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Sunday, April 6, 2014

UCET Reflections

The keynote speakers (Dean Shareski and George Couros) were very good speakers and entertaining. It made me think more about what happens in my classroom on a day to day basis. I think I need to constantly remind myself to help the kids experience the joy of learning. I need to mix it up a little more, be a little goofy more often, engage kids, and basically "teach like a pirate". (I love that book!) The pathway to success is not a straight line! The pathway to success is MESSY and that's okay. Make mistakes and learn from them.

I've really been interested in digital portfolios for awhile now, but I just haven't jumped in completely. I guess I had to learn more of the tools. I really want to start this for my kids. There is a real power in seeing progress and growth through video, pictures, and presentations. I think that it would also be a good thing to document my growth by making a digital portfolio. Hmmmm.....time.

Back to Blogging

I reverted many of my posts back to drafts- guess I had second thoughts about making them public. This is my second attempt to record my journey of professional growth.

March 20, 2014 was my last class for my ESL endorsement. I made it through! Last June when I started the endorsement program, March seemed way off into the future. It was a lot of work, but I'm glad that I decided to get the endorsement. I learned a lot! I made some great friends and renewed some old friendships. My cohort was an awesome group of educators and we learned so much from each other. I hope that I can truly implement the practices that I learned. I decided to continue my journey and get my masters and admin. This is a big decision for me.

This last weekend, I attended UCET. George Couros was one of the keynote speakers and was awesome. In one of his sessions about blogging, he suggested dividing a blog into the teaching standards. That's my plan. It will force me to document what I do. It will help me to identify my weaknesses and strengthen those areas. I think it will help me to become a better educator and an instructional leader.