Lauren Hughes

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Junior Block - Fall 2015
#1 BARC Meeting
On Thursday, October 1, 2015, the Birmingham Area Reading Council (BARC)
had a professional development meeting at Hall-Kent Elementary School. The
purpose of this meeting was to discuss practical tips for how to involve families in
literacy. This BARC event was one of the many opportunities that were available
this semester, but I specifically chose to attend because I have learned that reading
is not my strongest area as far as teaching is concerned.
The meeting started with a speaker who discussed reading from the view
point of an ELL teacher who strives to make cross-cultural connections. She
emphasized the value in classroom teachers making these connections as well not
only with the students, but also with the parents. In order to do this, one must show
empathy towards the parents that do not speak English, have a can do attitude, and
make communication a priority. As she was speaking, I started to question what my
school experience would have been like for my parents if we were in a country
where we did not speak the primary language. They would not have been able to
read to me every night, comprehend my reading assignments, or understand the
story when I read to them. It would have led me to have a negative attitude
towards reading. This is exactly how non-English speaking families feel which is
why BARC provided this opportunity for teachers to better learn how to link families
to literature.
During this event, I gained knowledge about various strategies that I can use
to help families and literature better connect. These include sending home a topic
for the family to discuss and having the students write a sentence or two about

what their family says. For example, if the class is learning about animals, the
students could ask the parents what their favorite animal is. Another strategy is to
simplify the information that is sent home. Instead of sending home a five
paragraph essay for the parents to read, mark the importance and create a system
for sorting through that information such as using color codes. Finally, there were
many websites mentioned, but Reading A-Z was the one that caught my attention
the most. This resource allows teachers to print a book that they are reading in
class off in Spanish. I think that this is an excellent resource to use in order to
encourage literacy from the classroom into the home with the families. The nonEnglish speaking parents can read with their children if this is done. Other things
that were vaguely discussed include reading logs, book buddy bag, emphasizing the
importance of parent model reading, sending home higher level comprehension
questions home for parents to ask the student, and parent wish jars. This event was
extremely enriching. It allowed me to expand my reading file folder in my schema
and realize the value in learning from other teachers.

#2 ELL Training
As I write this reflection, I am thankful for the technology that we have today.
I was not able to personally be at the ELL training due to sickness, but attended via
skype. The reason that I am grateful for this is because the training was extremely
enriching and eye-opening. Lari Valtierra, the ESL Coordinator for Jefferson Count,
led the seminar for both days and granted us with a depth of information to use as
preservice teachers and teachers one day.
There is a difference in students learning a language and students acquiring a
language. Acquisition of a language is a process of learning four language domains

which include hearing, seeing, speaking, and writing. This process occurs in the
following five steps: pre-production, early production, speech emergence,
intermediate fluency, and advanced fluency. One important aspect of language
acquisition is that it does not happen at the same rate for every child. As soon as I
learned this, I started to think of how it would feel to be proficient in English, but
attend school in Germany. The feeling of not being able to communicate or
understand would cause me to constantly have many questions. That same feeling
is what the ELL students will experience in our classrooms one day. Instead of
pushing them with the rest of the class, what would happen if we took the time to
learn their WIDA, ELL resource in Alabama, scores and accommodate their needs? I
believe that if teachers did this then the ELL students would feel more a part of the
classroom and their learning experience would increase by drastic measures.
According to WIDA, ELL students can be scored from a 1.0-6.0 where 1.0 is
the lowest and 6.0 indicates language proficiency. In Alabama, a child is proficient
in English when language is no longer a barrier to understanding the content and
their WIDA score is a 4.8. Teachers must remember that this score means that they
have met the proficient level for Alabama, but it does not mean that students will
understand all the academic language in a classroom. Just because students can
communicate conversationally, does not mean that they are fluent in
communicating academically. This makes me question how many teachers
misjudge an ELL students English proficiency based on their conversational
language and neglect to give attention to their academic language.
These two types of language can be categorized as BICS and CALP. BICS is
the language that is developed socially, content embedded, and cognitively
undemanding. CALP is a high level of academic discourse that requires prior

knowledge and is cognitively demanding. Overall, teachers have to present

learning as comprehensible input, or learning that takes place when the brain can
connect content to background knowledge. I wonder what would happen if a
teacher never accessed the students prior knowledge. There would not be much
learning occurring in that classroom because connections are the key to learning.
Teachers can make connections through a variety of ways including context
embedding their classroom with support, clues, scaffolds, and visuals. They can
also use Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP) model. This teaching
model includes eight steps which are lesson preparation, building background,
comprehensible input, strategies, interaction, practice and application, lesson
delivery, and review and assessment. Incorporating this model into the classroom
will not only assist the ELL students in learning, but will also help the other students
as well. SIOP is a research-based model that has been proven effective in teaching
language necessary for ELL students to understand content, so why would a teacher
not want to learn more about this model and implement it into their classroom?
Mrs. Valtierra presented educationally enriching material during this two-day
ELL training seminar. Looking back over my experiences in school, I can recall times
as a student where I witnessed ELL students struggling with their work. At the time,
I simply thought they just could not read the passage or form words to write the
sentence. Now I know that they were truly not connecting to the content being
taught. There were no graphs, charts, models, or scaffolds used by the teacher to
assist them in vocabulary instruction and building that academic language.
Therefore, the students could not perform the assignments placed in front of them.
As a preservice teacher, I now see the importance of having ELL training and
implementing the strategies learned into my classroom one day.

