Lauren Hughes

SPEAKER REFLECTIONS
Junior Block - Fall 2015
#1 - Dr. Jodi Newton Teacher Effectiveness
As a future teacher, it is easy to ponder how to be a great teacher. There is a
difference in a good teacher and a great teacher. As Dr. Newton gave her seminar
this morning I thought of my teachers from elementary school. What were the
qualities of those teachers that impacted my life the most? I soon realized that
their qualities aligned with those of a great teacher that Dr. Newton mentioned.
This made me question why every teacher cannot be a great teacher, but the reality
is they can. It just takes the mindset of embracing their responsibility to maximize
learning for every student and every type of learner.
Dr. Newton, along with a partner, conducted research through a growth
model. Teachers from grades 3rd-8th were used and they had to have 3 years of data
indicating 20% or more aggregate scaled score growth than the expected scaled
score growth listed in SAT Technical Manual for subject and grade on Stanford
Achievement Test, Edition 10. They found that great teachers shared 5 areas that
are as follows: know over do, culture of redemption, plan constantly tweak
frequently, Im asking you, and the journey. These top 5 have a great significance in
the difference between a good teacher and a great teacher. As Dr. Newton stated,
Is the student performance about doing or learning? The best teachers focus on
student learning. They make sure that everyone understands what it takes to get
better, allow for relearning and are lose on their own time frame, determine
instruction daily by student performance, know how to question effectively, and
have a classroom of high expectations. Everything about this seminar was
encouraging and helpful, but there was one part that filled my eyes with tears.

Toward the end of the seminar Dr. Newton said, Great teachers send the message
to their students that they are on a never ending journey together. I wonder what
would happen if every teacher taught with that mindset. Somewhere teachers must
find a balance and commit to traveling the journey with their students. They have
to be determined to do whatever it takes to maximize learning for all students. As a
future teacher, I promise to do just that.

#2 - Video Classroom Management

Classroom management is a key part to teaching. Sometimes I wonder how I
will handle future classroom problems, but have to remember to continually learn
from others about classroom management. The video presented in class was
extremely helpful for giving big ideas and try-it-outs for this.
Some of the big ideas included engaging students in learning, establishing
and maintaining classroom rules and procedures, recognizing and acknowledging
students adherence and lack of adherence to classroom rules and procedures,
establishing and maintaining effective relationships with all students, and
communicating high expectations for all students. While listening to the video, I
started to wonder what would happen if every teacher implemented these five big
ideas into their classroom management.
Some key points under each big idea included things such as using games
that focus on academic content, letting students create the rules and procedures,
be aware of all going on in the class, knowing something about each student, and
identifying expectation levels. All of this seemed a little overwhelming at first, but it
made more sense after rereading notes. Classroom management cannot be
overlooked. A teacher can know all the content that she possibly can, but without

classroom management it would be hard to teach. Students would be everywhere

and not paying attention at all to the lesson. This video was helpful and the
outlined graphic organizer will be useful for many years to come.

#3 - Dr. Rogers Professional Dispositions

When asked what makes an effective teacher, individuals normally list
characteristics of their favorite teacher. This is interesting because it makes me
wonder why people focus on that teacher specifically. They must have impacted
the persons life in such a way to be remembered forever. Dr. Rogers had the class
complete this exact exercise today and the results showed that most of the
characteristics on the list dealt with teacher dispositions. Dispositions are the
attitudes, perceptions, and/or beliefs that form basis of behavior and it is proven
that teacher dispositions affect student learning.
As Dr. Rogers mentioned, there are three essential ingredients for an effective
teacher. These include significant knowledge base, teaching skills, and dispositions.
All of these are important, but dispositions tend to be the special ingredient that
students remember for many years. It changes the whole atmosphere of the
classroom and creates either a positive or negative learning environment.
Comparing this to my years in elementary school, I can recall two different
classrooms. In one, the teacher greeted us at the door daily, knew us as
individuals, and made learning fun. In the other, the teacher rarely talked in the
morning, hardly asked about us individually, and allowed learning to be boring.
They both had knowledge about their content and displayed teacher skills such as
lesson planning, but their dispositions set them and their classroom apart.

