Overall I very much enjoyed the Promising Practices Conference. I thought it was awesome that our class as a whole were the only ones sitting all together. I am really happy how close we have all become over the last few months.
The first workshop I went to was called "The 6-16 Continuum and the Programs that Make it Work." There was only Nate, my friend Courtney, myself and a few others who went to this one. There were about 6 speakers who talked about different types of programs on campus open to high school students to prep for whats to come in their educational future. I wasn't very interested in this because it didn't really apply to me considering I'm already in college.
The second workshop I went to was called "Using Open-ended Science/Art Activities to Build Confidence and Competence." The speaker was Bonnie Epstein, and I thought she was fantastic. I wanted to take this one because of the fact that I always had a hard time as a young student to think as science as something "fun", so I thought it would be good to learn some different strategies I might want to use in my classroom some day. She gave me some great games and other types of projects I will definitely keep in mind when I become a teacher myself.
For the most part, I never really found science to be fun. I only enjoyed some of projects we were assigned. Science has always been difficult for me; it is not my strongest subject. Same goes for art, I am horrible at drawing! My teachers never tried to make science exciting, they just lectured us. You want students to be engaged in class, but sometimes lessons need to be fun. Your workshops sounded enjoyable and interesting. Overall, it sound like you had a great time at the Promising Practices Conference. I also believe that our class sitting together as a whole shows how close we have become over the last several months. If no one from our class went, I probably would have had a dull experience. I had such a wonderful time and I hope to see everyone at the conference next year!
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