MTSS Symposium

I had the opportunity to go to the conference last Thursday and Friday. Wow. The sessions that I attended were very informative and refreshing. Sometimes it's nice to hear the experts talk and realize, ok I am doing something right (and then also realize, oh I was so far off!). I went to a session with Anita Archer on explicit instruction and it just helped cement the idea that we have to model, model, model what we are wanting from the kids. She is not only an expert in her content but she is a great presenter as well. I only attended one session that was a little difficult to attend to because we had to sit for the entire 1.5 hours without any breaks or time to talk to a neighbor about how we would use the information given in our classroom. That just reminded me that if it is hard for an adult to sit and listen it is even more difficult for our students to sit and stay focused without having any brain breaks or time to talk about what they are learning. I especially enjoyed the session with Randy Sprick. His focus is on behavior and he had some great tips on how to collect data on behaviors that we are hoping to help change for the better. Just wanted to share my thoughts on this great conference and to let educators know that if they have the chance to go that it would be very beneficial.