Catherine Keeter

Professional Development
Professional Development: ACT Aspire Preparation
On April 11th I attended a professional development meeting at Tarrant
Intermediate. The school brought in a speaker to talk about the schools ACT
Aspire data and to discuss how to raise the schools scores through the use of
student incentives. The speaker stated that with the ACT aspire tests happening
just around the corner, the teacher has already done almost all she can in the
classroom to help the students. Now the teachers job is to encourage students
to do the very best word because according to the speaker theyve learned all
that they can before the test. The teachers in attendance brainstormed some
student incentives they might be able to use in the classroom to encourage their
students to work hard on the ACT aspire tests. The speaker also provided the
teachers with some resources and ideas that they could use. The speaker gave
the teachers a packet of learning earnings. These learning earnings are a type
of currency that can be earned to spend in a classroom store. The learning
earnings are pieces of papers with different phrases on them such as you
completed all constructed response items and you paced yourself and showed
stamina in your work. Teachers could give out learning earnings to their students
if they see them demonstrating good test taking skills. The teachers were handed
a document on why skills such as pacing are important when it comes to test
taking. The speaker also gave the teachers a couple of examples of selfassessments students can take to determine their test taking skills. These
assessments ask the students to check off if they performed certain skills such
as you adhered to the 5-minute warning plan and You underlined key words
and evidence of answers in reading. The speaker restated how important it was
to encourage students in their test taking abilities as the ACT aspire grew near
and the professional development meeting ended.
I agree that it is very important to encourage students when it comes to
test taking skills and I liked that the teachers were provided with resources that
they could use to affirm and teach positive test taking qualities in their students. A
lot of students may not know test taking strategies and the teachers were told
why it is important for the students to know and practice test-taking strategies.
Contrary to the speaker, I believe that the teacher still has time to make a
difference beyond student incentives before testing begins. I think the teacher
should be doing all they she can in the classroom to make sure that the students
understand the test content. Student incentives should be combined with teacher
effort to ensure that students will do their best on the ACT aspire tests.

Professional Development: Birmingham Area Reading Council Educator

Networking Event
On April 28th I attended a Birmingham Area Reading Council (BARC)
educator networking event at Shades Cahaba Elementary. The event was
focused on promoting writing in our community and in the classroom. The event
started with each of the attendees dividing into writing groups based on whether
we preferred informational, persuasive, or narrative writing. I decided to go to the
persuasive writing group. In the group we discussed why we enjoyed persuasive
writing. In my group was a 2nd grade teacher from Shades Cahaba Elementary, a
reading coach from Cherokee Bend Elementary and two other Samford preservice teachers. It was interesting to listen to everyones thought on persuasive
writing. The groups came back together and we listened to a short presentation
by two UAB professors on the new Maryann Manning Family Literacy Center.
This literacy center has recently been established at UAB. Its focus is on
teaching families how to help their kids and on giving children opportunities to
read and write in the summer to refrain from regression. The UAB professors
believe that if a childs family is healthy and happy the child will do better in
school. The literacy center offers tutoring, workshops, and summer programs.
After the presentation on the literacy center the featured speaker, Javacia
Bowser spoke. Mrs. Bowser is a teacher by day, blogger by night. She teaches
8th and 10th grade and also blogs on her personal website. She founded See
Jane Write, an organization for female writers. Her speech focused on creating a
writing community to become better educators. She gave us three tips on how to
do this. Her first tip was to find our tribe and love them hard. She encouraged us
to look for supportive friends that will encourage us in our careers. Next she told
us to write everyday. Mrs. Bowser believes that writers need to write at least a
small amount everyday to keep improving. Lastly, she told us to learn to love
deadlines. She encouraged us to work with an end goal in mind. Mrs. Bowser
told us a story about how she encouraged her students writing because they
found out that she herself was a writer. She firmly believes that the best way to
teach writing is to be a writer yourself. After Mrs. Bowser spoke, representatives
from BARC gave away door prizes and the event was over.
While It isnt a goal of mine to become a published writer, I still found the
BARC event beneficial. I loved listening to Mrs. Bowsers story about
encouraging students through her own writing. She said that her students were
inspired to work harder at their own writing because they realized where it could
take them, and they realized that Mrs. Bowser had experience and new what she
was talking about. I agree with Mrs. Bowsers thought that the best way to teach
writing is to be a writer yourself. The more we write, the more knowledge we gain
about writing and the more knowledge about writing we can share with our
students. I would love to encourage my future students in writing by showing
them my own pieces of writing one day.

Professional Meeting: Grade Level Teacher Meeting

On April 18th I attended a fourth grade teacher meeting at Tarrant
Intermediate School. The teachers met to discuss the logistics of the field trip that
the fourth grade students would be going on the following day. The fourth grade
students and teachers were all going to the Space and Rocket center in
Huntsville. The first matter the teachers discussed was what they were going to
wear on the field trip. At first the considered wearing whatever type of t-shirt they
wanted but then decided that each teacher should where a Tarrant Intermediate
t-shirt. Then the teachers discussed what they would with the students cell
phones. At Tarrant Intermediate the students check in their phones right when
they enter the school building and pick them before they go home at the end of
the day. The process needed to be different for the field trip because the students
would be arriving at the school to leave for Huntsville before the school day
began and retuning after the school day had ended. The teachers decided that
the fourth graders could only have their cell phones on the bus and at lunch and
if they were seen at any other time they would be taken up. The teachers then
discussed a sign in sheet and field trip groups. Mrs. Logan volunteered to make
the sign in sheet that the teachers would check to make sure they had all of the
students at ever point of the trip. The teachers decided to make field trip groups
by combing students from different classes in order to spread students who might
cause behavioral issues. Each teacher decided to make name tags for their own
class, and collectively the teachers decided that the students would take the
lunch provided in the cafeteria on the field trip.
I enjoyed attending this meeting because it occurred around the time that I
was planning my field trip for my unit. It reminded me that a lot of planning goes
into planning a field trip and that there are many logistics to work out while
planning. I never would have thought of making a cell phone policy for a field trip
but if students in my class have cell phones this is something I will need to
address. It was beneficial to attend the fourth grade teacher meeting because it
gave me insight into details and aspects teachers have to plan for that I wouldnt
have thought about.