NCCAT Conference: A Break from the Lab Setting; a Step Up to Higher Standards

6/22-26/15

Week 2 NCCAT: North Carolina Center for the Achievement of Teachers.                                                    This is a perfect setting which correlates to my summary of the week’s activities. In the same way in which we drove “up” to the mountains; ie..increasing in altitude, we are “raising our standards” to incorporate more skills and strategies  as we share and learn from others. After introductions and expectations, we jumped right into our Spirit Dog activity and completed team building activities. These included (renamed for ease) Lower the pole, Marble tunnel, Flip the tarp, Tennis ball web and Stepping in step). Leaders emerged to discuss strategies before tackling the activities, which facilitated faster task completions.                                                                                      Kim and I  brainstormed ways to tackle our One Health part of our project. It was good to exchange ideas for our plans and learn from each other. Even though we are teaching  in different content areas, many considerations were discussed that will benefit both of us. I know that this was a brainstorming session, but I need to contact my administration to put the Science Night Activity on the calendar and let them know what things need to occur this year. I am pleased to have the support to present activities as needed to fulfill my obligations and beyond.                                                 Instructional Technology Sessions seminars ALL looked great and I am sure that they were. Craig was helpful in my selection decisions because I couldn’t attend all the sessions. I also spoke to colleagues and located others who were attending sessions that I couldn’t attend.  We agreed to discuss notes later. Edcamp is the new format for professional development. When I think of the experience in my school, I know that this is possible. I will be need to word the questions so that teachers can respond with solutions, not complaints. PD will be helpful for the fairly new teachers and those who have forgotten strategies used earlier in their career, and to all who  are willing to improve their teaching. Paul Cancellieri’s “Using Project Management to Teach Long-Term Planning Skills” will encourage student responsibilty in task completion and collaboration with group members. Mike Wood’s presentation for  “Using Web-based tools in the classroom”  is an invaluable resource. It states the resource, purpose of the resource and a tutorial link for teachers to use it immediately. I will have to admit that I find the task of Gamification a bit more than I am ready to tackle.

Wow!!!!! What an awesome trip today and thanks to Ethan,our guide, for letting us perform some daring maneuvers during the trip down the Natahala River. I still feel exhilarated from our jump into the river. Kudos to NCCAT, Kenan Fellows Program and the Natahala Outdoor Center Guides for this opportunity. And high fives to our rafting team (Bob, Nancy, Stephanie, Emily and yours truly) for working together and keeping everyone in the boat. We learned so much about the flora and fauna, abiotic factors, birds, and enjoyed the beautiful scenery.

     Sessions and summaries for Thursday:

1. Welcoming English Language Learners to our classroom and our content. This is an area that I want to improve for personal growth. I will be working with the  ELL Teacher more closely this year and I want to improve what I do for my students that fall in this category.

2. Increasing student Engagement and Developing Problem-solving skills through the Implementation of STEM Focused Education

3. OverTime and Space: Visualizing Data and Documents for Inquiry-Based Learning

More to come