Thankful November, day 2: Professional Development

On day 2 of Thankful November, I'm pausing to be thankful for professional development.

The professional development I'll be attending later today is sure to disappoint on so many levels.  Some professional development "trainings" are like that.

However, I've also had the opportunity to attend some really good professional development courses that have expanded my pedagogical understanding of concepts.

Explicit Phonics

In fifth grade, I didn't think I had to teach phonics.  I figured they can read, they're fine.  Then I took Explicit Phonics, which was offered in my district.  The beginning section of the course focused on long and short vowels, blends, digraphs, and short words.  Useful for some, but not applicable to my whole group instruction.  However, the second half of the course focused on affixes, roots, and blending through multi-syllabic words which is totally appropriate for upper elementary.  We worked on flexible decoding strategies and tried it in our classrooms.  

Like most things, it got better with practice.  

I then learned about the workbooks with Words Their Way. I was familiar with the WTW program, which is a collection of word lists with specific phonics skills attached.  I much prefer this approach to spelling than the traditional 20 words of the week that are associated with thematic units.  

What I didn't know is there are five different student work books.

I ordered "D" and "E" off of Amazon.  The word lists are appropriate for my ELL fifth graders and the format is student friendly.

I take ten minutes a day of reading instruction to do explicit phonics with my fifth graders.  By the beginning of November, we've covered the six syllable types, long vowel patterns, inflectional endings, and some affixes.  

The instruction is broken into four or five day mini-units and put into powerpoints, some of which are available {here}.  I'm in the process of adding more as I revise them based off of my students' understanding of the skill.

I'm glad I took professional development on explicit phonics for the upper grades.  It makes my reading instruction better and helps my ELL students.

Nonfiction in Focus

{Last month}, I took a course on nonfiction reading and integrating it with writing.  The course was crammed into three days, but I loved the information on blogging and merging nonfiction with writing.  In elementary school, there should be a 50-50 split between fiction and informational text, but our Reading Rangers program doesn't always reflect that.

It's sometimes a challenge to integrate informational text into a reading block that is heavily slanted in favor of fiction, so this course gave us some ideas about integration with writing.

This also made us examine our reading and writing pacing guide.  Quite frankly, they shouldn't be viewed as separate most of the time.  Reading and writing should be integrated together in a more natural way, which is something we're looking at in upcoming units.  (I say we here because Mrs. H took the course with me).

Text-Dependent Questions

I'm in this course {right now}, it's finishing up by the middle of November, and I'm loving it.  The text for the course is by Fisher and Frey, who are some of my favorites.

Yes, I have favorite educational researchers, don't you?

The course is giving me a lot more information about structuring close reads in my classroom.  Once I'm done, I'll synthesize my learning and blog about it, so stay tuned!

Technology Endorsement

A few years ago, there was an opportunity to obtain a technology endorsement for free by taking courses at Nevada State College.  I had to pay for the courses upfront, but if I earned a B or better, was reimbursed.

The four courses went over the basics of jing, edmodo, wordle, and other web 2.0 tools.

I can't recall the specifics, but it was a year-long professional development and I learned that it's not enough for me to use the technology, I need my students to understand how to use it appropriately because I've got to make them digital citizens.

Mount Vernon Teacher's Institute

As a history nerd, the idea of studying George Washington's life and staying at Mount Vernon was thrilling.  I applied and was accepted in the summer of 2012.  It was an amazing opportunity and you can learn more about it {here} or {here}.

MEMTA

Summer 2012 was a busy one because once I got back from Mount Vernon, I almost immediately headed back to the East Coast to attend the Mickelson Exxon Mobile Teacher's Academy.  MEMTA pairs with NSTA and focuses on science instruction in 3-5th grade classrooms.

Oh, and I met Phil Mickelson.

 Learn more {here} and {here}. 

{DENSI}

The Discovery Educator Network Summer Institute is a week long adventure in learning and connecting with other educators.  My brain frequently feels like it's ready to explode from all the strategies and I still haven't implemented all the ideas that are swirling around in my brain.

I've had some amazing opportunities to learn more and become a better teacher.  I'm thankful for the opportunities to grow as a person, challenge my preconceived notions, and continue to learn new things.

What are you thankful for?

The DEN visits Vegas

In the fall of 2012, I was sent to yet another professional development training.  I prepped for a sub and showed up at Chaparral High School, looking very much like a high school student.  Even though I proudly displayed my school district badge, I was still questioned multiple times about which class I should be in.  I know, someday I'll appreciate looking much younger than I really am, it's just not that day.

