MEA/MFT Conference

October 16, 2014

I attended the MEA/MFT conference in Missoula, MT in October. In my time at
MEA/MFT I attended 4 different seminars.
Success for Each Child: Do you have what it takes?
Knowledge Transfer: The key to human development
Incorporating Creative Movement into the Classroom
Assessing Number Concepts in the Early Grades
Out of all of the seminars, the one that spoke to me the most was Success for
Each Child: Do you have what it takes? This lecture was mostly focused on math,
and how to promote students success in math. The speaker spoke about the key
points of effective mathematics teaching and learning practices, which included
topics like implementing tasks that promote problem solving and reasoning,
facilitation meaningful mathematical discourse, posing purposeful questions,
supporting productive struggle, and many more useful points.
This lecture was the most meaningful to me because I could clearly see how I
could incorporate these practices into my teaching. Also, many of the points that
were made were very similar to the teaching practices that were being taught to us
in my 400 block math methods class. This really brought everything together, and I
was able to see the relevance of what I was learning in class and how it could be
carried over into the classroom.
Regional Kindergarten Report Card Meeting
January 8, 2015
During my student teaching experience, I had the opportunity to attend a
meeting with the schools in our region (Rattlesnake, Lewis & Clark, and Paxson), to
discuss what is on the kindergarten report card. This was an interesting meeting to
attend, because the typical report card used for kindergarten does not really align
with the kindergarten standards, and does not make a lot of sense. The
kindergarten teachers in the region actually created their own report card to
translate what is on the other report card to parents.
The kindergarten teachers discussed the standards that were supposed to be
met by the middle of the year conference time in March. They also discussed the
changes that they would like to be made to the report card. This was a great
learning experience, and I feel like it was a good way to be educated on the
kindergarten standards and what they should be learning at different points in the
year.
Rattlesnake Elementary Staff Meetings
Every-other Thursday morning during
I attended all-staff meetings during both my 400 block and student teaching
experiences. The topics of the staff meetings varied from week to week, whether
someone from the University was coming to discuss a topic or give a brief training,
or the principal was going over the schedule and upcoming events. One big topic of
discussion at Rattlesnake in the past few months has been the hiring of a new
principal. The current principal is retiring at the end of the school year, so as a staff
they are working together in the hiring process. Three staff members from different
grade levels were chosen to be on the hiring committee, where they will meet with
and interview principal candidates. It has been interesting to see this process, from
experiencing the announcement at the very beginning that the principal is retiring,

to the choosing of the hiring committee, and I will continue to watch this process
happen during my last few weeks at Rattlesnake.

Parent-Teacher Conferences
November 12-13, 2014 and March 24-26, 2015
During the 400 block, as well as my student teaching experience, I had the
opportunity to attend parent teacher conferences. I learned a lot through my
experiences with parent-teacher conferences. Conducting 20 or more parentteacher conferences in just a few days is not an easy task. I learned about important
points to bring up during conferences, how to explain a confusing report card to
parents, how to professionally discuss what students need to work on with their
parents, and how to answer difficult questions that parents have. Interacting with
families of students is a very important aspect of being a teacher, and through my
experiences with parent-teacher conferences I was able to build relationships with
the families of my students. I will carry over the skills that I learned from
conferences into my career as a classroom teacher.