MSDC Show-Me Professional Development Conference

If you’ve never been to the MSDC: Learning Forward Conference, it’s an experience and sometimes a daunting one. You’re surrounded by the ENTIRE state of Missouri’s RPDCs, multiple graduate schools looking to enroll new students, and various other small business vendors.

But the one thing you can count on is learning. Learning provided by teachers, administrators and instructional coaches from across the state; and the best thing, everyone wanted to share their knowledge and experiences.

Hot off my two hour drive to Columbia, I met an amazing educator, Tabitha Thompson from Camdenton, Missouri. Tabitha had a brilliant session on Mystery Skype. If you don’t know much about Mystery Skype, it’s a group of teachers and students throughout the world who Skype with each other without knowing their geographic location. This type of Skyping requires asking latitude and longitude questions in a yes or no format---which I quickly found out, can be quite difficult. During Ms. Thompson’s session, I and the rest of the group were able to Skype with a group of elementary students from Australia. Of course, being a Social Studies teacher, I began daydreaming about the geography lessons my students could participate in. To my detriment I daydreamed too much and was not prepared for when it was my turn to speak with the students from Australia. Let’s just say, it was an epic failure. I have to say the next day of the conference was the most harrowing. Not only was I presenting to a classroom of 35-40 adults alone, (in the past, I’ve only presented in a group) but I was also going to hear the famed Dr. Harry Wong speak in person. With the assistance of many, Barb Jamison to name a few, the presentation on Infographics seemed to go well. I asked Dr. Chris Templeton, Assistant Superintendent of Reeds River School District and SWRPDC Member, how the session went. Her reply, “well, nobody died”. Thankful my presentation was finished; I was excited to listen to the Conference Keynote speakers: Drs. Harry & Rosemary Wong.  As you may know Dr. Wong and his wife, Dr. Rosemary Wong have authored several books (i.e., The First Days of School, How to be an Effective and Successful Teacher, How to Improve Student Achievement, and their newest book, The Classroom Management Book). To say I was excited to hear them speak was an understatement. Thankfully before the keynote began, I was able to get their autographs and a PHOTOGRAPH!  (I was so excited; I posted the image of myself with the Wong’s on Twitter).  Their message was timeless and it fully energized the ENTIRE room of educators.  I couldn’t have been more privileged to hear the duo live. On the last day, I was able see one last presentation before the end of the conference. This session was on using apps as formative assessments. The presenter discussed Kahoot and Plickers. Kahoot, if you’re unfamiliar, is a web-based program which allows teachers to create multiple choice questions for students to use their devices to answer questions.  Plickers, a free app, allows you to use “Mindcraft”ish shapes to answer questions. Students turn the placards certain directions to indicate their response to a question. (It’s recommended the shapes are printed on white, cardstock devoid of lamination). The teacher uses their device to scan the room and results are then posted after each question. Both methods allow teachers to guide their instruction through formative assessment. To say this year’s MSDC: Learning Forward Conference was a success, isn’t an exaggeration. I had the opportunity of meeting Drs. Harry & Rosemary Wong, visit with other educators throughout the state, present about a topic I’m passionate, and learn new exciting things to add to my teacher toolbox.