I arrived in the room marked Discovery Education and found a seat near the back.  The room was decorated with a race car theme and the leader's bubbly personality was infectious. 

Throughout the course of the day, we learned all about resources on Discovery Education that extend far beyond assessment.  One of the most pivotal things we learned about was becoming a STAR educator, which allows access to even more resources.

So I applied and was accepted. 

Then we learned about the Discovery Educator Network Summer Institute, which would be held in Burlington, Vermont that upcoming summer.  Impulsively and on the provided lunch break, I decided to film my application video.  Mrs. B, who was my fellow colleague, filmed it on one take on her phone and I submitted the application before leaving the training.

I returned to my school excited to share what I'd learned, but put the application in the back of my mind.  Why would they pick me, a newbie, who had been a DEN STAR for all of twenty minutes before applying?

Well...they did pick me.  I attended the summer institute and it was amazing.  Catch up {here}.

Upon returning, I participated in the ambassador program and shared the DEN with my colleagues.  I then switched schools, moved, and skipped applying to DENSI 2014.

Once the dust of major life changes settled, I decided to apply for DENSI 2015, which I was blessed to attend.  Each year they pick a different location and it's always amazing.  Catch up more on my adventures in Washington DC {here}.

This year, we're gearing up to make the DEN even bigger in Clark County.  For the past two DENSIs, I was the sole representative for not only my district, but the entire state.  

Nevada, we can do better.  Vegas, we can definitely do better.

So, fellow teachers in CCSD, I invite you to join me for the Fall Ambassador Program, starting October 1st.  Yummy food will be provided, you'll get to hang out with me and the DE staff (always a blast!) and most importantly, you'll learn strategies you can take right back into your classroom and meet fellow passionate teachers.

Register on Pathlore!

For me, attending one of these sessions opened the door to meeting my tribe, to re-igniting my passion for teaching, and for making some lasting connections with educators in other states.

(After School Update: See above flyers! I had a colleague already sign up, hooray!)

How will the DEN change you?

DENSI 2015 Take Aways

After much reflection (and reading others' blogs), here are some of my take-aways from DENSI 2015:

1) People matter.  

One of my favorite things about the DEN is that it's truly more than a digitally connected group of educators.  It's a family. It's a tribe.

I know that if I'm stuck on a concept or just need a little inspiration (DENspiration) after a tough day, they will be there.  One of our tribe members, Lindsay Foster, has a daily twitter image or message to inspire creativity and spread the love.  She challenged herself to spread positive vibes and I whole heartily embrace this.  In education, it's ridiculously easy to fall into a negative attitude because there's so much that is out of our control.  So I'd rather surround myself with happy vibes and that love for teaching was overwhelmingly evident at DENSI.

I can reach out on Edmodo, twitter, facebook, or texting when I need advice from my tribe.  This doesn't mean my work family isn't amazing (because they are) but sometimes it's nice to get other perspectives.  My tribe offers that.  From the first moment I walked on campus, I started to recognize people from DENSI 2013 or from the facebook group.  Everyone is welcoming, everyone is positive, everyone genuinely operates with the mindset that everyone should be successful.

I met people that recognized me from my TpT store picture and had previously purchased products, which was a surreal experience.  We ended up discovering this over the less-than-appetizing cafeteria breakfasts.  The friend requests are still coming in and my PLN (professional learning network) is ever-expanding.  It's nice to know I've got people in my corner.

2) Work-Life Balance.

If there's one thing to know about DENSI events, it's the importance of #napchat.  Nap chats fit perfectly with my love of naps.  Sleep is valued.  Taking care of yourself is encouraged.

DENSI focused on putting fun and joy back into the classroom.  Our jobs matter.  But home life and social life matters too.  There was time for learning at DENSI, but there was also lots of time for connecting to others.  I don't think Kate and I got to bed before midnight any day of the week because we were up chatting with others...oops!   Again, people matter.  

Last night, while B had softball, I went over to a friend's for dinner.  Several of my pals inquired as to where he was, which was appreciated.  He was not only missed by me, but my friends as well. I ended up staying for many hours after because I was having such rich, meaningful conversations with others.  The evening did include Cards against Humanity, at which point those meaningful conversations fizzled into ridiculously inappropriate ones.   