Dispositions are extremely important and cannot be left out of the ingredients
that make an effective teacher. If dispositions are overlooked, then the recipe is not
complete. Above all else, Dr. Rogers told us to remember we ultimately are
supposed to reflect Jesus. Character in a saint means the disposition of Jesus
Christ persistently manifested (Oswald Chambers). This is our mission and
dispositions play an important role in accomplishing that.

#4 - Dr. Julie Hannah Learning Target

As a future teacher, it is important to consider the effectiveness of
assessment. It is easy to view assessments as major tests since it sometimes felt
as if teachers taught to test in school, but what if circumstances were different?
According to Dr. Hannah, those circumstances are evolving in the assessment world.
In the last three years in Alabama they have made changes such as redefining a
high school graduate, implementing college and career ready standards, and having
a balanced and meaningful assessment system. The state is moving toward an
assessment system where everything is aligned ACT wise throughout the grades.
This is similar to my experience because students will still have common tests
horizontally grade wise, but it is different because everything will be aligned
vertically.
Dr. Hannah also spoke about summative and formative assessments.
Teachers often become occupied with making the mark on the summative
assessments and they neglect to give formative assessments daily. Not everything
that counts can be counted and not everything that can be counted counts (Albert
Einstein). The one area in assessments that has not changed is the fact that

teachers need to know their students. They should not just rely on the summative,
or end of instruction, assessments, but be able to give formative assessments as
well. Formative refers to the daily assessments that occur in individual classrooms
and a teacher must know their students in order to administer these fully. For
example, asking students to hold their thumb up if they have the correct answer is a
formative assessment. The teacher needs to recognize if a student is not holding
their thumb up because they are shy or because they do not know the answer. To
conclude, both summative and formative are important and should be implemented
in the classroom. It is imperative that they are placed in the plans correctly so that
assessments of learning and for learning can both occur. As Ann Marie Corgill said,
Bubbles tell us very little beyond who can color in the lines. Children tell us
everything. It is about perspective and whether or not we, as future teachers, are
willing to create an environment where school is not a test center for students, but
instead a home.
#5 - Dr. Wood Gifted Learners
Even though I went through the gifted program in elementary school, Dr.
Wood taught me an immeasurable amount of information pertaining to this topic.
One of the first activities that the class completed was determining if certain
statements were myths or realities. When I realized that I did not know the correct
answer to some, it made me question how many individuals today that are outside
of the school system have a misunderstanding of gifted learners. As Dr. Wood
stated, many think that gifted learners and high achieving learners are the same,
but there is a difference. I wonder what would happen if people inside and outside
of schools knew that a gifted learner does not just mean one that completes
assignments, knows the answer, is motivated, and absorbs information. Instead,

gifted learners tend to ask questions, forget to turn in assignments, are

unmotivated, and can be disorganized. If individuals knew this information, they
would have a whole new outlook on a gifted learner.
Dr. Wood also provided the block with a vast amount of resources that can be
used to differentiate. They are all geared toward reaching the gifted learners in a
classroom setting, but can be modified toward any student in the class. While
completing different activities using these resources, I wondered the possible
outcomes of using these in a classroom. Teachers tend to place the gifted learners
as the teacher for that student who needs extra help or they tell them to read a
book when they finish their work. I can relate to this first hand. Sometimes that is a
good experience, but what would happen if every teacher used these resources in
the classroom instead. The gifted learner would not get bored because they could
participate in the class discussions and activities. The activities would just be
geared toward their level. It would take extra preparation from the teacher, but it
would be worth it in order to reach every student in the class. To conclude, Dr.
Wood challenged us to differentiate and I will do just that as a future teacher.

#6 - Dr. Bluiett Early Literacy Assessment

Assessments were constantly taken all through school, but I did not
understand the complete significance of them until college. As Dr. Bluiett informed
us, assessments are given in order to examine how well children are learning, if
they are making progress and meeting benchmarks, and if they are being taught
effectively. The key is to take the data and use it as valuable information. Knowing
data will help with the planning process as well as driving instruction.

