Saturday, March 5, 2011

Learnings from the Write to Learn


I can smell it; it always happens when I come back from a great learning conference- The Write to Learn! I am refreshed and ready to get back to my children at school and put into practice all the ideas I absorbed. My thinking was reinforced & yet challenged at the same time.

"If we wish an elephant to grow, we feed it. You know we don't measure it all the time."

The big theme of the conference was to create deep thinking for our readers and writers. As I listened to Sharon Draper, I was in awe the rich text that she shared with us: Tears of a Tiger, November Blues, Forge by Fire.

After our Friday keynote, I hustled to my first breakout session - Emotion: The Driving Force. During this session, Mary Kim Schreck shared with us the facts on a teacher's power tool. Emotion is energy in motion and studies have shown a link between a teacher's emotional state and student achievement and motivation. If we get students to create and think, then the energy comes alive.
Lots of theory was presented..
"My Fair Lady Effect"
Difference between encouragement statements in professional home (32 positive for every 5 negative), Middle Class (12 positive for every 7 negative), and welfare homes (5 positive for every 11 negative).
Difference between discipline problems and motivation problems
We also worked with a lesson that we could take back into the classroom- Eyes. This is one I will try with my students.

In the afternoon, I had the chance to meet and learn from Linda Rief. In this session, we discussed the reading and writing notebook. We also practiced this writing. I can't wait to try this out with my students.

Another Resource she shared with us - SAM.

On Saturday, we jumped kick the day with Kelly Gallagher. He really had lots to share. The theme of creating smart people vs. smart thinkers really tuned in with my learning with Keene! If we are going deep with our students, then they can handle anything that is thrown at them. Check this activity out!

I know that I am ready to go tomorrow with my positive energy for the next round of learning in my classroom thanks to all this great learning.

Pictures:
http://www.viette.com/images/SmellFlowersChild.jpg