Professional Development

Opportunities:
Junior Fall 2014
Ms. Bisese

The Alabama Reading Association ARA

Conference Reflection:
November 13 th -14 th , 2014
Brittany Bisese

On November 13th and 14th, I had privilege of attending the Alabama Reading
Associations annual conference. Throughout the conference, I heard from highly respected
professionals in the field of literacy including, Richard Allington, Stephanie Harvey, and Donalyn
Miller. Also, I heard presentations from Alabama state teacher of the year, Anne Maire Corgill,
Florida state teacher of the year, April DeCesare, and various University professionals on topics
ranging from differentiating reading instruction for ELL students to project based learning
within a literacy curriculum.
Of these speakers, Stephanie Harvey and Ann Marie Corgills speeches were two of the
speeches that inspired me the most. In Stephanie Harveys session, she discussed how to
structure instruction so that our students learning thinking-intensive. She talked first about
how the student is the only one that can turn information into knowledge. Students need to
know the difference between the two terms and be taught how to think about the
information as they read. This way, they can turn tomorrows information into todays
background knowledge. Thus in order to help students come to a deeper understanding of the
text so that the information becomes knowledge, teachers must challenge students with
complex texts and approach these texts strategically. She stated, The more complex the test,

the more complex the thinking must be. The tougher the text, the more strategic the reader
must be. Thus, the teachers need to intentionally select texts that are challenging not just by
the texts reading level, but texts that include simple and complex problems, and have
historical, scientific, social or other meaningful implications that will stimulate the childs thinking
and expand their worldview. Finally, she talked about how strategies such as teacher modeling,
think-alouds, student collaboration, and making inferences are crucial to students development
of a deeper understanding of the text and their world.
Also, Ann Marie Corgill, a forth grade teacher who is Alabamas 2015 state teacher of
the year, gave three main charges to teachers in her session. These charges were: Stop
talking, shift our mindsets, and value the uncommon core. She challenged teachers to see
that often, when we as teachers step back, students will step up and tell us what they need.
She gave the example of one student who knew that she was struggling in math. Without the
prompting of the teacher, the student wrote a letter to the teacher about how much help
she needed in that area and was willing to give up recess for help. Thus often, students know
what they need and we need to come alongside them and push them further towards the
goal they want for themselves. Also, we need to shift our own mindsets and our students
mindsets to a growth mindset. This growth mindset means believing that every student CAN
learn and CAN rise up to meet the expectations set for before them. However this is only
possible if the student is actively motivated and supported by the teacher. One of her 8-year-

old students grasped this concept as she wrote in her journal entry one day, Listen for your
fixed mindset voice and let your growth mindset voice talk back Finally, she talked about
valuing the uncommon core meaning that in addition to meeting standards, the teacher
should create and encourage experiences that allow students to fall in love with books and
take away more meaning from a text than the teacher ever intended. These experiences
that may not meet specific standard are invaluable to the students learning and should be
encouraged whenever possible.
Overall, the ARA conference was a phenomenal experience, which inspired me with new
ideas as I move forward towards my future classroom.

The Alabama Reading Association ARA

Conference Reflection:
Additional Sessions: Richard Allington on Summer Regression and Dr.
Dr. Deborah Strevy and Dr. Fran Perkins on Authentic ProjectBased Learning in the Literacy Classroom:
November 13 th , 2014
Brittany Bisese

Over November 13th and 14th, I had the opportunity to attend the Alabama Reading
Associations (ARA) annual conference. To grow my practice as a professional, I stayed at the
conference on Thursday afternoon to listen to extra presentations by Richard Allington and Dr.
Perkins and Dr. Strevy as they explored the topics of Summer Regression and Authentic
Project-based learning in the classroom.
First, Richard Allington spoke about how summer regression impacts students from lowincome populations. Research found that 80% of the poverty achievement gap stems form
summer reading setback. He also, discussed how low-income lose approximately 2-3 months of
reading instruction every summer while middle-income students gain 1 month every summer. He
warned that if this continues throughout their schooling experience, by 6th grade these students
have lost 2 years of growth. This is a large piece of the complex mosaic of issues as to why
the achievement gap exists among students today. He noted that struggling readers from any
background are hurt by summer regression.
Then, he talked about why students from lower-income families are deeply affected by
summer vacation. This is primarily because these students often have less access to resources.