This seminar connected with class discussions in outlining the five essentials
of early reading instruction which include phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency,
vocabulary, and comprehension. In addition to these are the six principles of
reading assessment which describe the assessments should inform instruction, help
teachers discover what children can do, have a specific purpose, be linked to the
standards, not supplant instruction, and should be valid and reliable. Learning this
made me question what would happen if a teachers assessments did not
encompass all six areas. Assessments are not fully effective unless every principle
is attended to.
Continuing with the seminar, Dr. Bluiett introduced the four purposes of
reading assessment which are outcome, screening, diagnostic, and progressmonitoring. As she was describing these, it reminded me of assessments my
teachers gave in elementary school. I was able to connect an assessment to each
purpose which helped me to better understand them. To conclude, Dr. Bluiett
explained RTI and provided us with resources to assist our morning intervention at
Trace Crossings such as assessments for concepts about print and letter name
knowledge. I am interested to see the possible outcomes of each of these
assessments at Trace.

#7 - Dr. Underbakke The Importance of Reading Aloud

Reading aloud in the classroom is very important. According to Dr.
Underbakke, students can understand more difficult text when it is read aloud and

discussed. This makes me question a childs schema. Students in a class where the
teacher reads aloud will have more opportunities to expand their schema or create
new scheme compared with students in a class where the teacher does not read
aloud. It is also important for a teacher to remember that students should see them
modeling reading. Reading aloud should be a daily occurrence and should consist of
books that the students would not find on their own.
Unfortunately, as Dr. Underbakke was discussing the importance of reading
aloud, I could not remember a class in elementary school where my teacher read
aloud to us daily. Sometimes my teachers would read a book, but they were not as
committed to making time in the daily schedule like Dr. Underbakke is. I wonder
what would happen if ever teacher viewed reading aloud like Dr. Underbakke. Not
only would students experience more of an appreciation for reading, but their
knowledge would be broadened due to various discussions. They would start to
appreciate the movie they create in their brain when reading instead of the actual
movie. They would stop thinking in black and white all they time. Above all else, if
teachers started to make reading aloud a scheduled part in their day, students
would begin to share experiences together because nothing builds community more
than sharing a text. Accessing my prior experiences, it was hard for me to realize
the value in reading aloud to a class because that was not consistently a part of my
elementary years. Now I understand how important this is and vow to read aloud to
my students every day.

# 8 - Dr. Chesire Assessment for Learning

Assessment is a topic that has been discussed multiple times during this
education block which means that it is an important aspect of teaching. One thing
that has constantly been mentioned concerning assessments is that sometimes
they are not properly administered in the classroom. That common theme
remained in Dr. Chesires presentation.
Formative and summative assessments have been discussed in past speaker
presentations. As a review, assessments are of learning, as learning, and for
learning. Formative should focus on assessments as and for learning. Summative
should focus on assessments of learning. Continuing through the presentation, Dr.
Chesire mentioned that there is a difference between assessment and evaluation.
As she was talking I was able to connect the information to chapter 4 in The
Purposeful Planning book posted on schoology. Both outline that assessment is a
process and evaluation is the setting of a grade. There is a difference between the
two and teachers need to understand that difference when giving assessments.
At one point in the presentation Dr. Chesire stated, My focus as a teacher is not on
assigning a grade, but on making sure students are learning. She then moved into
discussing whether homework should be graded or not. Some individuals felt that
homework should be graded; however, I do not agree with that because grading
homework is often grading the parent. The parent normally helps the child
complete their homework by giving them the answers and that is if the parent is
even home at all before the child goes to bed. How would you feel if you went
home at night to an empty house, had to fix your own dinner, went to bed, and did
not see your parent until the morning? You could try to complete the homework,
but there is nobody at home to help if you needed help. Also, the parent may not

be able to help with the homework due to a lack of understanding. Homework

should never be graded for accuracy, but for effort instead.
Above all, it is important to remember that assessments are a vital part of
teaching. Think about what would happen if there were no assessments
administered during teaching. If this was the scenario, then there would not be
anything to gather information to help improve student learning and guide teacher
instruction. I did not realize the importance of assessments before, but now I know
that I must make creating appropriate and aligned assessments a priority in every
lesson that I develop and teach.

