Professional Development Reflection

Three things that I am going to take back to my classroom from this professional development are:
1. Partner Clock- the students make appointments on the clock with other students. When I have them get into partners I can just tell them to meet with their "12 O'clock partner." I can also pick a partners for some of the appointments. That way I can make sure they have at least one partner that is at the same level as them, and one partner that is at a different level. This can help them to learn from each other!
2. I learned that teaching procedures in the first couple days of school will only take about 4 days. However, teaching procedures later in the year will take around 8 days. We have already started school, and I have put many procedures in place. It is good to know that I will have to work a lot harder. Also, it's nice to know that I need to have the procedure completely worked out in my head before trying to teach it to the students.
3. One other thing I learned is that it is okay to make a decision and not explain the reason behind it. If I give the students time to think about why I might not let them do something, they will often come to the conclusion on their own. This will help me to not waste time reasoning out my decision for the students.

I am Ali Knowles and will be getting married September 19, and will then be Ali Swier. I live in Kremmling and will be commuting to work an hour and a half, each way, each day. I have 3 dogs; a black lab, Bunker, a chocolate lab, Fiji, and an akbash, Albus. This is my first year as a classroom teacher and I am really looking forward to it. I will be writing reflections about my year on this blog. I will also be sharing information with other first year teachers.