This year, one of my personal goals is to be better at the work-life balance.  I've already shared with two of my lovely grade level ladies that I need to leave by 4.  Most of this is to get home to let Waffles out, but I want to make sure I have my evenings for me.  I'll set aside one night to work late from home (whichever night B has class) but I want my nights free for our family time. 

3) Leadership matters.

I'm fortunate enough to work for two amazing administrators who aren't afraid to get a little bit silly when leading by example.

Beyond my admin, the leadership of the DEN is awesome.  The DEN (Discovery Educator Network) isn't as strong in my district as I'd like, so I'm excited to be in conversations about strengthening it to build community.  When educators in my district hear "Discovery Education", they tend to think of the benchmark assessments and the frustration that usually accompanies standardized testing.  I'm hoping to help change that conversation.

4) Have fun and be yourself.

I'm a creative person.  I like having my classroom be a slightly loud, slightly messy, melting pot of learning.  I take risks and sometimes lessons flop.  That's okay.  I learn from them and move on.  I have fun in my classroom and that's okay. 

My classroom is a reflection of me.  My classroom is a reflection of my students.  My classroom is a reflection of our learning journey. 

When you're excited about what you're doing, that enthusiasm rubs off on your students.  That's a good thing.

5) Share.

Often times, we get so wrapped up within the walls of our own classroom that we forget to connect with others.  We forget to share the great things that are happening.  We don't recognize the greatness in ourselves and feel inadequate when compared to others.

This has to stop.  There are exciting things happening in classrooms and they need to be shared and celebrated. 

We need to share with each other and learn from each other.  Part of my hesitation with sharing is that I don't want to feel like I'm doing someone else's work for them.  Truth be told, I've worked with some lazy educators over the years.  My definition of lazy has shifted because I acknowledge the importance of a work-life balance.  I didn't always appreciate that in my early years and would be unfairly critical to others who left on time to see their families.  I didn't think they put enough effort into their classrooms, but looking back, that wasn't my place to judge. 

Luckily, my tribe is filled with hard working educators who want to share their ideas with others.  

6) Take the time to laugh.

Not everything at DENSI went perfectly.  It rained when we saw the monuments.  I went eight straight days without soda.  I survived on grilled cheese and omelets.  There was ridiculous jack hammering during our trainings (not to worry, it was dealt with). Worst of all? The sheets. I had two flat sheets that did not fit the dorm bed.  I ended up in a cocoon-like ball each night and just slept on the slippery, rubber mattress.  

Could I control any of this? No.

So I chose laughter and rolled with it. 

7) Don't stop learning.

I haven't dived into my pages of notes yet, but I'm so excited to try new things in my classroom.  I obviously need to buy a green table cloth to try greenscreening and videos in my classroom.  I'm excited to incorporate mystery Skype into our geography lessons.  Doodling with note taking will be a new adventure this year.  

If I expect my students to be life-long learners, I should model that myself. 

Thank you, DENSI and my tribe, for helping me feel excited about this upcoming year.

DENSI, round two

Now that I've confirmed my place and told friends and family, I'm pleased to announce that I'll be headed to Washington DC this summer to participate in DENSI 2015!

DENSI, which is short for the Discovery Education Network Summer Institute, is a week long collaboration event that focuses on networking, technology, and learning from other teachers.  I went two years ago in Vermont and had a wonderful time.  I skipped last year's event because I'd just bought a home and was in the middle of an extensive kitchen remodel (refinishing nearly forty different cabinet doors) and unpacking a home.  

This year I'll be back to continue learning from other amazing educators. I can't wait to take the information I learn and share it with my colleagues (and here online).

It looks like my Leslie Knope dreams are coming true after all!

 

Fingers Crossed...

Today I'm taking a leap of faith.

I decided to apply to Discovery Educator Network's Summer Institute (DENSI).  I went two years ago when the institute was in Burlington, Vermont.  It was an amazing opportunity that I will hopefully get to repeat!  I didn't apply last year because we'd just bought a house and I was in the middle of remodeling the kitchen (painting all the cabinets) as well as unpacking.

Before making the decision, I called B to discuss the idea.  This summer we plan to adopt a puppy, so I wanted to make sure he'd be okay with three pets by himself for a week.

He was amazingly supportive and encouraged me to go for it.  He likened the experience to being Leslie Knope (my spirit animal) and conquering DC.  With his support, (and my best friend's and mom's), I decided to go for it!

I wrote out my application questions and am practicing my video.  My school's literacy coach is amazing and agreed to film it for me Monday morning.  I don't know how to edit videos, so I've got just one shot to make it right!