#9 - TRACE speakers
It is easy to neglect thinking about any other role in a school besides a
classroom teacher as a preservice teacher, but what would happen if every school
only had classroom teachers? The truth is that a school could not function without
each individual contributing their part. This is why last Wednesdays PEI session
was extremely enriching. It was encouraging and humbling to hear from people
who work at Trace Crossings that are not classroom teachers, yet have important
roles in the school every day.
The first individual that spoke was the Bookkeeper, Debbie Drake. She has a
huge responsibility at the school because handling peoples money is a big deal. As
bookkeeper, she helps keep the teacher in financial compliance, but also has to
write teachers up when they break the code of conduct. I started to think about the
significance of her job while she was speaking. If a school did not have a
bookkeeper, who would keep teachers in line concerning money, field trip request,
payroll, purchase orders, classroom funds, and more? Mrs. Drakes job is significant

and classroom teachers should not abuse her role or see it as any less important
than their own. She has taken all the information that the teachers at Trace need to
know and composed a pdf that they can access online. This pdf includes payroll
procedures, purchasing card procedures, forms, and much more. Every teacher
needs permission and a form for filling out a purchase order, purchasing an item for
reimbursement, entering contract, promoting a fundraiser, collecting money,
collecting donations, and before taking leave. There are not only forms and
permission involved, but also rules and regulations where money is concerned. Mrs.
Drake makes sure that teachers are aware of all of these and does her best to help
them in any way. One important detail that she told us as preservice teachers was
that we will not get out first pay check until the beginning of October and to always
document where and how the money is spent. Overall, Mrs. Drake provides
assistance to classroom teachers on how best use funds to order materials and
resources that will positively impact student achievement and classroom
instruction. Without her job, teachers would not know how to correctly handle their
funds or gain the most from their funds.
The second speaker session was concerning specials. Angela Roebuck, the
music teacher, and Adrianna Northcut, the art teacher, came to speak to us. As
they were speaking, I thought back to my own household. Both of my parents are
music educators, so I have seen the positive side and negative side of teaching
specials. Classroom teachers can see these individuals as less significant than
themselves, but they are just as much educators trying to enrich the students. The
content may be different than classroom content, but it is still important. Across the
board of all the specials, there seemed to be a common message that they wanted
us to hear. Specials are not only the break for the teacher. They like to collaborate

with the classroom teacher to extend the content. They have standards and a
curriculum and are good resources for the classroom teacher. Specialist teachers
cannot only provide resources as far as materials, but they are also a good source of
information concerning lower learning level students. Some resources that were
provided during this session included dickblick.com where teachers can buy art
supplies as well as deepspacesparkle.com which provides art projects for grades K6. The key take away from this session is the specials only enrich student
achievement. School should be about educating the whole child and classroom
teachers can only do so much. These specials teachers have a vast amount of
information in their area and can provide students with a large amount of
knowledge. As far as classroom instruction, the collaboration and
materials/resources support that specials teachers can offer a classroom teacher
has a positive impact. Teachers can incorporate art projects, music time, and
physical education in their lessons and the specials teachers are willing to help
them do so. This is an excellent partnership in schools and teachers should view it
as that.
Third, we heard from a lady with an incredible heart. Mrs. Ida Collins, the
lunchroom manager, spoke with us about her job which she feels like is the best one
at the school. She informed us that everything is mandated by the USDA and State
Department, the government requires that food is baked, prices of lunch, and that
everything is documented. The menus at Trace Crossings are planned by the
Central Office and there has to be so many vegetables and fruits each week. The
school has 47% free lunch which is why they are able to serve free breakfast to all
the students every morning. The facts increased our knowledge, but it was her
heart that impacted me the most. I know of many schools where the lunchroom

