Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/498229
O V E R 1 , 5 0 0 M E M B E R S A T T E N D E D the CTA Good Teaching Conference South in San Diego March 20-22, taking advantage of one of CTA's most popular events and the opportunity to learn and share ideas with colleagues from all over the state. In addition to over 75 session top- ics to choose from, a well-attended full-day pre-conference session on Common Core focused on issues that carried over throughout much of the rest of the weekend. We caught up with three attendees to see what they were getting out of the conference. by Frank Wells GOOD TEACHING SOUTH M e m b e r r e c o m m e n d e d : Andrea Wooldridge, Teachers Association of Norwalk-La Mirada: "This is my first time attending and I think it's fantastic. My site rep encouraged me to apply [for a CTA incentive grant] and I'm so glad I did. I'm a special day class teacher for grades 1-3. I attended a session on making books that included hands- on stuff that kids with special needs would get a lot out of. I also attended a session on writing opinion pieces, which is something our kids are doing. Students with special needs are doing Common Core, just like other students, so we need to learn as many strategies to help them as we can. I'm really impressed with the professional- ism of this conference." Jerry Caneta, Kern County Education Association: "I came this time for the full-day Common Core workshop because our members have so many questions. Let me tell you, the session didn't disappoint. I came away with answers that I'm already sharing on Facebook. Our district — the county office — had two in-services last year and they were pretty repetitive and not very practical, just the history of Common Core, that kind of thing. That's fine for background, but teachers need to know what it really looks like and what we need to do to be prepared and make it work. CTA is really on the ball with that kind of training." Callie Neal, Riverside City Teachers Association: "I teach high school English and am looking forward to a session on applying critical think- ing in Common Core. I attended one on getting kids moving in class, activities that break up monotony and get kids active and re-engaged in the subject matter. I find it really helpful and have used similar strategies in my own classes, taking kids outside to read and act out Shake- speare, for example. This is a great conference and I wish more teachers could come!" CTA Incentive Grants provide funds for members to attend CTA professional development events and statewide confer- ences. Get application informa- tion at cta.org/conferences. Go Online @ CTA & You Conferences 51 V O L U M E 1 9 I S S U E 8