Applications are due May 1st (apply here) and I'll find out May 16th.

Will you be joining me in DC?

Continual improvement, even during the summer

I'm not very good with summer plans.  Two years ago, I experienced a week of learning at Mt. Vernon with a teacher's academy and a week in New York City with the Mickelson Exxon-Mobile  Teacher's Academy (MEMTA).  Last year, I attended DENSI for a week of technology and teaching.  All three experiences were incredible and I learned so much from fellow teachers across the country.

This summer, I'm not doing any teacher academies.  With moving expenses, I simply couldn't afford the airfare to DENSI (Nashville).  I didn't sign up for my district's teaching classes in time and now that I'm 97% moved in, I find myself with lots of free time...which I don't necessarily cope with well.

My boyfriend is like the rest of the world and works during the summer.  Many of my teacher friends are traveling back home or working second jobs or putting the finishing touches on their own homes or spending time with their kids.  I just had family visit, my home is done (with the exception of a few lamps and dishes at the old apartment), and I don't have kids yet.  I'm trying not to spend a lot of money so travel is out.

I'm doing a lot of reading, which is wonderful. But I still find myself with a lot of free time.  I know I should enjoy this time since it will vanish once the school year starts.  It will vanish once I have kids.

But I am pleased that a summer job has appeared.  I have the opportunity to tutor a third grade student.  My realtor of all people reached out on behalf of one of her other clients.  It will only be a few hours a week but it still gives me an opportunity to interact with kids.  

I'm excited for this opportunity!

DENSI 2014...apply now!

Last summer, I had the awesome opportunity to attend DENSI 2013 in Burlington, Vermont.  

It was a week jammed full of networking, technology and learning :)

Applications for DENSI 2014 are now available here!

I encourage fellow educators to apply! 

DENSI 2013

For the past two years, I've been working with Discovery Education as an ambassador/DENStar for my school district.  

We've adapted their Launch into Teaching assessments to measure students' academic growth, but we focus more on the tools on their website.  From video streaming and board building (similar to glogster)  to online tech books and virtual labs, Discovery has a lot of tech tools available for teachers.  They also have a plethora of audio clips and images as well as suggested lesson plans, which come in very handy! 

They also have the Discovery Educator Network Summer Institute (DENSI) each summer.  Last year, I attended in Burlington, Vermont and had an amazing time.  Once again, I was the sole representative for my state so I was a little overwhelmed at first but by the end of the week, felt right at home.

I was placed in a dorm with 3 other ladies, 2 who were veterans and another newbie from California.  

DENSI was a mix of key note speakers, hands-on sessions and break-out sessions.  I set up twitter for the first time at DENSI after learning about how this social media tool could be used for professional development and teacher networking.  I tried my hand at geo-caching and well, I'm not very great at it (yet?).  We learned about sustainable farming and I milked a goat for the first time. 

(That was an interesting experience to say the least.)

We played with different apps and talked about classroom application.  We learned about chromebooks and I learned all sorts of things my new GS4 could do!  We learned more about video streaming and using Skype in the classroom.

Besides being a techy's dream, it was a wonderful opportunity to meet other teachers from around the United States and Canada.  Here is the list of attendees and their prospective websites. 

I think what I enjoyed best was the time to sit in small groups and talk about best teaching practices.  One teacher was struggling with his math block, so we talked for over an hour about restructuring it for effectiveness.  Since I want to be an academic coach, it was a great, unexpected opportunity for professional growth.

Snapshots from the week are here in dropbox.

PLUS I got a sneak peek of Shark Week! I LOVE Shark Week...and my new beverage holder!

I loved DENSI 2013 and would highly recommend the professional development.

I can't wait for Discovery to release their applications for DENSI 2014!  As soon as they do, I'll post the link :)

Paper slide

This afternoon, only one of my small groups came prepared to discuss our novel :(

So instead of wasting time, I complimented the student who was prepared, had the others write apology notes for wasting learning time and gave extra time to my other small group.  

We went over our interesting words, character changes, etc before I presented them with today's fun technology challenge.

Last night, I attended a Discovery Education Ambassador meeting (I'm a DENStar and ambassador for my school district, plus a DENSI alum so naturally I was there).  We talked about lots of strategies and I decided to use one of them today.

They had 15 minutes to design and create a paper slide. 

Working together, they did a mighty fine job!

Their finished product can be viewed here!