staff is bitter and not willing to care about the children at all. They are just there to
do their job and leave. Mrs. Ida loves what she does and encourages her staff of 5
ladies to work hard, smart, and have fun. She views that lunchroom as just about
the biggest part in the school and I agree with her. Students do not pay attention in
the classroom if they are hungry. Without the lunchroom to provide food, student
achievement would decrease and classroom instruction would be useless.
The ELL teacher, David Pitts, spoke with us next concerning his job. Similar
to Mrs. Ida, he thinks that he has the best job and really enjoys it. I started thinking
about how I would feel if I went to another country, could not speak their language,
and tried to learn in their school system. That would be a terrible experience and I
hope there would be an ELL teacher like Mr. Pitts there to help me. He not only
teaches, but also manages data, translates for various events, and gets to know
families. Although data management is a big part of his job, Mr. Pitts enjoys getting
to see the big picture. Students come to Trace Crossings not knowing any English
and they leave ready for middle school. Assessing reading levels and test scores
are important, but assisting students to learn a new language and achieve success
in the classroom is what makes his job rewarding. Without Mr. Pitts, the ELL
students would have a harder time achieving in the classroom. He provides them
with the assistance they need to be able to understand the content that is being
taught. For classroom instruction, Mr. Pitts encouraged us to have small group
lessons and accommodate instruction. He also informed us that he comes into the
classroom to assist the ELL students when they are completing assignments. This
provides the classroom teacher with additional assistance in ensuring that every
student has the instruction that they need.

I have decided to discuss the fifth speaker at the end, so the sixth speaker
session was to inform us about Title 1. Karen Pfeiffer, Donna Houston, and Jennifer
Norris are the Title 1 teachers at Trace Crossings and they are all new to the
position. Title 1 is a federally funded program based on the poverty level. It is open
to everyone in the school and different schools use the funds in various ways.
These teachers see their jobs as a challenge and a joy. They do a lot of planning
and focus on providing instructional assistance to small groups of students who are
just below grade level skills. Title 1 is all about using data to inform instruction.
These teachers positively impact student achievement by fixing the gaps in learning
and assisting them to get on grade level learning. They also positively impact
classroom instruction because they inform the classroom teachers of the data
collected, where the students are in their progress, and weaknesses that the
students tell them. For example, one student told Mrs. Norris that she did not
understand what they were doing in math because she did not know how to read a
number line. This is something that the classroom teacher did not know, so Mrs.
Norris was able to relay the information. The role as Title 1 teachers is significant in
making sure that the students who are almost on grade level do not get lost in the
teaching process. They provide the support that those students need and this is
something that the classroom teacher cannot always do.
Alesha Page, the special education teacher, was the final speaker during PEI
last Wednesday. She also finds great joy in her role at Trace Crossings and seems to
happily come to work daily. Mrs. Page has a different schedule each day, but says
that this keeps her going. Her schedule includes things such as paperwork, math
inclusion, small groups skill working, and an open-door policy time. She works with
students who have low skills in academic areas as well as social areas. To do this,

Mrs. Page goes into the classroom as well as pulls students out for small groups in
her classroom. Similar to all the other speakers, she positively impacts student
achievement and classroom instruction. She is able to increase the skills of
students by providing them assistance in specific areas. This helps them increase
their achievement. Mrs. Page can also inform the classroom teach of the student
progress so that they can better know how to accommodate their instruction in the
classroom to assist that student.
The last speaker that I would like to discuss is Mrs. Carol Barber who is the
principal at Trace Crossings. As she was speaking, I kept thinking of all the
principals that I had throughout school and how blessed I was that their outlook on
their role was as positive as Mrs. Barbers. She is in her 49 th year in education and
35 of those have been in administration either building or central office. Building is
better in her opinion because she is around the students. Whatever level you
teach, you have to love the age you teach. You have to have that passion. Mrs.
Barber sees her job as one that makes the teachers job as easy as possible, but she
also wants to make sure that everyone has passion for their job. She spoke of
running a school like a circle. A circle has no top or bottom. Everyone is on a circle
and nobody has roles above others. They are all there for one purpose which is the
children. This was incredible enriching to me and I was able to see that having a
principal like Mrs. Barber impacts student achievement and classroom instruction in
the best way possible. When students see that their principal cares about them as
a person and wants them to succeed academically, they are more willing to try.
Also, when teachers know that their principal trusts them in the classroom and
expects their best always, they desire to make their classroom instruction the best it

