Laurie Wangerin

WT1A Spring Conference

April 3-4 2014

Thursday, April 3, 2014

9:00 12:00 Keynote: Debbie Diller
Engaging Students in Meaningful Partner Practice through Math Work Stations.

My reflections, questions and application ideas include:

When I first saw what the topic was going to be, I thought to myself, Bummer!
Im not a math teacher, Im a reading teacher. Looking at the positive side, I
figured that it would be good for me to bring it back to my school. Little did I
realize how much I would get out of Debbie Diller that I could apply to reading!
My favorite quote from Debbie is What CAN your students do? and how she
explained that we should PUSH IN for more connectiveness for the teachers and
the students. This is something that I will be able to apply to my teaching as well
as share with the teachers I work with. I dont have work stations, however, I do
have times when I need to work one-on-one with my group of students and I can
have activities that they CAN do without my help.
The biggest challenge with math/reading stations in the classroom is making sure
that all the students can do the activity. A question that comes to my mind is how
do you have a reading station that the highest reader will not be bored with?
1:00 2:15 Laura Adams
A Roadmap for Designing Literacy Interventions

My reflections, questions and application ideas include:

I can honestly say that I was truly disappointed in this presentation. I expected
to gain a better understanding of different literacy interventions that we could
utilize. I guess I was on a different road.
The DPI ladies showed us slides, read them to us, had us talk to our neighbors
quickly and moved on. They had difficulties answering questions and kept referring
us to their wonderful website. I am sorry, but the DPI website is one of the
most frustrating sites I have been to.
The roadmap that was laid out was AGENDA 2017, how Wisconsin Vision is for ALL
learners, the principles of teaching and learning, the multilevel supports, the new
standards, educator effectiveness model, the SLO, RtI, and SLD Model.

Laurie Wangerin

WT1A Spring Conference

April 3-4 2014

The interventions done need to be scientific research based interventions and

weekly progress monitoring must be done. Someone brought up that the progress
monitoring had to be at grade level. It surprised me that the DPI wouldnt have
stated this or even explained the rationale behind it. As that is important to know
when doing interventions so it is done correctly.
I will make sure that with all the interventions that I am currently doing, that
when I progress monitor, I make sure that it is at grade level so that my data will
be valid.
2:30 3:45 Tamera Jo Rhomberg
Writing about Reading: Using Scaffolded Classroom Discussion and Writing
Strategies to Support Deep Comprehension Strategies

My reflections, questions and application ideas include:

With the new Common Core State Standards, we need to move ahead and examine
the high order of thinking skills to build background. This is done through
collaboration; communicating; and critical and creative thinking. Todays students
need to be able to build and support their position with evidence. I appreciated
that Tamera was able to demonstrate with examples rather than just talking about
the different strategies we could use.
I really liked the strategy The words made me see instead of saying What did
you read. This is definitely something that I will use in my reading groups. As a
teacher, we need to think about how we ask questions. Also giving them 3 post-its
and writing down key information that was read in each section. The students can
compare and talk further as to what they got from the section they read. RAFT
(role, audience, format and topic) was also shared with perspective shifting on the
book Shes Wearing a Dead Bird on her Head by Kathryn Lasky.

Teaching resources and materials from the Exhibitor tables that would be
beneficial to have in my teaching situation and how I might use them:
The Exhibitor tables were so overwhelming with a plethora of information. For me,
I found the Ladders program the most beneficial because the same story can be
shared with all the students. The texts in the books are written at different
reading levels but students dont know the difference because the books and
pictures are the same. The vendor also has some Spanish to English books and I

Laurie Wangerin

WT1A Spring Conference

April 3-4 2014

have one Spanish student that I work with and they are going to forward me some
samples.

Friday, April 4, 2014

9:00 12:00 Keynote: Paula Kluth
From Tutor Scripts to Talking Sticks.

My reflections, questions and application ideas include:

Paula gave me a better understanding of how do include a variety of skill/knowledge
levelled students in regular activities. Many of the activities are adapted from
common activities so it is an inexpensive way to adapt something that the students
are familiar with. It also gets the students active and interacting among each
other in a knowledgeable way. The Question Jar was by far my favorite, having
generic questions to support what they are learning and incorporating off target
questions as well. I like the fact that you can get a student who is usually quiet and
doesnt interact to participate.
Although I do not have a full classroom, some of the activities she shared could be
used in my small groups. When I read a story to my students, I am going to put
down a tablecloth of paper on our table and let them draw or write randomly to
see what they have learned or gained while reading. We will then talk about it. I
have shared many of the activities with the teachers that I work with. One
teacher has already created a Brain Break Jar and every so often, she will
randomly call on a student to pick a stick. It has kept the students going when
they have a long block of reading or math and she has noticed a more focused class.
1:00 2:30 Nancy Walsh Bader/Sharon Toellner
Using Pals-K Concept of Word Data for Planning Intervention

My reflections, questions and application ideas include:

I mainly work with Kindergarten and First Grade students, so this session was
extremely useful for me. I have started to understand the data and how to
determine the needs of my students, but this session has given me a deeper
understanding of how and why. I am now able to go back to the teachers and help
them address the needs of their students. It is exciting to see how the 4K data is
used for Kindergarten as well. And the importance of the COW (Concept of
Words) as a predictor for the Fourth Grade benchmark testing.

Laurie Wangerin

WT1A Spring Conference

April 3-4 2014

One of my interventions for the Kindergarteners is Words Their Way. One of

the authors is also an author of PALS. I have been focusing on COW, hoping that
it is the right thing to be working on with them. This session really supported my
intervention and gave me more ideas on how to expand the activities that I am
doing with the students. I will be taking my sentence strips, cutting them apart
and creating a station for them to put together and draw pictures about it.

My overall impressions of the conference and application ideas are:

This was my first Title 1 Conference and a learning experience. I was very
impressed with all the knowledge and collaboration that was shared among
everyone. I liked that there were regular and special education teachers there to
see and gain a better understanding of Title services.
We came to this conference trying to figure out if we should switch from a
targeted Title 1 school to a school-wide Title School. During a break, some of my
coworkers were able to sit down and discuss the benefits/drawbacks of this
potential change; however, it interfered with some of the sessions. It would have
been nice to have an evening social to further collaborate outside of the sessions.
I am currently taking a course on Inclusion of Students with Special Needs. Paula
Kluth and her book From Tutor Scripts to Talking Sticks have helped me with my
class that I am taking. I have been able to share ideas and activities with my class
on how to incorporate the Special Needs students into the class.