July has brought us 2 wonderful workshop opportunities. Who knew other teachers would want to hear US speak??!! We are very humbled and excited that others want to hear about how we are handling the Common Core and what we have done to make it a smooth shift for ourselves and for our students.
So, last week we conducted a 3 day workshop for area teachers (about 90 teachers to be exact...LOL ) Needless to say we were a bit nervous as this was our first time presenting to educators outside of our own school. However, after a few minutes it was like talking to our friends. After all...we are all in the same boat. We quickly found that everyone had the same dreads, concerns, nerves, panic, and a hidden excitement as we did. The 3 days consisted of many discussions "teacher talk", we dove in to what the Common Cores purpose is and its major shifts, gave in depth explanations of the Math GNOMe & Common Core 4, and provided a lot of work-time to get plans and classroom materials ready to execute a Common Core Classroom. At the end of day 3 the feedback was beyond kind. We had the most receptive, open-minded group of teachers. Thank you again to our BOCES and Letchworth Central School for hosting us AND to Letchworth, Perry, Mt. Morris, & Warsaw teachers for supporting our ideas.
Tomorrow we will be doing a shorter more condensed version of the previous workshop. We look forward to guiding some wonderful discussions, sharing about the Math GNOMe & Common Core 4 and learning from other educators.
