am so happy with the growth I have
made in performing and including the strategies I have
learned during this time in my lessons and instruction with
students. Making Thinking Visible highlights the importance
of introducing strategies in teaching and in for the students
learning that promotes growth in the students learning and
achievement academically. I am so please with the way I
have taken what I have learned and applied to my teaching
over the course of this semester. It is evident that the
strategies I am reading about in the book definitely help the
students in sense that they promote learning and engage
the students is best practice strategies that are proven to
help them learn more successfully. This semester has proven
to be very challenging, but with the conversations and what I
have been learning/reading in Making Thinking Visible, I feel
more successful in the material I teach and how I can
promote learning in all my students. I have really enjoyed

this semester and the challenges it as brought, but with the

guidance of Dr. Birkenfeld and the Making Thinking Visible
material, it as been rewarding and Im thankful for the
conversations and learning that has taken place in me and
with my students.
BARC Professional Development
Today, April 28th, 2016 I attended the BARC meeting at
Shades Cahaba Elementary School, in Homewood. This BARC
meeting focused around the importance of writing and you
personally becoming a writer in your daily life. The speaker
was a teacher from The Alabama School of Fine Arts and she
spoke about her personal connection to writing and how she
has started a blog and has developed her voice through her
writings. She was so inspirational to listen to. It was so
evident that she is passionate about writing and encouraging
her students to write. She provided us with ways of finding a
group to join and write with, find time to write, and
encouraging us to develop our writing daily. I believe writing,
especially narrative pieces allow students to express

themselves and develop their sense of self. This also opens

those opportunities for the teacher to learn about the child in
their class and make connections and build a relationship
with that child. I think narrative pieces tend to be most
childrens favorite because they get to express themselves
and show who they truly are, without the restrains of typical
writing styles. I personally have always wanted to blog, but I
never knew if it would be worth it. I love fashion and I think
writing about fashion would be something I was really
enjoyed. I would like to start a fashion blog, but I feel like I
dont have the words and writing techniques to intrigue
readers on a blog. Honestly, that is probably why I havent
pursued that outlet before because of the harsh reality that
it may not be popular. Today, I learned the value that writing
plays in students lives. It is an expressive way of students
showing themselves to a reading audience and it also gets
their feelings and emotions out onto paper, blog, social
media, etc. I really enjoyed todays BARC meetings and felt
that I could take away the information the speaker presented
and apply it to my future classroom. Having students engage

in writing is key to other areas of success and I firmly believe

students should be engaged in writing activities daily. In
conclusion, I really enjoyed todays speaker and BARC talk. I
can really see many of the pieces of information presented
today being applied to my classroom.

Trace Crossings Elementary Ed Camp

On Saturday, April 23rd, I got to be apart of my first Ed
Camp professional development experience. This was such a
neat experience because it isnt like your typical professional
development conference. All the teachers there decide when
they arrive, what they want to talk about and lead. This
makes the Ed Camp more applicable because it is more
specific to the teachers needs at the conference. The whole
approach to Ed Camp is great and I really liked it. The
teachers basically run the sessions and lead on the spot. The
teachers talk about things they are interested in, rather than
boring sessions about things they cant apply to their
teaching. I really like how the set up and rotations work at Ed
Camp. The first session I went to was based on cross-

curricular connections. The speaking teacher talked about

how she made connections across curriculums in her 6 th
grade classroom. She was such a great speaker and really
engaged the teachers, including myself. The second session I
went to was on classroom management. The teacher leading
this session wanted to know of ways to manage student
work because she was a Montessori school. This was the
most unbeneficial session I attended. I was really hoping this
session would be good for me to see how other teachers
manage their classrooms, but in all honesty it was simply
one teacher asking for help without any responses, so we sat
their a lot without much conversation. The final session I
attended was geared specifically towards pre-service
teachers, which was great. We got to ask teachers,
administrators, etc. pondering questions we had and wanted
to know. I personally asked, If there was one, single piece of
advice you could give us for our first year of teaching, what
would that advice be? It was neat hearing all the different
teachers talk about what they thought was the one piece of
advice theyd give and I definitely took note of those pieces

of advice. Overall, this day was great and I can easily see
why the ED Camp style of professional development is taking
off. ED Camp really allows teachers to take charge of their
professional development and I believe they enjoy the
simplistic of the conference, verses other conferences. In
conclusion, I had a great time and would definitely go back
in the future.