A few presentations stood out to me personally because of my interest in the topics. The two that stood out the most were the formative assessment and the presentation on phonemic awareness strategies in a small group setting. The presenters in both of these settings, seemed polished, confident and knew their material.
Another enjoyable part of each one of these presentations was the amount of material I felt like I took with me as I left. I enjoyed "getting" something from the meeting, and learning about what worked and what didn't work. Now, I have about 5 folders full of materials from the conference and a "prize" bag with different toys in it to represent some of the formative strategies to use in the classroom. (I can't wait to bring those to school.)
While observing at the conference, I was planning for my future presentation for next May and wrote down a few ideas that I would like to remember:
Do's
- Make a name card for each member of the meeting and jot down names, schools, grades,
- Bring with a list of the questions listed on the forum from attendees, answer questions and put them up on the board to read before hand, so that you can get to everyone, even if you don't have time.
- provide actual resources to use
- Talk about what worked and what didn't work
- Candy
- Food
- Water
- Introductions
DON'TS
- Force people into group work to answer questions
- Talk for too long about yourself
- Ask questions and then answer them before you give attendees a chance to answer
- Stay on topic
Overall, I feel very blessed to have taken part in this unique opportunity!
1 comment:
Hey Mike - SOOOO glad that the experience was valuable to you. There really is nothing more powerful than sharing with your colleagues! And it sounds like you walked away with many great ideas to use in your own classroom...that's fantastic! Just think, in less than a year, that will be you providing those examples and that positive experience! It will fly by... Cherish every minute! :-)
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