The NUO Teachers' Conference was a great experience for the teacher candidates in attendance. The workshops I attended were all informative and provided helpful information for teachers who are beginning their careers. I can connect my learning to Standard 5. Ongoing Professional Learning: Members recognize that a commitment to ongoing professional learning is integral to effective practice and to student learning. Professional practice and self-directed learning are informed by experience, research, collaboration and knowledge. It is important that, as a teacher, I continue to learn and explore effective ways of teaching in order to help my students experience success.
One of the workshops that I was really looking forward to attending was the Classroom Management: Tips and Tools seminar by Tamara Stein. This seminar discussed how to prevent classroom discipline issues and how to interrupt them when they happen. Not only did Tamara speak of strategies to create a positive environment, such as proximity and positive reinforcement, she also discussed how student behaviours can signal that they are experiencing other issues, such as anxiety. This underlines the importance of understanding your students to better understand their needs. Classroom management is very important to me because I feel that this is one area that needs to be addressed before any meaningful learning can take place. A positive classroom environment is paramount if students are to have the opportunity to experience rich learning. It was helpful to see the presenter model some strategies during her presentation, helping me to understand what they look like in practice. The presenter gave many useful tips and examples from her own experience which really made me think about how I would approach the different situations she spoke about.
The second workshop I attended was called Literature Circles/Centers in K- 6 Education: A Reflective Process. It was an information session about what is involved in conducting literature circles in today's classroom. It was presented by fellow teacher candidates who shared their experiences with literature circles in their practicums.
This particular workshop focussed on social justice. This was interesting because I did a novel study with the book, Fatty Legs, in my current placement. The format I used was as a whole class as opposed to small groups. The format of literature circles presented in the seminar is something I would like to implement with my students. I found it interesting that the presenters told about their experiences using literature circles in grade 1 and 2 classrooms. I would have never thought to use literature circles with such a young age group. I like that the different types of activities used catered to the different needs and interests of the students in the class. I was able to take away ideas and a list of resources to use with students when implementing literature circles.
The conference week at Niagara University in Ontario was a great experience for myself and, in speaking with other teacher candidates, it was very well received. The speakers touched on important topics that I feel will be very important to have knowledge of as a future teacher. I was pleasantly surprised at the variety of seminar topics and the different engaging formats they were delivered in. I was disappointed that I couldn't attend more of the seminars! After these seminars, I can honestly say that touching upon the different topics has motivated me to learn more about them through my own research. I have made a list of the different resources highlighted in the seminars which I intend to explore further. As a result of this experience, I am inspired to be the best teacher I can be and, perhaps, be the inspiration and motivation for other educators one day.
Useful Resources:
https://self-reg.ca/educators/
https://www.teachthought.com/literacy/what-are-literature-circles/
https://noveleffect.com/learning-resources/
Brought to you by Roberta@NUO-491
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