March 19, 2024

CSM Educates Educators at Conference

Educators
Maryland Teacher of the Year Joshua Carroll, a teacher with Anne Arundel County Public Schools, shares insights on the importance of teachers building relationships and mentoring during his address at the College of Southern Maryland Teacher Academy of Maryland Conference on Feb. 23 at CSM’s La Plata Campus.

Nearly 325 future educators converged on College of Southern Maryland‘s La Plata Campus for a Teacher Academy of Maryland Conference on Feb. 23, 2018. Students at both the high school and college levels who are considering a career in education were able to learn from and be inspired by current education professionals.

Close to 325 students in the tri-county area who are in the Teacher Academy of Maryland program or in an Educators Rising student club were invited to attend the conference, the first of its kind in the area.

“Teaching is enormously complex, and the conference was a great opportunity for the students to think about what this career might be like for them,” said CSM Teacher Education Program Coordinator professor Elizabeth Settle, who organized the conference. “My goal was to help these future teachers explore some of the topics and issues that educators face, while learning from current professionals in the field. They also had the opportunity to be college students for a day and meet other future teachers from the Southern Maryland area.”

Joshua Carroll, Maryland’s Teacher of the Year, was the event’s keynote speaker. Mr. Carroll, a teacher with Anne Arundel County Public Schools, shared his insights on the importance of teachers building relationships and being mentors.

The conference also featured 27 different presentations given by 33 presenters from the three Southern Maryland school systems, Notre Dame of Maryland University, CSM, the Maryland State Education Association and Anne Arundel County Public Schools. Presentation topics included project-based assessment, different aspects of an individualized education program and how it drives specialized instruction, understanding and instructing the gifted learner, how a teacher can support a student with unique needs (like an English language learner), communicating effectively with parents, and engaging children through movement.

Participants at the conference described some of the different aspects of the conference that were particularly helpful. “I attended three workshops, and walked out of every single one with information that would have taken me weeks to gather by myself,” said Carrie Lovejoy of Newburg, a CSM 2017 alumna working toward a bachelor’s degree with UMUC and then teacher certification. “The presenters were experts in their fields, and the information was invaluable. … The whole day was just amazing.”

“The TAM conference helped me build connections with teachers and professionals in the field that would benefit me when I finish my academic career,” said Ashley McDougall of Mechanicsville, a current CSM student. “That was the chief takeaway — learning new things about my future profession. Relationships that you build now will either elevate you or hinder you, and I plan on making lasting relationships with teachers who I will soon call my co-workers.”

Conference participants were also able to gather information offered in an expo area that included material on CSM’s Towson 2+2 program, CSM admissions, CSM teacher education, St. Mary’s College of Maryland and the Maryland State Education Association.

Two competitions were held during the event— job interview and impromptu speaking —both based on the model of national Educators Rising conferences. The job interview competition rated performance during an interview for a paraprofessional position. In the event, the highest-scoring students in their competition room were Arabelle Kemp and Hope Kaylor, both of St. Mary’s County, and Sakura Wilson and Emily Maljak, both of Charles County.

The impromptu speaking competition gave students 10 minutes to come up with comments about an education issue — in this case, meeting the needs of diverse students — and then deliver their remarks. The students who scored highest in their competition room for this challenge were Ms. Maljak and Nisha Lathrop, both of Charles County, and Anthony Proulx of Calvert County.

Professor Settle said she hopes to make the CSM TAM Conference an annual event.

To view photos from this year’s conference, visit CSM’s photo sharing site.

For information on teacher education programs at CSM, visit CSM’s website.

For more about the College of Southern Maryland, visit its Leader member page.

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