Mrs. Moses’ 2nd Grade Classroom
Do you dread Professional Development days at school? I will admit, I was that teacher. The one that thought I had better things to do, than to listen to someone speak about something I needed to be doing in my classroom. Well times have changed for Mrs. Moses! I have become a life learner. I now thrive on learning more to inspire my kids to want more and to learn more! I grow each year as a teacher while watching my students grow. As teachers, why should we stop learning just because we hold our degree? We should not be afraid to dig deep and ask questions that will make us better educators. The students will reap the benefits from our inquisitions. We need to model learning for our students. I’m blessed to work at district that allows us to push beyond our classrooms, which enables us to expand our knowledge so we can create critical thinkers!
The past month I attended Mobile Mania at Region 5 in Beaumont and the Star Tech Conference at Region 6 in Huntsville. Mobile Mania was AWESOME!! While at Mobile Mania, I met Todd Nesloney. He is an amazing educator with great ideas. Oh and get this…he shares them! The power of collaboration and sharing resources among teachers is growing by the day. If you are not a connected teacher, do it!! There are many resources on Twitter and Google! You need to follow Todd on Twitter, @TechNinjaTodd. When I left Mobile Mania I felt refreshed. It was the BEST day! So many educators sharing resources under one roof! Professional Development needs to be meaningful to teachers. We need to be able to find what will work in OUR classroom. Have you ever attended or heard of EdCamps? If not, I recommend you find one in your area. We have one on April 26th, 2014 in Houston, @EdCampHouston. The great feature of an EdCamp is that there is no schedule. You go and learn about topics that apply to you and your classroom. WOW! It’s free and meaningful for teachers! Last Thursday and Friday, I attended the Tech Conference at Region 6. Like Mobile Mania, they had so many sessions to choose from! I met Kristy Vincent (@BigPurpleHat), Jake Duncan (@duncanbilingual), and Jessica Johnston (@edtechchic). I was inspired by each of their sessions! Jake Duncan gave several free resources to Gamify your classroom! I was ready to leave and use Kahoot.it with my students! I thought I knew Google, clearly I did not! Kristy and Jessica gave great presentations showing the power of Google in the classroom! I was giddy over Google!
Professional Development workshops/conferences have evolved. It is a way for teachers to gain access to technology and useful curriculum in the classroom. I look at each conference or workshop as an opportunity to help my students become successful in the classroom. These opportunities have created a spark for learning, and my students are definitely benefiting and growing day by day! Connect, collaborate, and share your ideas! You never know, you might just get to build a robot!
STAAR Techers 