The video was filmed in the hallway without microphones on my iPad.  Obviously I'll make tweaks for next time!

My brain is teaming with ideas of how to use this strategy again!

Well, that was out of the blue

I want to believe that I am a good teacher. I know I love my job (most days) and I know I love watching students learn (all days).  It's been a rough year and I haven't felt super supported at school.  I know we took a hit last year in terms of standardized assessments and test scores, but I truly didn't think mine were that bad.  In fact, they weren't bad at all.  My students made growth and did all of them reach their goals? No.  But did they all show improvement? Yes. 

I've been a little frustrated with hearing about how fifth grade's scores went down drastically (19%).  It wasn't my class.  It wasn't 2 of my fabulous neighbor's classes because they worked just as hard and provided some amazing learning opportunities for their students.  I learned so much from them last year and I continue to learn from them now.

Today, out of the blue I got an email from a researcher.  He has a PhD so I'm going to assume he knows what he's doing in terms of assessments.  Here was the gist of his email:

"In my analysis, your students did exceptionall well, including the ELL and special education students. I would like to talk about your experiences and see what resources you used."

Bam.  I want to gloat about this to those that have been a tad harsh this year, but instead I'll just share my excitement here.  I know I did my job as a teacher. I know they all learned and made growth.  More importantly, I know I got them excited about inquiry and learning.

He wants to specifically discuss Discovery Education and the resources I used since I'm a DENstar and he's looking at the Discovery Launch into Teaching assessments.

Honestly, I used Discovery's resources mostly for science which wasn't reflected on those assessments.  We did a lot of video streaming and discussion prior to the CRTs and my students did awesome on their science tests.  (In addition to reading and math!)

So I hope this means I can stop hearing about test scores and negativity.  Fifth grade may have gone down drastically, but that was not my data.  I will be accountable to my test scores and students' growth.  

Do I believe that one test determines what a student learned in one year? No, absolutely not. But it's what we have and what I have to use, so I will take an honest look at the data.  My data looks pretty solid and I'm proud of my students' growth.  Numbers don't lie.

Strange Days

Today was...interesting.

It started with me picking my students up from humanities because well, we added that special this week and my specials schedule changed yesterday.  One of my favorite subs is filling that job and my kids had so much fun. 

They worked on creative movement and when I picked them up, I was treated to a flash mob.  Yes, they busted out their new dance moves just for me :)

(I do love my flash mobs!  At MEMTA, I helped orchestrate and lead one while last summer at DENSI, I participated in one at the Vermont Lake Monsters game.)

We analyzed informational texts for the main idea, practiced decoding words with long vowels (a, e & i), worked on revising our pieces, observed stream tables, analyzed figurative language and then switched for math and small groups.

However, I had to confiscate a yu-gi-oh card and dealt with post-it notes with "kick me" on the back.  It is entirely possible I learned to time travel today and returned to about 10 years ago.

Oh hump day.

Trying to be positive

As mentioned in my rattled post, I've received some negative feedback on TpT.  I didn't take it well.  I received another piece of feedback on the same product but this one was less malicious and did cause me to be self-reflective.  Perhaps I need to look outside of my school district for professional development in terms of the Common Core.  I know Nevada is frequently at the bottom of educational rankings, but that's due to a plethora of factors, many of which we as teachers can't control.  Maybe I should look into other school districts (since there's really only one in my state) and how they're "ramping up the rigor" for the Common Core.

But at the same time, I don't think I'm unqualified.  If I was, I wouldn't be sharing my materials.  I've written assessments for my school and district for a few years and was on the unwrapping task force for both math and social studies when CCSD adopted the Common Core.  I've been CASL trained and I know what makes rigorous, valid assessments.  All of my materials have been field tested in my own classroom and tweaked as necessary.  I am a DENstar with Discovery and one of our district's DENambassadors (Discovery Education).  I attended DENSI last summer in Vermont and was the sole representative of my state.  Yes, state.  The summer before that, I attended both the Mickelson Exxon-Mobil Teacher's Academy and the Mount Vernon Teacher's  Institute, again being the sole representative of my state.  My list of qualifications goes on and on, so I think I'm a knowledgable teacher.  Of course, I'm never done learning and developing as a teacher, as evident with my current task of working toward masters +32 (so close!) then working on National Board Certification.  Yup, I'm a type-A teacher and I embrace it.  I know I work hard and my students learn.

