As our contract continues with professional developers from Columbia Teacher's College Reading and Writing Project our PD day consisted of two workshops. Of course, not everything was pretty in the morning or well organized in terms of logistics. When we arrived, on time, there was basically no parking. After driving around for ten minutes the organizers were a little smart, telling us, "There's lots of parking on the other side." When I informed them it was full, we were hustled along.
When we went to go sign up for a workshop everything good and for us "beginners" was full. Once we saw that our favorite presenter -Kate Roberts- had a full room, we decided to go regardless. We all found a seat after I was turned down while someone saved a seat for their friend. Though I was probably in one of the seats that Kate wanted clear --oh well.
As usual Kate was hilarious while modeling good teaching (with processing time) and ideas and dispositions we could take back to our classrooms. For me, the most important lesson, as last time, was that I need to celebrate their hard work and build their confidence. I was especially impacted by what she said about the student that every day feels the need to announce to me and others, "I'm done." I have one boy who every day comes to tell me, "I'm done," with his work in hand. Kate told us that student needs to be celebrated. Instead, my reaction is to point to the, "When you're done, you've just begun!" poster, which is both true and a lie, but it isn't what he wants to hear. I need to allow my students more opportunities to celebrate their hard work.
I am an obsessive note taker so I have at least 12 pages from Kate's presentation. I am typing up a few pages and you can find them on the forum under Curriculum and Instruction. Much of her presentation involved examining common student complains and deconstructing what we can do for those students. The "I can't spell" student, the "My hand hurts" student, the "I have nothing to write about" student and more.
Again, she recommended texts by Teacher's College staffers for extra readings. She especially recommended Carl Anderson's book. But, I also like the quick guides that are coming out.
