Catherine Keeter

Professional Development
ARA Conference
The ARA conference was packed with great speakers and an
abundance of information. I enjoyed the experience of being
surrounded by so many educators that shared a similar goal of wishing
to learn more to positively impact the world of education. I also
enjoyed being together with everyone for some sessions and getting to
pick from a variety of options for smaller sessions and spend time with
a smaller group of people.
I think my favorite session from day one was the
opening session, which featured Jeff Anderson. He spoke on
encouraging writers. I enjoyed this session because I feel like a lot of
the students in the first grade class Im currently observing in do not
enjoy writing. I picked up some great tips about encouraging students
to love to write such as to praise students because confidence keeps
them writing. Jeff also focused on the power of critique and mentioned
that feedback has the power build writers and to break them. I plan to
try some of these techniques out in the classroom soon.
My favorite
session from the second day of the ARA conference was Dr. tommy
Bices session entitled Beyond Measure. He focused on issues in
education and how some schools were making unconventional changes

such as choosing to get rid of a traditional summer schedule and move

to schedule that does school year round. It was a very interesting
session and I feel as if I learned a lot about the current hot topics of
education.

I really

enjoyed the ARA conference and cant wait to go to more conference

and events in the future! It was fun being surrounded by educators
who share a common goal of wishing to better the learning community.
PLP group with a family studies leader/ PLP log
Date: October 6th
Topic: Personality
Reflection: During this session, I loved learning more about my
personality type and how my strengths and weaknesses will affect me
as a teacher. Learning about my strengths made me think about how I
may approach different situations as a teacher and also made me
aware of what all I will be able to bring to the table as a teacher. I am
creative, so hopefully I will be able to bring fun, new ideas to the
classroom. I am also insightful and compassionate which will affect the
way I interact with my students. Im also very glad that we talked
about personality weaknesses during this session because I am now
aware of these things that could potentially negatively affect my
classroom! One of my weaknesses is that I can burn out easily which is
something I know I will need to keep an eye on when I am a busy
teacher! While I dont think all of my personality type characteristics

are accurate, the ones I discussed here are, and I will need to think
about these strengths and weaknesses and how they affect my
classroom when I become a teacher.
Date: October 15th
Topic: Communication
Reflection: My favorite part about this session was the handout we got
that detailed how each personality type communicates and how each
personality type likes to be communicated to. While I know I will not
know the personality types of the parents I will interact with as a
teacher, this guide is helpful for learning how to be clear and respectful
during parent teacher conferences with all types of personalities.
During this session we also received a step-by-step guide for conveying
bad news to a parent and a list of things not to do during a parent
teacher conference. I know these are documents I will want to keep
and review before I communicate with the parents of my future
students. This was my favorite session because we received a packet
chalk full with helpful tips for how to communicate effectively in parent
teacher conferences.
Date: October 23rd
Topic: Parenting Styles and Discipline
Reflection: This session was helpful because I learned how a students
home life can greatly affect their classroom behavior. I learned about
how different parenting styles can specifically influence a student in a

certain way. I thought it was interesting that based on a students

behavior, a teacher can determine what type of discipline or parenting
the student is probably receiving at home. I also think it is beneficial
that we received a document with guidelines for discipline. These
guidelines laid out the best way to discipline students in the classroom
in an effective and respectful manner.
Date: October 30th
Topic: Types of teachers
Reflection: When I read over the types of teachers document, I related
closest to the Idealist teacher. Creating an accommodating classroom
atmosphere where students feel valued and respected is very
important to me and this is one of the main idealist principles. While I
related closets to the idealist teacher, I realized in this meeting how
important it is for students to have a teacher that is a mixture of all
teacher types. Every student is different and not every student will
enjoy learning under idealist methods. This session was very important
to me because I realized as a teacher I will need to be very flexible
with the way I teach and I need to be able to put my students needs
above my own. Just because I agree mostly with the ideas of the
idealist teacher, doesnt mean I shouldnt implement qualities of each
teaching type into my own teaching.
ELL Training

I was very excited to attend ELL training because my interest in

the topic has grown after interacting with ELL students in my class. I
feel as if Im able to walk away from the training with a better
understanding of how ELL students are taken car of in schools, and I
now know things I can do as a teacher to help any ELL students in my
future classroom grow.

On

the first day of ELL training we received a lot of background

information on what exactly it meant to be an ELL student and how ELL
students learn. One of the first things we discussed were the four
language domains, which are listening, speaking, reading and writing.
It is much easier for students to receive a language then produce it,
which is why ELL students are typically more advanced in their
listening skills than their writing skills. But, acquiring a new language is
a process and different students show different strengths in each
aspect of the language.