I don't think rigor comes from worksheets.  I think rigor comes from discussions and analysis of the text.  Rigor comes from close reading, re-reading, deep discussions and interaction with the text.  I can offer those deeper level questions, which I do, in my discussion guides but it is up to the teacher to drive the discussion and challenge students to think deeper.  As with any teacher guide, you have to make it your own and implement it in the classroom.  

I stand by my products and I am trying not to let two bad reviews ruin my outlook on selling products online.  Last time I checked, 79 people had purchased a product with several hundred more downloading my free ones.  If out of that, two had an issue, I'd say that's pretty acceptable.  I do feel bad that my product didn't meet their expectations but it did meet mine.  For those of you that know me personally, you know my standards are meticulously high.  I don't like wasting time and I wouldn't feel comfortable wasting other people's time.

However, I'll let you judge for yourself.  I have three products for free on TpT: a novel quote preview for Tuck Everlasting, a chronological order sort for Harry Potter and a 5 themes of geography ppt.  Download them here.  If you like them, please rate me accordingly.  If you don't, I'd love feedback either here or on the site about how I can improve them.  Please don't tell me it was a waste of money (since it's free!) or a waste of time.  Offer concrete examples of how you'd like it improved.  I'm always open to constructive feedback, especially if it improves my instruction and benefits my students :)

Thank you,
Ms. Vice

Adding a little quirkiness to the classroom

I love adding whimsy to my classroom. From a football shaped key holder to the Batman "Ms. Vice" sign, I'm all about adding a little fun and joy into our school day. I found these ideas online and am excited to give them a try.

Idea one: student helpers

I have table team captains and group leaders, but I like the idea of specialized lanyards for students to wear, especially during small group time.

 I could teach one center to each group, then have the groups teach each other the rules, leaving me free to pull small groups or do beginning of the year diagnostic assessments.  Plus, Bed, Bath and Beyond always carries some pretty blinged out lanyards.  By releasing responsibility to the students, they feel more ownership over the classroom.  This in turn empowers them to make better behavior decisions because they feel they have a say in how things go in our classroom :)

Idea Two:

Wasabi Tape

I just like the idea of making my white cords look a little more fun :)  Plus, there's always some on sale at Hobby Lobby and I'm sure I could find lots of uses!

Idea Three:

Phone Prison

 Luckily, cell phones aren't a huge problem in fifth grade at my school but every so often, one goes off.  I usually take the phone and turn it into the office to have a parent come pick it up, but I like the idea of phone prison in the classroom instead.  Once the parent or guardian comes in, we would have a chat with the student about making better choices.  I fully understand the need for some students to have phones to let their parents know they're home safe and that's a family decision, but there's no need for the phone to go off during the school day.

Idea Four:

Classroom mascot 

 This one is perhaps inspired by the gnome of DENSI, but I like the idea of a classroom mascot.  Similar to a Flat Stanley approach, I'd like the mascot to go home and write about his/her adventures.  (On a side note, I'd also like the mascot to be washable).  I like the idea of having the mascot share important reminders with the class.  Perhaps the mascot needs his/her own Edmodo account? Or if nothing else, to make guest appearances on the classroom blog!

Bringing back the joy

Last week, I had the opportunity to attend the Discovery Educator Network Summer Institute (DENSI 2013) in the beautiful Burlington, Vermont.

My head is still spinning with all the amazing information about incorporating technology into my classroom to enhance student participation.  I'm excited to use the new apps to air stream from my iPad to my projector and turn my iPad into a document camera to capture student work while walking around the classroom. 

Perhaps even more exciting then the information was the opportunity to try new things and connect with some amazing educators from across the Untied States and from the Great White North (oh Canada).  In five short days, we did a flash mob, the Harlem Shake and the Denmazing Race.  I learned to milk a goat and geo-cache, both of which are obviously great life skills.

Perhaps the most important message I took away from the conference is joy.  Teaching is amazing. I'm blessed with the opportunity year after year to interact with precious young minds and help guide them to be thoughtful, articulate, considerate citizens.  Parents trust me with their most valuable gems and I get to watch them grow, learn and discover.  One thing I want to work on this year is putting joy back into teaching.  I want to make each day fun and have my students want to be there.  I learned about whole brain teaching from my super cool roommate and I love the idea of having my students communicate frequently with one another.  

I plan to upcycle a tissue box (once I have an empty one) into this cute student shout out box:

I can empower students to compliment one another and work on building a classroom community.  I'm excited for the upcoming school year and embracing more JOY in my life and my classroom :)