In the span of two days, I feel like I may have possibly been here for a week. Getting here on Friday all I really remember is eating lots of food, and listening to a speaker, Grant Baldwin, who encouraged us to be difference makers in our world by starting small. He kept us laughing with witty jokes and short stories about experiences in his life and somehow seemed to be able to still tie everything in to his message.
Yesterday was the day that seemed to me to be multiple days in one; however, don't think that means it was monotonous or boring. To say the least it was full of energy, educational, and exciting. We started out the day in a general session, and then we moved on to two different workshop sessions of your choice.
The first workshop session I went to was one that showed how to execute kinesthetic learning with some games you could play that could go along with certain lessons. My favorite had to be the game that used math, a chair, and groups of 3 or 4. It would be a great game to use in my kindergarten classroom when I get back home. I can just see it now how excited and into it the little ones would get.
The second workshop session was teaching us helpful tips on how to deal with difficult parents once we become teachers. I forget that that's part of the job, and it was definitely an eye opener on how important it is to have a successful relationship both with your students and with the students' parents. Communicating with the parents is so important and can avoid most problems or avoid a big downward spiral of conflict. It is crucial that teachers be proactive in situations with difficult parents, and I'm so grateful to be able to take these tips home with me.
After the second workshop was lunch; not only was the lunch delicious, but the key note speaker we had right after was completely inspirational. His name was Dr. Marcus Nelson and he was relatable to children, goal oriented, and full of energy and good humor. His message was simple: hard work pays off. I appreciate how hard he has worked in his life and his testimony is absolutely encouraging. I would LOVE if all of Greenway had been able to hear his message. He would be able to affect so many lives.
I went to one final session after that and got some useful tips on professionalism, reflection, appreciating diversity, and communicating with your students. Next, we spent some time shopping and then relaxing in the hotel room after dinner. Not only, have I been having a blast on this trip, I've been learning and bonding more with the people in my chapter. It has been a wonderful and worthwhile experience.
-Lauren
wow that amazing
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