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Reflections on 2017 AMLE

By Anonymous
The conference was filled with lots of great information and every session provided insights and snippets to utilize in the classroom. Here are a few of the highlights.  The Watershed project celebrated 30 years of a program that has had a significant impact on the learning and lives of many students.  A fully integrated program this took and continues to take a lot of buy in from all of the stakeholders. The Kinesthetic Classroom provided tons of tips interspersed with facts as to how best to keep students focused and acquiring knowledge throughout instruction. The session was lively, interactive and fun and he provided a great handout (I've printed it if anyone would like a copy).  I was disappointed by two of the sessions because it was nothing new nor was the information presented in a way that was useful. Having just had an inservice with the Mazzoni Center the program out of Arizona sounds great, but the delivery did not showcase this as I had expected. One on a girls group was interesting, but neither relevant or realistic and was more an advertisement for an inservice. Many of her activities were merely culled from drama games and easily pulled from any theater source. Then there is Debbie Silver! Her sessions were lively, informative and humorous. The facts she showcases support everything she talks about and every session is totally different from the last. There are handouts from each of her sessions and I will happily make a copy if you would like one.  

 Our presentations went very well and we were able to network with teachers and administrators from California, Chicago, Philadelphia, New Jersey, Texas, etc. The sessions were lively and interactive with all thrilled by our STEAM booklet. Each participant asked to stay in touch and provided their emails addresses and some may even come to visit Patton!
**If you did not attend and want to check her out go to debbiesilver.com. The password is iamateacher.  One real highlight is that she took a copy of the STEAM activity booklet Kim and I created. She emailed the next day to say she had read it on the plane home and thought it was a wonderful resource and one she can use. It was a great way to end a very productive few days!

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