Powerful TED Talk on Teaching

Great things at Greenwood!

*Big thanks to Caralyn McDaniel for these pictures and information about the great things going on at the Greenwood Elementary School Library! 

Greenwood Elementary students are enjoying their reading tent! GES students voted on for a camping and outdoor theme for the library last year. They can earn special, individual time in the reading tent as a reward from their classroom teacher for good conduct, helping out, and the like. Each semester, I send out an e-mail with reading tent "tickets" for the teachers to send with the student. It can be used anytime during open check-out time...essentially whenever a class isn't meeting in the library.

eLearning Opportunities

Alabama has developed a wonderful system for online PD. eLearning for Educators is a web-based system in which teachers can sign up for courses using STIPD, then participate in 6-week online courses that offer up to 30 hours of professional development. It also meshes nicely with Educate Alabama, so when you are determining your areas of growth for the year, try an eLearning course. 

There are courses offered on everything from "Teaching Students to Think Critically" to "Internet Safety in Schools." I took a course earlier this year on meeting the needs of English Learners in the classroom. I really enjoyed the format because the professor presented the class with our assignments from the first day, and we had complete freedom in completing each task whenever it was convenient for us. For me, sometimes that was at 2:00 in the morning; others, it was during my planning time. Flexibility is the greatest asset of learning in the 21st century, and that goes for professional learning as well! 

If you have any questions about these eLearning courses, please let me know.