Confratute Ends-But For Austin Elem, the fun just begins!!

One last look at UCONN as our bus begins our trek back home..

Last night as the plane landed, I looked outside the window and listened to the excitement in the cabin of the plane. Slowly, a roll thunder could be heard. People were clapping and singing praises to be back home!! Yes, we had just experienced the best educational conference in the world!! We all had survived a week of living in the dorms!! Brought back fun memories for some and others reminisced about how hectic dorm life could be!

Although I was tired to the deepest part of my bones, my soul has been filled with an elixir of excitement for new opportunities for our students and staff!! We were immersed in a great week of learning, self reflection and collaboration with the finest instructors in the field of gifted education. Yet, these well known scholars, who are THE experts in their field, were humble, caring individuals who wanted nothing more than the success of ALL children.

I was then given the tools I was looking for to make this work in the classroom. SEM-R is one of the afternoon week long strands that I attended. This method of reading instruction is just what this teacher was looking for. I had spent the first part of my summer tweaking my writing workshop yearly plans and was excited about the upcoming year. But, I still was looking for the WOW for reading. And then comes Confratute, SEM-R!! I now have what I need to go in and share my love of reading with my students, while meeting them where they are, meeting the individual needs of ALL students, helping them become independent readers who love to read and know the joy that reading can bring to our lives!!

So, where do we go from here Austin Elementary? Your SEM (School Enrichment Model) team is truly excited about what we learned this week!! We can not wait to see each and everyone one of you and share with you what we have learned!!

My hope is that we are able to help you feel the excitement, taste the elixir of the joy of learning that we tasted and have your soul renewed (as mine has been) and that 2010-2011 becomes our best year ever for our students and ourselves!!

Once again, I would like to thank the Coppell Gifted Association for funding this opportunity for me. I am truly thankful!! I look forward to sharing with you what I learned this week!! You are invited to come see what this looks like in my classroom this year! I would love for you to come visit!!