MUSD colleagues learn best practices from colleagues at second annual C2C conference

Weller Elementary School teacher Peter Salazar, above left, details his Growth Mindset lesson Oct. 9 during the second annual C2C conference at Pomeroy Elementary School.

Twenty-eight teacher presenters shared their best practices with dozens of their Milpitas Unified School District’s colleagues at the second annual C2C conference, held October 8 at Marshall Pomeroy Elementary School.

“We want to be the first professional development school district, where teachers from other districts come to Milpitas to learn how to deliver high-quality instruction,” said Norma Rodriguez, MUSD’s Assistant Superintendent of Learning & Development.

Each of the 28 presenters, up from eight in C2C’s inaugural conference, set up shop in classrooms throughout the Pomeroy campus. Teachers from each MUSD site were able to stop in and listen to a 10-minute presentation on various approaches to instruction.

“These are all MUSD employees who have come to share best practices,” Rodriguez added. “It is challenging to present best practices and skills to colleagues. It takes courage to do that.”

Some presented as individuals such as Christina Ojeda, a Resource Specialist at Weller Elementary School, who showcased “Math Fluency Games” in which she has students roll dice or draw from a deck of cards. Ojeda provided a game bag to any teachers who came to watch her presentation.

Detailing his “Growth Mindset to Dreams” lesson, which centers around the children’s book “Catching the Moon,” was Weller teacher Peter Salazar. The story follows the life of Marcenia Lyle Stone, who fulfills her childhood dream and becomes one of the first women to play professional baseball.

“We get to know most of our students through testing and data. But that really doesn’t allow us to get to know who they are as a person,” Salazar explained. “This exercise helps us to get to know our students better by finding out what their dreams are.”

Other presenters teamed up like Rose Elementary instructors Ashley Grilli and Peggy Bowen, who offered insight into Botball-Robotics coding and programming; and Weller teachers Juhi Sharma and Gerald Kervin, who detailed how students navigate through the Summit Learning Platform.

Colleagues who also presented at C2C were: Krista Davis (Guided Reading Groups); Debbie Salcedo (Grant Writing); Wendy Lundeen and Jenny Katzen (Technology & Coding); Ken Chiu (Change the Path-Math Prep); Jackie Do (Building Relationships with Families); Samantha Brasil, Naomi Newstrom and Sonia Hingrajia (Number Talks & Math Tasks); Corinne Fedalizo and Kathryn Hutchinson (Teaching Tolerance Resource for Teaching Social Justice Standards); Sappho Chow and Lynn Lafayette (5E Inquiry Lesson); Amanda Montoro (Literacy in Content Areas); McKenzie Macdonald (Integrating Engineering Practices); Vanessa Lorenzana and Lynn Tran (SEAL); Ashley DeOliveira and Jennifer Bick (SEAL Mini Units); Quyen Han and Meera Ramchanfdran (Science Summit Learning); and Snemer Anand (Next Generation Science Standards).

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Weller Elementary School teachers Juhi Sharma and Gerald Kervin detail the Summit Learning Platform Oct. 9 during the second annual C2C conference at Pomeroy Elementary School.