Boothbay "Final" Reflections

I never had a chance to do a comprehensive, concluding thoughts about the Boothbay Literacy Retreat on my blog. Right now I will be logging off my computer soon so that I can gather what I need for summer school tomorrow and get to bed, so I know that I will not be able to do the retreat justice. The reason why the title says "Final" is because while this is my last official retreat post, I know that the ideas will be at the forefront of my mind for quite some time.

There is always a lot of ideas and thoughts to absorb and reflect upon in professional development opportunities like this, so I was thankful that I decided to earn college credits based on my learnings from the retreat as an independent study. It helped me to go back through my notes and synthesize my learning, reflecting on what I want to implement at the start of the year, as well as other ideas that I will continue to mull over.

All of the presenters complemented each other nicely, each bringing their unique assets. It was fun to see the personalities of authors whose books I had read and from whom I had learned so much.

The most immediate learnings from the retreat were I absolutely loved ideas that Robert Probst and Kylene Beers shared called Notice and Notes. While they were able to give us an overview, I am very excited to see their forthcoming project from Heinemann early next year. I could instantly see how it would fit perfectly into my reader's workshop, and I am also going to talk to the Reading Support TOSA at my school about it because we share some students in common. I will be posting more about this as I get started, and when the materials are released.

I also loved Story Bird, which I posted about recently. I will use it for sure in my classroom, but I also thought about how fun it would be to use with my girls (ages 4 and 7). They can choose pictures and I can write down their words to accompany their thoughts. This will be so much fun. It made me think about the potential for Story Bird in the younger grades as a center. I can't wait to see my students embedding their Story Bird stories into their own blogs, and I will probably embed my daughters into my personal blog to share with family. So many possibilities...

The retreat left me feeling energized as a writer. This summer I have been trying to utilize my writer's notebook more, and the retreat provided me with thoughts to jot down in my notebook. I have been reading Penny Kittle's Public Teaching every time I have a little bit of extra time here and there. It continues to inspire me.

Those were a few of the big ideas that struck me from the retreat. It was definitely worthwhile, and I wish that I was lucky enough to be able to go every year. However, it was also a financial sacrifice to go, so I know that won't be realistic. I think my husband and girls deserve a family vacation next, rather than me going somewhere on my own. Nonetheless, even if I only get to go once, it will impact me for many years to come. And if I do have an opportunity to go again? I will jump at the chance!