After a long, tiring day at school on Thursday, the day was not over with the final bell. The elementary teachers still had several hours left to the work day because that evening was the opening of the AASSA teachers conference held this year in Buenos Aires at Lincoln School (another international school in BA). We arrived with mixed emotions of having sessions going through Saturday afternoon. Our keynote speaker, Yong Zhao, inspired us to rethink teaching as a way to empower our students to enter the world as creative people and ready to create.
I enjoyed going to workshops about using technology in the classroom. I was quite excited after learning about how to use blogs in the classroom and plan to start a classblog for my students. It is a way for students to be excited about writing because they are publishing their work on the internet. There are many blog sites designed to be used in the classroom and they are safe and closed to only the teacher and students.
My absolute favorite session I was not even planning to attend. Becky told me she loved the presenters the previous day and I was not sold yet on which workshop to attend during that time so I accompanied her. She was right, the guys presenting were amazing. They taught in a dynamic way and USED the method they were teaching, they were ademat about doing that. They have been researching using anecdotes to help teach abstract concepts. We connect with people over stories and we remember stories, so why not use that model when teaching? Find ways to put eyes and ears and a mouth on any subject that you are reaching. In math the numerator might become Mr. N that lives above Mr. D (the denominator) to help students remember which goes where in a fraction. Of course in order to be more effective, the story should continue about Mr. N and Mr. D.
I feel refreshed and energized to bring some of these ideas back to the classroom as soon as possible. Most of all I am thankful the grant BAICA received in order to send us to this conference.
-kait
for more in the area of photography, please visit my photography blog http://kaitlinshadlephotography.wordpress.com
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