1. Apprenticeship Reflection

Over the course of the past year, I have enjoyed the process of my apprenticeship in Learning Strategies. I have become a better coach (in training) for teachers who are implementing SIM Strategies within my building. I look forward to working with teachers in the future on SIM implementation. We faced some challenges with implementation and how to handle small groups, but were able to work together to find a model that worked best for teachers and students. I also enjoyed having conversations with teachers about additional strategies that can aid students, especially within English classrooms. Teachers were interested in writing strategies and we were able to reflect that within our SIM Plan for the middle school.

I was able to learning new strategies myself that were very successful within my own class, such as with The Self-Advocacy Strategy and Possible Selves. Students responded very well to Possible Selves. I did learn to make adaptations to meet the needs of my students and it worked well. I look forward to being able to discuss how to use these strategies within my Special Education Department and other departments in my school and division.

Attended SIM Update at JMU.

Virtual Zoom call with Helen Barrier and Dana McCaleb for SIM PDLS.

Mentor: Susan Trumbo
School Year 2019-2020

I attended the VaLI at JMU June 18-20, 2019 with Dana McCaleb and Helen Barrier as the SIM PDLs.  I was an apprentice at Luther Porter Jackson Middle School in Surry, Virginia from September 2019 thru June 2020 with Susan Trumbo as my Professional Development Mentor.  Under her tutelage, I have grown as a teacher and as a leader within the school district.  I am comfortable leading professional development and lending a hand to those teachers that may need extra help.  By going through this process, I am much more confident in myself and in my abilities to help my students when teaching the strategies. I also attended a virtual Zoom call on November 4, 2019.

My journey to become a certified SIM PDer began in March 2017 when I received professional learning in the Fundamentals of Paraphrasing and Summarizing and instructed a student at Mary Passage Middle School, in this Learning Strategy. I attended the Virginia Leadership Institute for SIM™ Professional Developers in Learning Strategies in Roanoke, VA, June 26 - 28, 2018. As a SIM PDer Intern I received two additional days of training with SIM PDers on November 6, 2018 and January 30, 2019 to discuss my progress in the badging requirements, determine next steps towards completion of the SIM PDer requirements, and get questions I had regarding the apprenticeship process answered. On January 30, 2019, my fellow Learning Strategies PDer Apprentice and I, with the support of our mentors, discussed answers we had generated based on your discussions at Institute and the required reading we had completed for 15 of the 30 Learning Strategies FAQs.

I attended the SIM Virginia Leadership Institute in Roanoke, VA, from June 26 - 28, 2018. We had two more days during the year (November 6, 2018 and January 30, 2019)on which we met with our SIM PDers and checked in on progress, discussed upcoming steps, and further explored questions arising during our apprenticeships, either from our required readings and/or FAQs. By the time I attended Institute, I had completed 2 Learning Strategies, and since Institute, I have completed two more. At this point, I have completed all the requirements for SIM PDer.