Visiting Baltimore

I am in Baltimore this week attending the National Middle School Conference. Being from Texas, I am enjoying the cooler weather. I had the best crab cakes last night for dinner! My hotel room directly faces Camden Yards and we're planning on doing some sight-seeing tomorrow before we leave on Saturday. I sure do miss my family back home!

All my sessions today have been good. A lot of what I heard today was research-based, common sense classroom practices, many of which Carnegie already encourages teachers to implement in their own classroom. I am fascinated with the presentations on brain research from neuroscience. I learned today that telling students that they're smart backfires and doesn't help students develop resiliency for the difficult times when they face academic road blocks. As a teacher and parent, I should instead praise kids for their strategy selection, hard work, and perseverance. That was my biggest AHA! moment for the day.

Another session was on how a campus's master schedule could improve student learning. My school is anticipating a growth of 200 additional students in the next two years. Many changes are inevitable at my school in order to accommodate this growth. Doing away with teaming is an option. A compromise might be going to an 8-period day and have block math and block science while still keeping teams on my campus. I am in favor of this option. Do you know what I can do with my students if I had them for 90 minutes every day? Students would participate in-depth activities that have them go beyond the surface level of math concepts. They might even be able to be on Cognitive Tutor the suggested 40% of class time. I'm trying not to count my chicks before they hatch. I have dreamed about having a 90-minute class day my whole career! Keep your fingers crossed for me.