English language arts teachers at Greene County Schools had a presentation during their Wednesday afternoon collaboration time by Scott Slechta, 2016 Iowa Teacher of the Year. His presentation discussed reading strategies that address the core and small group instruction.
Slechta is a 35-year career teacher, now in the Fairfield Community School District. He is also an adjunct professor at Indian Hills Community College. He serves on the Iowa Department of Education’s mentoring and induction advisory committee and is a pioneer member of the teacher leadership initiative He earned his bachelor’s degree at Simpson College and his master’s degree from the University of Northern Iowa.
In his presentation, Slechta involved everyone in a four C’s activity: collaboration, critical thinking, communication and creativity. He stated that students need to know how to do all four C’s to be effective and successful.
Common core rubrics and reflecting on the standards was another part of his presentation. He stressed that the students should constantly reflect on their own learning. This is important so that students start to take ownership of their own learning. It also gives him a chance to see where the students are in their learning and move them forward. Students need to be able to see a connection between the concepts they are learning and the real world. Slechta provided a lot of useful activities teachers can do in their classrooms, district reading specialist Julie Neal said.
