Swimming Through The Year With MissThresher: My Ron Clark Academy Visit

I mentioned on my last blog post that my blogging may not be regular but I will do it when I feel I have something to say or I want to relax and feel happy.

Today is one of those days! I am so pumped full of teaching energy at the moment!

I am also stressing out majorly as I am not in Australia at the moment meaning I can’t set up my classroom or go buy resources etc and it’s getting close to the start of school!

BUT I am doing some pretty incredible once in a life time teaching stuff over here!

I have always been excited by the look of GYTO (Get Your Teach On) whenever it came up in my Instagram feed I would wish I could go!

Mid last year I was calculating how many weeks left the construction of me first home was going to take and through my calculations I realised it was not going to be completed by January as I had hoped but rather later.

When I saw GYTO was going to New Orleans I was very tempted because out of all the places in USA, New Orleans was on my bucket list.

Then when I looked at a map I realised it would be feasible to not only go to New Orleans but also go to Orlando Florida where I could go to Universal Studios for HARRY POTTER!!!

Things were becoming more tempting!!!

Next, I found out that you could attend the Ron Clark Academy for a PD session and there was one going to be help around the same time as GYTO!!

At this point I began researching but I knew it was going to be costly so I was still undecided…

BUT then… Hope and Wade King announced that they were releasing a book and that the release party was going to be on the first night of GYTO!!

Well I think that clearly it was a sign and as I said I thought this was a once in a lifetime event!

So I committed!

I flew over from Australia to the US!

I am currently sitting in my bed at a hotel in New Orleans…just wait there for a second ….sorry there was a parade going past – isn’t New Orleans just like one of the coolest cities ever?!?!?

Anyway as I said I am currently sitting in my bed (partly because I just need a low key night after jumping states every three days through the US) and I thought I would share part of my educational journey so far!

Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending the Ron Clark Academy in Atlanta!

Now I had heard it was life changing and amazing from many people before so I had REALLY high expectations going in. Yet despite all this it still surprised me!

I think I went in expecting to see these ‘perfect’ lessons where kids were dancing, singing and the room was transformed but the reality I got was all that more empowering.

I saw day to day teaching in those classrooms, not just a ‘one day’ show lesson! They were not all super fancy but they were real and I loved that so much more! Everything I saw was easy to implement and apply in my classroom with practise and as long as I am dedicated.

My favourite part of the visit was not the teachers at all though (was actually a big surprise) but rather the young adults themselves and the way they spoke and carried themselves. They were speaking like grown adults (some adults don’t even speak in this manner) using complex language and displaying a reflective attitude.

It made me reflect on my students and how even though they are little kids and I want them to have the chance to still be kids, they are also very capable of displaying a high level of manners and behaviour.

I also felt that by attending this PD it validated my opinion of what I was doing in the classroom. Many of the practises I saw were similar things I knew I was doing so that was affirming to see that these sorts of methods are working and I should continue to focus on this within my own classroom.

If you ever get a chance I highly recommend going! I have now well and truly drunk the cool-aid and will say it is a life changing!