Sonya May reflects on TAGT 2011

Thank you so much for the scholarship to attend the TAGT conference in Austin.  It was a very inspiring conference, in which I attended a number of wonderful sessions!

A few of my favorite sessions that I attended included Bertie Kingore’s “Tiered Instruction: 35 Ways to Make it Work,” “Web 2.0 in the Gifted Classroom,” “Digital Thinking 3.Know,” and “Best Practices for GT kids in K-2.”

I got so many amazing ideas to use in my classroom and was able to implement many new ideas immediately upon returning to work.

I learned a variety of tiered activities in Dr. Kingore’s session that could be used instantly in my classroom.  I have already used a “thinking triangle” with literature and “math fingers” to help the children not only improve their math skills, but non-verbal communication skills as well.  Dr. Kingore gave us a number of wonderful activities that could be adapted for our classrooms.  In addition, she provided us with several useful websites, some of which I was able to post to my website for student use.  I have already been able to share a number of new ideas with my teammates.

The technology sessions that I attended on Web 2.0 tools provided me with a plethora of ideas for my classroom.  Upon returning to school, I immediately taught my students (and first grade teammates) how to create a wordle on “Tagxedo” as a culmination activity for our study of plants.  It was a great way for the students to process what they had learned in a new and exciting way!

I took a lot of notes throughout the conference and have already shared some of the ideas with co-workers.  I plan to share a lot more of the ideas through a training that I (as well as the other teachers who attended the conference) will provide for the staff at Lakeside.

Feel free to share any of my responses with the CGA community.  Once again, I appreciate you giving me the opportunity to grow as an educator.

Thank you,