I recently had the pleasure of working with a group of fifth and sixth grade teachers to deliver a workshop on Literature Circles.  Below you will find some of the information I shared during the workshop.

The PowerPoint…

Some of the Handouts…

The material includes: Literature Circle overview handouts, label templates for role and question cards (print on regular address labels 3 across and 10 down), role posters, role worksheets. The embedded file does not appear to be showing each page appropriately, but if you download the file from Slideshare it does download intact.

Literature Circle Materials (pdf file) – Overview handouts, Role Sticker Templates, Discussion Sticker Templates, Role Posters, Role Worksheets

I’ve been busy getting ready for a para-professional workshop the last couple of weeks…no time for blogging! Originally, I had hoped to present a Web 2.0 workshop…a topic that is near and dear to my heart. If you have read my blog for a while, you can probably imagine my initial disappointment when I learned that I had been selected to develop and present the Para-Professional workshop. Yet, once I got past that initial disappointment I realized I was the perfect person to present on the topic since my career journey in education began in the paraprofessional realm.

Yes, I was a teacher assistant for seven years before I made the leap to return to school and become a teacher/administrator. My husband and I smile as we look back on the mid-life journey I took. He laughs as he relates that it took many years to convince me that I should go back to college and it only took five years for me to catch up with three degrees under my belt (and an empty wallet to show for it). All kidding aside, I vowed that I would try to make the workshop upbeat and meaningful for all who attended, though I was somewhat confined to the topic outline I was given.

I have embedded a copy of my PowerPoint…it is missing the music, activities, and stories we shared as a group, but perhaps you will find it useful if you have an opportunity to work with Paraeducators in your school. I have also embedded some of the handouts I developed for the workshop.

Today I spent a great day facilitating and working with our regional Math 5/6 PLC teachers. Some great sharing and professional discussions took place during out time together. I thought you might enjoy the energizing activity we started our morning with…

Truthfully, I can’t find the original site that inspired the PowerPoint activity, but the following blog post does go into a bit more detail… Inspirado: Numerology – What Your Birth Date Reveals About You! If you use the birthday personality PowerPoint with your students remind them that these types of activities are all in fun! Members of our PLC agreed that the activity was a quick, fun way to incorporate some basic math skills and the student data could be used to introduce or revisit simple data analysis and graphing skills.