can be. Hearing from Mrs. Barber as well as all the other speakers was enriching
and only increased my appreciation for all the roles in a school.

#10 - ELL Seminar Reflection

As I write this reflection, I am thankful for the technology that we have today.
I was not able to personally be at the ELL training due to sickness, but attended via
skype. The reason that I am grateful for this is because the training was extremely
enriching and eye-opening. Lari Valtierra, the ESL Coordinator for Jefferson Count,
led the seminar for both days and granted us with a depth of information to use as
preservice teachers and teachers one day.
There is a difference in students learning a language and students acquiring a
language. Acquisition of a language is a process of learning four language domains
which include hearing, seeing, speaking, and writing. This process occurs in the
following five steps: pre-production, early production, speech emergence,
intermediate fluency, and advanced fluency. One important aspect of language
acquisition is that it does not happen at the same rate for every child. As soon as I
learned this, I started to think of how it would feel to be proficient in English, but
attend school in Germany. The feeling of not being able to communicate or
understand would cause me to constantly have many questions. That same feeling
is what the ELL students will experience in our classrooms one day. Instead of
pushing them with the rest of the class, what would happen if we took the time to
learn their WIDA, ELL resource in Alabama, scores and accommodate their needs? I
believe that if teachers did this then the ELL students would feel more a part of the
classroom and their learning experience would increase by drastic measures.

According to WIDA, ELL students can be scored from a 1.0-6.0 where 1.0 is
the lowest and 6.0 indicates language proficiency. In Alabama, a child is proficient
in English when language is no longer a barrier to understanding the content and
their WIDA score is a 4.8. Teachers must remember that this score means that they
have met the proficient level for Alabama, but it does not mean that students will
understand all the academic language in a classroom. Just because students can
communicate conversationally, does not mean that they are fluent in
communicating academically. This makes me question how many teachers
misjudge an ELL students English proficiency based on their conversational
language and neglect to give attention to their academic language.
These two types of language can be categorized as BICS and CALP. BICS is
the language that is developed socially, content embedded, and cognitively
undemanding. CALP is a high level of academic discourse that requires prior
knowledge and is cognitively demanding. Overall, teachers have to present
learning as comprehensible input, or learning that takes place when the brain can
connect content to background knowledge. I wonder what would happen if a
teacher never accessed the students prior knowledge. There would not be much
learning occurring in that classroom because connections are the key to learning.
Teachers can make connections through a variety of ways including context
embedding their classroom with support, clues, scaffolds, and visuals. They can
also use Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP) model. This teaching
model includes eight steps which are lesson preparation, building background,
comprehensible input, strategies, interaction, practice and application, lesson
delivery, and review and assessment. Incorporating this model into the classroom
will not only assist the ELL students in learning, but will also help the other students

as well. SIOP is a research-based model that has been proven effective in teaching
language necessary for ELL students to understand content, so why would a teacher
not want to learn more about this model and implement it into their classroom?
Mrs. Valtierra presented educationally enriching material during this two-day
ELL training seminar. Looking back over my experiences in school, I can recall times
as a student where I witnessed ELL students struggling with their work. At the time,
I simply thought they just could not read the passage or form words to write the
sentence. Now I know that they were truly not connecting to the content being
taught. There were no graphs, charts, models, or scaffolds used by the teacher to
assist them in vocabulary instruction and building that academic language.
Therefore, the students could not perform the assignments placed in front of them.
As a preservice teacher, I now see the importance of having ELL training and
implementing the strategies learned into my classroom one day.

