PLP

Group
This semester we participated in a professional learning group with the family

studies students. They are aiming toward a degree that puts them in the field of counseling
within a school setting. The focus of the group was mainly the importance of family and
parent involvement within the classroom. We met four times over the semester and each
time we discussed a different aspect of the parent teacher relationship. I found this group
to be very helpful and I enjoyed it a lot.
1st Meeting: During this meeting we planned for upcoming meetings. As a group we
decided what dates we could all meet. During this lesson we were also informed that we
needed to take a personality test in preparation for the next meeting.
2nd Meeting: I thought that this meeting was very helpful. We took a personality test prior
to meeting and the results from the test spurred the conversation for most of the meeting. I
thought that it was very interesting because I found my results to be very correct while
most of the other girls did not. After discussing the different personality types we also
talked about the ways each personality type communicates with others. I thought that this
was very helpful; it showed me a lot about myself. The other topic we discussed was how to
tell parents bad news. I thought that this was great because it will be relevant in the future.
3rd Meeting: Of all of the session he had, I found this one to be the most interesting. I had
not heard of parenting styles before this meeting. However, once I began learning about
them I immediately began to recognize where I had encountered each of the styles. We also
used this as a connection to begin talking about discipline in the classroom.
4th Meeting: During our last session we transitions to talking about the different types of
teaching personalities. The four personalities that we learned about were the guardian, the

artisan, thee idealist and the rationalist. I do not think that I have had enough teaching
experience to determine my own teaching personality. I cannot wait to have more teaching
opportunities and eventually develop my own teaching personality in my very own
classroom!

Most Likely to Succeed"

This semester OBB sponsored a screening of the movie most likely to succeed. This

movie follows one school, High Tech High, over the course of a semester. The audience gets
a preview at a radical way the education world is moving. While the school documented is
an extreme alternative to traditional teaching methods. The watcher is a able to get a true
glimpse of the magic and learning that can occur when students are given more
opportunity to guide and pace their own education. This learning format is radically
different from anything Ive ever known. And I must say that it scared me a little bit to see
how technologically advanced the school was, and how different of an education these
students were getting than what I personally received. To me, I think the scariest part of
the whole thing is that one-day I may be expected to teach a classroom like that; and
personally I do not think I am equipped to do something like that!

ARA Conference
I truly enjoyed being able to attend the Alabama Reading Association Conference
this year! I was able to hear multiple speakers talk about a variety of interesting topics. One
of my favorite part was listening to Dr. Underbakke speak about his favorite new childrens
books. He gave us a list of books that he has read to his class recently that they have really

enjoyed. I liked this presentation because he gave us a lot of new books to be able to read.
Also, I enjoyed that he brought the books with him so that we could all see them

I also greatly enjoyed listening to Ann Marie Corgill speak. She did not speak about

the book that we have been reading in class. However, her talk was better than I could have
imagined. Her talk truly inspired me and was exactly what I needed. Sometimes I think it is
easy to get caught up in all the work we have to do and I forget to think about why I am in
this profession! One of the things that I took away from her talk was to make sure that your
actions are for the sake of the children. I think that this was a great message that all
teachers should hear.

One of the biggest speakers that we had to come speak to us was Dr. Bice. Dr. Bice is

the Alabama state superintendent. He spoke a lot about his job and what his week looks
like. I enjoyed listening to what he had to say and all of the improvements that have
occurred while he has been working in this position. I think the way education is moving is
very interesting.

ELL Training

We were given the opportunity to receive professional development regarding how

to teach English Language Learner (ELL) students in the classroom. Lari Valtierra, an ESL
coordinator for the Jefferson County school system, conducted the seminar. During the
seminar we covered a few main ideas. We focused on language acquisition, WIDA and best
practices for classroom instruction. Along with these topics Mrs. Valtierra embedded
multiple Teacher tools within her presentation. These tools included: performance
definitions, Rubrics, Can-Do descriptors and ACCESS teacher reports. Some of these tools
were resources and some were strategies for instruction.

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

On the first day of the seminar, we focused on language acquisition and the

background information teachers must have so that they can successfully help ELL
students in their classrooms. I thought that this was very helpful because I know very little
about second languages and acquiring a second language. We learned that there are five
stages in the process of language acquisition. These stages are preproduction, early
production, speech emergence, intermediate fluency and advanced fluency. Mrs. Valtierra
emphasized that language acquisition is a process and all children travel through the
process at different rates. As I was listening to the descriptors of each stage of the process I
was able to mentally determine which stage I believe the ELL students are in the classroom
I am observing. Now that I know more about what stages students are at, I feel more
equipped to help them during m time observing. Often I work with a specific ELL student
who I believe is in the Intermediate fluency stage. Now, I have tools to be able to more
effectively help him.

We also began to discuss the WIDA consortium. I was glad to hear more about this.

Previously, we listened to the ELL teacher are Trace Crossings talk about his profession. I
was very confused most of the time because I did not know any of the terms he was talking
about. Now I do! WIDA supplies the state standards for ELL students. They also provide
resources for teachers to use.
Wednesday, November 11, 2105

On the second day of the seminar we reviewed language acquisition and WIDA. We

also delved deeper into the heart of the subject. We mainly discussed what educators could
do in the classroom to help enhance learning for their students. One of the main focuses

was on Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol or SIOP. SIOP involves 8 areas:

preparation, building background, comprehensible input, strategies, interaction,
practice/application, lesson delivery and review/assessment. After one year of using this
protocol, Jefferson County saw improvements with ELL students and a reduced number of
special education referrals. One of the big takeaways from this seminar for me was, Mrs.
Valtierra mentioning that while all of the practices we discussed during the seminar are
good for every child, they are absolutely necessary for ELL students to be successful. I think
it is very important to use research-based strategies in the classroom.
I truly enjoyed this seminar because Mrs. Valtierra was interactive, energetic and
gave us great information about how to help ELL students in our future classrooms!