#3 ARA Conference
I attended the ARA Conference on Thursday, November 12, 2015, and Friday,
November 13, 2015. This professional development opportunity was incredibly
enriching. Living with two teachers, it has become evident that some teachers
attend professional development and conferences simply for attendance. The ARA
Conference did not fall into that category. Instead, this two-day conference
provided us with a depth of knowledge to use as preservice teachers and teachers
one day. There were general sessions with various speakers, a vast array of minisessions, and vendors with instructional resources available.
During this conference, I was able to hear various speakers and each one had
thoughts to share that impacted the way I view reading in the classroom. Before
elaborating deeper, I want to list the following quotes that continued to resonate in
my mind as I left the conference:

The child is more important than the writing, so feedback matters and
it is powerful. Jeff Anderson

There is a difference in liking and loving. Teachers have a remarkable

opportunity to show love. Todd Geralds

Reading is a window into the world. It is the doorway to education

and leadership. Words do more than communicate. Gary Palmer

Imagine. Dr. Bice

Most of those quotes do not have the word reading in them, but they have each
impacted how I view reading instruction in the classroom now. Throughout school,
reading was the area that I despised the most because it consisted of dibbles
testing with a reading coach, accelerated reading that caused comparisons between

classmates, and paragraph reading uninteresting texts in class because the teacher
said we had to cover them. I do not remember positive aspects of reading in school
as much as I remember the negative; therefore, I am learning how to become a
person who appreciates reading. The speakers during the conference provided me
with rich instructional processes for reading such as completing power writing,
increasing the volume of reading, using knowledge maps, connecting background
knowledge, sharing reading experiences, and modeling literacy practices. Those
were all beneficial, but the quotes that I included above were what impacted my
thoughts towards reading the most. Above all, this conference provided me with a
positive viewpoint toward reading and allowed me to truly see that reading in my
classroom one day does not have to look like my elementary reading experience.
As a future teacher, I vow to make reading a window to the world for my students.
Through love, I will teach the instructional reading strategies that my students need
and it is my hope that they will grow to appreciate reading for all the opportunities
and doorways that it opens. Overall, my classroom will be one where we imagine.
Not only can we use the dialogue to imagine our own illustrations, we will also
imagine creative and innovative ways to participate in reading every day. This may
not have been a reflection of the many details that I learned at this conference, but
it is one of how this conference influenced my heart and increased my love for
reading as a future teacher.

#4 PLP Log
Date/Tim
e
10/5/15
5:00 P.M.

Topic
Lesson #1
Personality

Reflection
1. I learned how to use a new technology tool
called Google Hangout.
2. I received lesson resources via email that
outlined my personality type which was

3.

10/15/15

Lesson #2
Communication

1.

5:00 P.M.

2.
3.

4.
5.

10/19/15
5:00 P.M.

Lesson #3
Parenting Styles
and Discipline

1.

2.

3.
4.

determined using a prior test. I am an ESTJ.

(Extravert, Sensor, Thinker, Judger)
We discussed strengths/weaknesses of our
personality types and will later learn how to
interact with parents based on this.
I learned steps for conveying bad news to a
parent which are to choose a time and place
carefully, start the conference with a warm
welcome, share something you love about the
child, ask the parent if she/he has any
concerns, be gentle and factual when sharing
problems, dont try to convince parents to see
problems your way, end by reiterating
everything thats going right, and double up
on praise and good news in the coming week.
I also learned what not to do when conveying
bad news to a parent.
We discussed the different communication
styles based on our personality types that we
learned during the first lesson. It is important
to realize that different personalities mesh
together in various ways. As a teacher, my
personality will fit differently with different
parents based on their personality types.
Different personality types process and
communicate information differently.
It is also important that as a teacher I really
listen to a parent and understand how to
effectively communicate with that parent.
I learned that there are four different
parenting styles which include authoritative,
authoritarian, permissive, and uninvolved.
Authoritative is the demanding and supportive
parent. Authoritarian is the demanding and
unsupportive parent. Permissive is the
undemanding and supportive parent.
Uninvolved is the undemanding and
unsupportive parent.
Parents discipline differently based on their
parenting styles.
There are 7 guidelines for discipline which are
as follows: equifinality, do not use abusive
corporal punishment, try to understand the
childs feelings, give chances for child to learn,

10/26/15
5:00 P.M.

Lesson #4
What Type of
Teacher Are You?

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

think, and reason regarding their behavior,

value individuality rather than conformity,
remember that discipline is supposed to be
taught through healthy self-esteem rather
than fear, guilt or shame, and provide a
nurturing atmosphere.
I learned the four different types of teachers
which include the guardian, the artisan, the
idealist, and the rationalist.
The guardian makes rules and sticks with
them, prefers well-planned teaching, strives to
keep harmony in the classroom, emphasizes
routine, likes step-by-step procedures, uses
comparisons in teaching, uses clear
expectation, and is highly realistic. This is an
S personality.
The artisan is more flexible, relates teaching
to their own lives, allows students the freedom
to sink or swim, uses illustrations and
demonstrations, and likes to alternate
between fast pace and slow pace styles. This
is an N personality.
The idealist likes a democratic classroom
environment where students are involved in
decision-making, looks for ways to encourage
creativity, uses symbolic metaphors, are
enthusiastic about teaching, are interested in
anything innovative and new, and freely
provide praise and feedback. This is an N
personality.
The rationalist encourages individualism, is
able to communicate enthusiasm to students,
strives to inspire students, structures their
lessons logically, and is an expert in their field.
This is an S personality.
We discussed which type of teacher we
probably are and examined how our
personality type and teacher type correlate.
To end, we filled out the L section of our KWL
chart.