There are five phases that students

move through when acquiring a new language. They are

preproduction, early production, speech emergence, intermediate
fluency, and advanced fluency. Every ELL student goes through each
phase but they will take a different amount of time in each phrase. This
information has given me a better understanding of what is going on in
the first grade class rom Im currently observing in. There are many
ELL students in the class and some are preforming excellently and
would be at the advanced stage while some are still struggling with

their language barrier and would be at the intermediate or speech

emergence stage. Knowing that students develop their skills at
different times and being able to pinpoint what the exact stages are
will help me in assisting these students in the future.
On day two of ELL training
our focus was more on what teachers can do in their classrooms to
assist ELL students. One thing teachers can do is look through ELL
student testing data so they know exactly where the students are in
their language development. During training we learned how to
interpret WIDA assessments and forms. WIDA provides sheets of what
a student on each level of ELL should be able to do. This is very helpful
for teachers because theyll know exactly when students are making
improvement in their class based on these assessments and resources.
Using WIDA
resources will also be helpful when implementing the i+1 strategy into
the classroom. This strategy is based around the idea that should
instruct ELL students one level above their scores on the WIDA
assessments. If you teach students too many levels ahead they will
become lost and wont be able to comprehend. Teaching students just
one level above their understanding level will provide a small challenge
and will leave students able to grasp information.

All in

all, I feel like I have an overall better understanding of how ELL

students are handled and what is expected of them in Alabama. I also

picked up some great tips on things I can do in my future classroom to

make sure my ELL students succeed.
Event of my choice: ARA Conference Afternoon Sessions
I am so glad that I decided to stay late at the ARA conference
because the two afternoon sessions I went to were my favorites of the
entire conference! The two sessions I attended in the afternoon greatly
differed from each either when it came to the topic of the session, but
they were each extremely interesting.

The first

afternoon session I attended was a dyslexia simulation led by Ramona

Rice. The purpose of the simulation was to increase dyslexia awareness
and grow sympathy for students. For the first simulation everyone in
the session was handed a blue notebook. Inside the notebook was a
passage. Some people in the simulation were given passages where
words were not spelled correctly while others were given passages that
were normal, but we did not realize this until after the simulation. I
received the passage with the incorrectly spelled words and this
passage was extremely difficult for me to read. Mrs. Rice called on
different people in the room to read sections of the passage. Some
people read their passages very fluently and others struggled to read
each word. While I listened to others read I had no idea how some
people were able to read the passage so easily while it was very
difficult for me to do so. After the simulation we realized people were
given different passages and I got a taste of what it must feel like to be

a student with dyslexia in a classroom of fluent readers. The next

simulation we did called for us interpret symbols into words on each
page of a short story. We were not allowed to turn the page back and
look at the past symbols we learned. It was very difficult to continue
reading the text when I was only able to memorize some of the
symbols. This simulation highlighted the fact that most students with
dyslexia dont see words backwards; rather they are unable to see
patterns and cant attach letters to sounds. This session was eye
opening to me. I had no idea how difficult it must be to be a student
with dyslexia! The session definitely increased my awareness and grew
my sympathy, and it also left me inspired to research what teachers
can do in the classroom to support students with dyslexia.
The second afternoon session I attended
was the Ann Marie Corgill session entitled: 5 Ways To Keep Kids At The
Forefront Of Our Teaching. I was extremely excited to attend this
session because we had been reading Ann Maries book, and her
session did not disappoint. Ann Marie told us the five ways to keep kids
at the forefront of our teaching are to swear, drink, steal, fight, and lie.
I was confused at first when she told us these five things but then as
she explained them each my understanding grew. As teachers we
should swear to make strong relationships and a great environment,
drink from the fountain of friendship and likeminded colleagues, steal a
few moments every day to care of ourselves, fight to do whats right

for children, and lie down at night knowing what were doing to make a
difference. As Ann Marie explained each of these, I grew very inspired. I
know that the life as a teacher is extremely difficult, but if I really want
to make a difference in a childs life I need to fight through the
difficulties and strive to make the students my priority. It was a
privilege to hear Ann Marie Corgill speak in person.

All in

all, I feel like I gained a lot of insight from attending these two
afternoon ARA conference sessions. I think professional development
provides a great opportunity for teachers to grow in their field if they
take that opportunity seriously. Im glad I took the opportunity to stay
late at the ARA conference because I definitely benefited from it.