#11 - ARA Reflection

I attended the ARA Conference on Thursday, November 12, 2015, and Friday,
November 13, 2015.
This professional development opportunity was incredibly enriching. Living
with two teachers, it has become evident that some teachers attend professional
development and conferences simply for attendance. The ARA Conference did not
fall into that category. Instead, this two-day conference provided us with a depth of
knowledge to use as preservice teachers and teachers one day. There were general
sessions with various speakers, a vast array of mini-sessions, and vendors with
instructional resources available.

During this conference, I was able to hear various speakers and each one had
thoughts to share that impacted the way I view reading in the classroom. Before
elaborating deeper, I want to list the following quotes that continued to resonate in
my mind as I left the conference:

The child is more important than the writing, so feedback matters and
it is powerful. Jeff Anderson

There is a difference in liking and loving. Teachers have a remarkable

opportunity to show love. Todd Geralds

Reading is a window into the world. It is the doorway to education

and leadership. Words do more than communicate. Gary Palmer

Imagine. Dr. Bice

Most of those quotes do not have the word reading in them, but they have each
impacted how I view reading instruction in the classroom now. Throughout school,
reading was the area that I despised the most because it consisted of dibbles
testing with a reading coach, accelerated reading that caused comparisons between
classmates, and paragraph reading uninteresting texts in class because the teacher
said we had to cover them. I do not remember positive aspects of reading in school
as much as I remember the negative; therefore, I am learning how to become a
person who appreciates reading. The speakers during the conference provided me
with rich instructional processes for reading such as completing power writing,
increasing the volume of reading, using knowledge maps, connecting background
knowledge, sharing reading experiences, and modeling literacy practices. Those
were all beneficial, but the quotes that I included above were what impacted my
thoughts towards reading the most. Above all, this conference provided me with a
positive viewpoint toward reading and allowed me to truly see that reading in my

classroom one day does not have to look like my elementary reading experience.
As a future teacher, I vow to make reading a window to the world for my students.
Through love, I will teach the instructional reading strategies that my students need
and it is my hope that they will grow to appreciate reading for all the opportunities
and doorways that it opens. Overall, my classroom will be one where we imagine.
Not only can we use the dialogue to imagine our own illustrations, we will also
imagine creative and innovative ways to participate in reading every day. This may
not have been a reflection of the many details that I learned at this conference, but
it is one of how this conference influenced my heart and increased my love for
reading as a future teacher.

#12 - Mrs. Joyner Maker Movement

Technology is a tool to enhance the learning. This statement is one that Mrs.
Joyner, the STEAM teacher at Trace Crossings, and Mrs. Stone, the assistant
principal, believe describes how technology should look in the classroom. Often
times, teachers use technology as a crutch to lean on instead of as a resource to
enhance learning. It is easy for teachers to have the students play games on an
iPad and describe this as using technology in their lessons. Actually implementing
technology correctly into lessons requires more front load work on the teacher to
research the tools, how to use them, and when to use them during the lesson.
Specifically, this session was designed to give preservice teachers knowledge
about technology and math. Math is everywhere and in everything. Many teachers
do not think about math aligning with technology, but using it in a math lesson has
benefits. There are many resources including aplusclick, google draw, math
breakers, and you cubed. All of these are either web pages or apps that students

can use to practice math word problems and challenging math tasks. These can be
used on iPads or interactive white boards. Scanning through all of these resources
made me think about my own school experience. I gained more from lessons where
the teacher used technology to support the lessons instead of just as filler for time.
Although the above resources are all online, technology can also be seen as
implementing creativity and innovation. The class did an activity to close out the
technology session, but the activity did not involve any technology. We had to use
wood sticks and zip ties to connect various chairs around the classroom. As we
were building the structures, my mind kept looking back to the film Most Likely To
Succeed. This innovative way of teaching math skills such as measuring grasped
my attention. In turn, I was more eager to learn the lesson and my engagement
was high. This is exactly how students will react to activities of creativity. As a
preservice teacher, I must remember this and make it a priority to correctly
implement technology into all subject areas including math.