Parents of lower-income families often do not have the means to provide a variety of
literature in the home, or transportation to a library or other source of resources. Also, libraries
that serve these communities are often under-supplied and require an adult to attend to the
child while at the library. He recounted his interviews with local grocers, as to why they did not
offer literature in their locations that were in high-poverty areas yet they provided these
resources to locations in high-income areas. These grocers responses were that these resources
did not sell in high-poverty areas. Also, school libraries in these areas, which are often
undersupplied to begin with, are inaccessible to students in the summer. Thus, students are left
with little access to quality literature throughout the summer. In order to combat this, we as
teachers must do whatever it takes to provide our students access to the books that they
want to read over the summer. Exposure to literacy in the summer is a critical component of
closing the achievement gap amongst students.
Next, Dr. Strevy and Dr. Perkins presented on how to make project- based learning
effective for student growth. They first defined the difference between problem-based learning
and project-based learning. Problem-based learning focuses on a problem that needs to be
solved. Yet, project-based learning is driven by a driving question and focuses on the process of
learning, content of learning, student choice, and investigation. The result of project-based
learning is a cumulative piece of work that demonstrates the students process of thought.
They also emphasized that projects should not be superficial, activity driven, and teacher

directed. Instead, they should be developed and maintained by the student to explore a
meaningful driving question.
Overall, the experience taught me the importance of summer reading programs and
incorporating projects into my curriculum. No matter where I teach, I need to ensure that my
students are given access to quality literature over the summer. Also, there is power in designing
a structure for a project, which students can use to create their own project to investigate an
authentic driving question.

The effect of Personality Types on Teaching

Style and Parent Interactions Workshop
November 6 th , 2014
Ms. Bisese

In our first session, our group focused on figuring what our Myers Briggs personality types
are and how our personalities each have their unique strengths and weaknesses when its
comes to our teaching styles and interacting with parents. Mine is INFJ. First we talked about
Is and Es. As an I, I found that one of my strengths may be working with students one on
one and in small groups but may be weaker at whole group lessons. Also Es may be more likely
to externally process while Is may be more likely to think through their responses. Thus in my
teaching, it is a strength that I may be more prone to think carefully through what I say
before saying it. However I have to be cautious of being flexible and being comfortable
responding on the spot.
Next we talked about N and S. As an N, I took way that the S people, use their 5
senses to gather information while N people use ideas, concepts and theories, to gather
information. Ns can be more abstract and inspirational which can be bad if they are too
unrealistic and if they are not flexible. But Ns help S people dream bigger. Meanwhile, S people
help Ns be more detail oriented and realistic!
Then we talked about F and T. Thinkers are more likely to not take things as
personally and to not be deterred by external circumstances. As an F, I may be more prone to

take student struggles personally and get bogged down by external circumstances. However, as
an F I may take my students struggles more seriously and work incredibly hard to see them
achieve.
Finally we talked about P and J. As a J I may be able to think in a more to-do list
oriented way and be more driven to get things done while Ps may be more naturally flexible. Js
need to be conscious that I need to be

Teacher Dispositions in Parent Teacher

Conferences Workshop Part 1
November 13 th , 2014
Ms. Bisese

In our second Professional Learning Probe Meeting, we talked about Parent Teacher
Conferences. It is important that the teachers are respectful yet firm when dealing with
parents so that they will gain the parents respect and work alongside the teacher for the
progress of the child. We discussed how it is important for the teacher to be the initiator of
the conference and maintain that position throughout the meeting. To do this, the teacher
should maintain boundaries and steer the conversation back to its purpose. The Game Plan for
Approaching Parents (GAP) is a form that helps teacher determine their mission for the
meeting, predict obstacles, prepare questions, and develop a hopeful plan of action prior to
entering the meeting. The teacher should remain open-minded, stay positive, and establish
common interests with the parent. Make sure they know that you want their child their child
to be successful as well. She should also listen attentively and ask for clarification if necessary.
Finally, The teacher should never assume anything when working with parents.
When dealing with parents, the teacher needs to maintain a positive and professional
demeanor in her words, actions, and non-verbal communication. She should balance being
accommodating and firm with parents in order so that parents know the teacher is working
with them for the success of their child.

