Differentiation in Classrooms Aransas Pass, Texas January 2018
I am of the belief that there is always room to improve and grow when it comes to differentiation. This workshop discussed detailed ways that differentiation could not only be implemented in classrooms, but could provide actual observable growth in students. My goal moving forward in my teaching career is to utilize the knowledge that I gained in this workshop to incorporate differentiation as much as I can.
Developing Individual Student Plans Aransas Pass, Texas December 2017
Students in special education require more monitoring by instructors when it comes to their learning. This workshop walked us through how we can document growth and areas needing improvement better so that all teachers working with a particular student can access the necessary information. We were also given time to complete individual student plans for our students in order to finish out the year strong.
Differentiating Instruction for English Language Corpus Christi, Texas August 2017
My experience teaching so far has included a large quantity of students that had a different language as their primary language at home. That is why this seminar appealed to me since it provided concrete examples of ways to differentiate my lessons to be better understood by my English language learners (ELLs). One method that really stood out to me was to offer less written choices on tests or assignments and provide either picture or hands-on answers.
Building Fluency for Multiplication Facts Corpus Christi, Texas August 2017
Math has always been my strongest subject since that was my specialization in college. However, knowing that there is always room to improve motivated me to attend this workshop to better understand how students go from not being able to count to being fluent in multiplication. Understanding the whole process of their math understanding was very helpful when teaching my students their multiplication facts.
Think Like a Scientist: Science Process Skills Corpus Christi, Texas August 2017
Teaching science can become boring and mundane if done incorrectly. This workshop showed us ways to make our science lessons engaging and explained the importance of focusing heavily on the science process skills. Those skills are meant to get students thinking like true scientists and encourages inquiry-based learning for students. We were shown actual methods to bring inquiry and engagement into our science classrooms, which I found to be very informative and helpful.
Special Education and Student Discipline Aransas Pass, Texas January 2017
This workshop walked us teachers through the legal aspects of special education and the best, and most effective, ways to handle disciplinary issues when they coincide with special education. Understanding the legal side of teaching is always helpful. Along with that, being given new methods of disciplinary strategies really made an immediate difference in my classroom.
Time Management Training Aransas Pass, Texas January 2017
This seminar was very helpful in the sense that it provided many strategies for us, as teachers, to manage our time during the workday in the most efficient way. It stressed the importance of being organized and encouraging students to help run many aspects of the classroom to save time and provide the teacher with extra time to do other necessary things. I loved being given concrete examples of ways to manage my time better in the classroom.
ELPS Training Aransas Pass, Texas October 2016
Learning about the English Language Proficiency Standards was a very important part of understanding my responsibilities of being an educator in Southern Texas. This training taught me about the standards, where I can find them, and how to incorporate them into my lessons. I began incorporating them into each lesson right away after the training, which helped me focus my thinking when I was teaching to make sure I was catering to the needs of all of my students.
TEKS Resource Training Aransas Pass, Texas October 2016
This training session was designed to help classroom teachers understand a very helpful website for understanding the Texas state standards. Within the website, we can create practice problems, quizzes and tests, and even see teaching suggestions for each TEK. The training gave me an opportunity to create an assessment in order to practice navigating the website, and after the session I found myself using the website on a weekly basis in order to better align my teaching to the standards.
The ABCs of Behavior Management Aransas Pass, Texas August 2016
This seminar helped me understand what to do when behavior problems arise in the classroom and how to prevent them from occurring in the first place. I enjoyed getting the chance to see actual scenarios through videos and be able to decide how I would handle each one and prevent it in the future. It was a wonderful exercise that got me thinking about why behavior problems are present and how we, as teachers, can re-work our classrooms to further prevent problems from starting at all.
Learning Mathematic Vocabulary Corpus Christi, Texas August 2016
This workshop showed me various ways to incorporate math vocabulary into everyday situations in the classroom. For instance, if I group students for a project or assignment, I can name the groups "sum", "quotient", and "product" and then tell students that they are in the group that is either the answer to an addition, multiplication, or division problem and have them have to know what group to go into. Little things like that during the day help provide exposure to vocabulary in a very valuable and beneficial way.
Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, Division…Let’s Build Comprehension Corpus Christi, Texas August 2016
Understanding how various mathematical operations build on each other is fundamental to student success in higher and more complex math courses. This workshop helped me understand that building the knowledge of how multiplication and division tie into addition and subtraction and how addition and subtraction is found in everyday life is crucial to seeing students learn these operations. I was taught multiplication by just having to memorize my facts, but now I see that students need to understand what multiplication is and why it works before memorization comes into play.
The Highly Engaged Social Studies Classroom Corpus Christi, Texas August 2016
In this workshop, I was able to see the benefits of having students connect the various aspects of social studies to their current lives and give them an opportunity to "live" it rather than just read about it. For instance, when learning about elections and our government, model it by creating a classroom government with elections and political candidates and debates. A big portion of this workshop was tailoring the type of engagement to the correct age group, which I found to be very helpful.
Math Fluency Teaching Seminars Walled Lake, Michigan August 2015-April 2016
This 10 part seminar, that was offered at the school in which I completed my student teaching internship, offered great insight into how students learn math. The biggest takeaways from this program were that students need to understand why they are doing what they are doing in math as opposed to just following a formula or basic procedure. If students understand why a formula works, then their ability to use it and remember it later increases greatly.
HDFS 211 Child Growth and Development East Lansing, Michigan August 2013-December 2013
In this elective course that I took at Michigan State University I learned an extensive amount about how children grow as learners from infancy to early adulthood. I chose to take this course because I wanted to use the already existing learning and developmental capabilities to better teach students. Throughout my teaching experience so far, I have drawn upon what I learned in this course many times to better understand student behavior and teaching approaches.