Professional development events allow me to continue my learning outside the classroom. Whether it is a speaker, presentation, workshop or conference, I have ample opportunity to strengthen and update my knowledge and skill and to network with other educators. As a future teacher, it is important to me that I continue to fill my brain with knowledge so I can then continue teaching my students new and exciting information! After all, knowledge is what makes each and every one of us successful!

Image courtesy of: Sharon Fagan

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November 23rd, 2009
Frye Elementary School
2.0 Hours

Working in the classroom for the past semester has been interesting on the concepts I was able to learn. One thing that I was most pleased about was the opportunity to actually sit down and speak with a "voice in the field". Mrs. Nicole Figley is a third grade teacher and has been teaching at Frye for quite some time now. She loves having college students in her classroom so she was very open to answering my questions for me. After working in her classroom I wanted to know more about a few things from her perspective. Frye Elementary has a Success for All reading program that Title 1 schools adopted. I was curious how SFA works with the English Language Learners in her classroom. She was able to let me know that SFA helps with a lot with strategies. She opened up about how the program uses a lot of vocabulary with pictures, visuals, team and group work. She responded saying the program is positive as far as the vocabulary because it follows all of the guidelines that we are teaching for the ELL's. I was very interested on how she felt about the ELL exit program and then the mainstream into regular classrooms. She was able to respond with a lot of feedback. Most importantly she believes that it is harder for the students. Mrs. Figley simply put it that those children in the block programs are missing out on quality education. Educating myself a bit more, she was able to explain how these students receive a four hour block on just language and then have one hour to complete their math. They are unable to learn about science or social studies so when they are mainstreamed into a regular classroom they expect it to be very similar and then are stunned at how different and fast paced it is. This is where she recommended to make sure to correlate all lesson plans to the vocabulary and concept standards for ELL's to make sure that their language needs are being met. Last but not least I asked for some personal advice for working with ELL's. She recommended to always use a lot of visuals and manipulatives. Working with a group of strong teachers was also a recommendation to bounce ideas around at each other. She wrapped up the question by instructing me to always ask for help when needed and to not get stressed, there is always more time. "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again!" was her last words of advice. I am so thankful I was able to complete my field experience with a mentor teacher that is so passionate about what she does. She truly gave me information on what I should expect in my future.

November 5th, 2009
Performing Arts Center, Chandler-Gilbert Community College
1.5 Hours

How exciting to spend a whole morning with a lesson planned around literature. During the Book Joy Jamboree I worked with a partner to create a lesson involving the book The Rainbow Fish written by Marcus Pfister. On this particular Thursday Chandler-Gilbert Community College welcomed the whole first grade from a local elementary school in the Chandler School District to celebrate literature! My partner and I preplanned a whole lesson revolving sharing and the importance of showing good character. In our group we had five students. We kicked off the lesson by reading aloud The Rainbow Fish and asked a series of questions to the students about what sharing means to them and if they could relate to the rainbow fish about not wanting to share his special scales. After the read-aloud was completed we handed each student a blank fish that they would decorate and that special fish would be their very own rainbow fish. The students used markers, crayons, glitter, foil, and lots of glue to signify their special scale. After all of the fish were completed they worked together to create the ocean scene that they would then glue their fish on to a poster for their teacher back at their school. It was wonderful how the students worked together to create this amazing ocean! I feel like I personally learned a lot during this activity. For one, definitely how open first grade students can be. They love helping and took everything from the lesson about sharing and used it all throughout the class time. I personally have not worked with first graders before and I thought it was great! It gave me a bit of insight on how it would be to work with first graders for my teaching career. I absolutely loved them! They were so full of life and quick to grab the concepts that the story was explaining. I know for my future I will make sure to not underestimate my students no matter what age group I am working with and always recognize the potential in my students to do their best. These students came in with an open mind to teachers they had never met before and worked so wonderfully during the whole time they were with us. It was well organized and planned perfectly. It was a wonderful event that I would do again in a heartbeat!

September 29th, 2009
Performing Arts Center, Chandler-Gilbert Community College
3.0 Hours

Award winning Author Chris Crutcher attended Chandler Gilbert Community College to discuss his struggles and advice on banned books. Author himself shared stories of what it took for his books to emerge down to what it took to make the characters of each book. Mr. Crutcher has had a long career in being and educator, a therapist and now an author. He has been all over the United States revisiting the states of where he originated. I was completely grateful to share his life experiences with us as students. I attended his speech and then hosted him over the Luncheon. We not only kept him going discussing his books Deadline, The Sledding Hill, The Chinese Handcuffs but also how his family life has been affected by his books and the controversial topics in each book. I read the book Deadline prior to meeting Chris Crutcher and that book was phenomenal. The characters he expressed were so real to life and gave me as a reader a feeling of understanding. I believe his books are often so challenged because he does write about the truth. In Deadline, a senior in high school is told he only has a year to live. I think it is a true test of reality. Chris Crutcher said himself that parents are reading one page and if there is something they do not like on that page they will pull it from their child’s library. This is what cause’s books to be banned. What I gained most was the happiness it creates for him that each time a student can say that this book was written for them, it brings such a sense of joy to his heart. He is a kind hearted man that seems to do anything for anyone. To me as a future teacher he has taught me that you must be patient and kind with each individual and understand their circumstances too. He mentioned in his speech that the little girl he referenced that spoke to him in all nonverbal cues somehow trusted in knowing he would help. He made me see that I want that for my students. I want them to feel comfortable in our classroom and if something needs to be told they can come to me for an open conversation. I was impressed with the amount of books that he has produced in his struggles between all of his careers not to mention the quality of the books. As I love children I could see that he loves people, for who they are. He is genuinely a nice person that would just like to assist others. I believe that helping others is the greatest reward and I could see that this was also a quality that he agreed with.