The initial three days of my professional learning to become a SIM Professional Developer took place June 18-20, 2019 at James Madison University as part of VALI. I participated in two additional virtual learning experiences. These were held on November 7, 2019 and January 29, 2020. The SIM Professional Developers for all five days were Helen Barrier and Dana McCaleb.
All five days were extremely useful in helping me to understand how to better provide professional development centered upon SIM. Furthermore, it reinforced the ideas of integrating the Partnership Principles and Learning Structures in to professional development, especially for adult learning. Lastly, I really like how we were able to explore how SIM helps with content literacy in just more than the traditional view of literacy (meaning reading in ELA/LA classes). For me, this is key and something to always incorporate in professional development and learning, because it is necessary in helping to understand how to help students become literate in all content areas.
All five days were extremely useful in helping me to understand how to better provide professional development centered upon SIM. Furthermore, it reinforced the ideas of integrating the Partnership Principles and Learning Structures in to professional development, especially for adult learning. Lastly, I really like how we were able to explore how SIM helps with content literacy in just more than the traditional view of literacy (meaning reading in ELA/LA classes). For me, this is key and something to always incorporate in professional development and learning, because it is necessary in helping to understand how to help students become literate in all content areas.