Day Camp?

I’m not talking about actual camping, I’m talking about an awesome day of professional development!

This was my first opportunity to experience Michigan Virtual’s Day Camp and I have to say…. It was amazing! I learned so much and left very inspired to continue making my classroom the best possible place for my students.

Keynote

So first off, the keynote was Michael Bonner! You might have seen him on Ellen, because he is a very passionate and inspiring teacher.

The biggest thing I learned from this keynote is the power of self reflection and that it is okay to stop and say, this isn’t working. I realized that it is okay to try new teaching techniques (even the ones that scare me a little) and it is okay if they don’t go amazingly well. The important thing is that I see what is working and what isn’t and am constantly attempting to improve my craft.

Thinking Prompts

The other big thing I took away from this awesome day of professional development is the idea of including thinking prompts in my classes more. I have started adding thinking prompts to my announcements as well as having some some prompts ready to respond to student’s discussion posts that will help further their thinking.

Here is an example of a thinking prompt I added in my Personal Finance class announcements:

These are just two of the things that I learned from Day Camp, because everything I learned would take 50 blog posts! Overall it was an amazing opportunity and I am so glad that I got to experience it.