Teacher Dispositions in Parent Teacher

Conferences Workshop Part 2
November 19 th , 2014
Ms. Bisese

In this meeting, we continued our discussion about how the teacher should compose
herself during Parent Teacher Conferences. In addition to preparing a clear goal for the
student, taking initiative, and staying positive, the teacher needs to begin the conference with
at least two or three strengths of the child. The teacher should strive to encourage the
parent about their child and show them that she recognizes their childs unique gifts. When the
teacher needs to discuss a sensitive issue with parents, the teacher should be sensitive yet
honest in how they frame the issue. She should only discuss two to three behaviors at a time in
order not to overwhelm the parent!
The teacher should be solution-oriented meaning that she has specific solutions in
mind for the issue. This way the parent walks away with specific strategies to help their child
be more successful in the classroom. Finally, we talked about how the teacher can encourage
student focus with a few simple strategies. To increase student focus, the teacher should
create a positive classroom culture and set reasonable, clear, and consistent expectations and
consequences for students. Also, she should be perceptive to manage distractions and give
positive re-enforcement when students are on task! Overall, teachers can increase student
focus through incorporating a few simple strategies into their classroom. Also, for Parent

Teacher Conferences, the teacher should prepare wisely then be positive, solution-oriented, openminded, specific, and assertive during the meetings. Through incorporating these strategies and
maintaining this demeanor in Parent Teacher Conferences, the teacher will contribute to the
success of her students.

English Language Learners and the SIOP Method

Training
Brittany Bisese
November 24 th , 2014
In todays classroom, the number of ESL students continues to grow substantially. It is
important to recognize that ESL students vary in their life experiences, native languages,
cultures, and socioeconomic statuses. ESL students can be US or foreign born, with or without
refugee statues, with or without their family, and from very wealthy or low-income families.
Thus it is important that the teacher must first, know her students. She must know not
just what their native language is, but their experiences, the culture they come from, a general
knowledge of their living circumstances and their level of proficiency in each area of English.
Knowing her students allows the teacher to choose appropriate content and accommodate
this content to fit the needs of this child.
Next the teacher must know her content and be an expert at what she is
teaching. When a teacher has expertise in the subject areas that she is teaching, then she
will speak and provide opportunities to engage with the material that will be clear and concise.
This clear and concise instruction is essential for all learners, including ESL students.
Finally the teacher must know what works, meaning what specific strategies she
should incorporate and what goals she should set for her students. A teacher will impact her
students every day, for better or for worse. This powerful quote represents that the teacher

needs to be intentional with her decisions and goals so that she will have a positive, not
negative, impact on the childs growth.
To be highly effective at teaching ESL students in the classroom, the teacher must
consult the WIDA standards and CCSS when planning instruction. These standards call for a
focus on students learning first the BICS (social language) then the CALP (academic
language) necessary to excel in each of the four core content areas, Language Arts, Math,
Science, and Social Studies. Within each of these areas, the teacher must know that there are
6 stages of language acquisition: entering, beginning, developing, expanding, bridging, and nativelike proficiency. Within the four main processes of language: listening, speaking, writing, and
reading, the student may have differing levels of proficiency. For example, the student may
speak the language at a level 5, but are reading the language at a level 3.
The teacher must see the acquisition of language as a process in which students
progress through these stages and develop their social language first, then their academic
vocabulary. The teacher should be intentional about teaching with a strategy called
Comprehensible Input or I + 1. This means that the teacher should teach the
information they need for that grade level plus the skills they need to grow one level of
proficiency in their English language abilities. Although, students develop language at their own
rate, this strategy meets students where they are and strives to move them one level of
proficiency from where they are.

The most critical method to getting these students to progress through these phases is
to implement the SIOP method into the classroom. This method offers explicit guidelines for
and emphasizes lesson preparation, building background knowledge, comprehensible input, specific
strategies, daily interaction, practice/application, lesson delivery, and reviewing assessments.
Through incorporating this best practice method, the teacher should see growth in all
of her students learning, including ESL learners.