Five for Friday: WBT Conference & New Orleans


My week was spent in Louisiana - or maybe I should say the car to be more accurate. ;)  I left early Sunday morning with a few of my best teacher friends and we set out for a 12+hour drive for the Whole Brain Teaching Conference.

1) On The Road

We spent hours and hours and HOURS in the car this week.  A BIG thanks to Mr. Madden for burning us CDs for the long trip!  The other girls may be just a bit tired of Maroon 5, Bruno Mars, and Flo Rida....just sayin'! :)

We traveled through South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana....all to end up in a little town called Pineville, LA!

2) Welcome to Pineville

Oh, Pineville!  We stayed at The Country Inn, which was also where "Coach B" and most of the others from the WBT Conference were staying.  It was quaint and everyone we ran into was sooooo nice!
These are some "yarn bombings" we saw in downtown Alexandria....so cute!

3) The Conference

Each day we met as a whole group in the mornings and then had grade-level specific "break-out" sessions.
{Susannah (left) and I (right) waiting on the conference to begin!}
 
We were pumped and set for Day 1 - All About Classroom Management!  We'll be teaching a Whole Brain Workshop later this summer for some teachers in our district, so I'll post more about it when we have prepared for that!  Basically, on Day 1 we learned all about "The Big 7" {the scoreboard, teach/okay, class/yes, mirror, the five rules, hands & eyes, and switch}- and in fact, Jennifer and I created our own way to remember "The Big 7" that we think is much more effective {at least to us!}  I'll share that soon, too!

Day 2 focused on Lesson Delivery and Day 3 was all about Writing.  The conference was very informative, especially for those new to WBT.  The conference was actually "WBT in action"...everything that was taught was mirrored and then taught to your neighbor - very high energy!

I can't wait to take the WBT strategies back to my school/district and show others how they work in my classroom!  And, I can't wait to try even more components in my classroom this upcoming year.
 
I'm not sure how we got lost so much in such a small town, but we seemed to constantly be going in circles all week long, so it was ironic that we ended up in the middle of "shutter island" trying to get out of there...we were just joking about it looking like Shutter Island and then as we were finally leaving it, we saw the Mental Institution sign so I had to snap a picture out of the back window! 

4) New Orleans

After 3 days of intense workshop, we were ready to drive on down to New Orleans!  We were super excited to visit NO for the first time.  We stayed at The Royal Sonesta which was right on Bourbon Street.  It was the PERFECT place to stay!

We had lunch at Saints and Sinners, which just so happens to be Channing Tatum's bar.  Unfortunately, we missed him by a couple of days, but the waiter said he is unbelievably nice to hang with! ;)
This girl does not eat seafood so New Orleans cuisine isn't really my thing.  I had a nice grilled chicken sandwich - the food was better than we expected it to be.
Can you tell which is which??  Hahaha!

Later that night, we headed to Jackson Square.  It was beautiful. 
After relaxing a bit at the hotel, we freshened up and headed back out for dinner and fun!
{Me (left) and Kristen (right) posing with the statue}

We ate at Muriels....wouldn't be back on my list, but remember that I'm not a New Orleans cuisine girl...
...and tried a couple of dueling piano bars.  I L-O-V-E dueling piano bars and am so stinkin' happy that we have one opening up in our town this summer!!!!

We fell in love with the tray guy at Pat O'Briens....and he fell in love with my friend, Susannah! ;)

We also fell in love with the town of New Orleans.  Being from South Carolina, it was like the perfect mix of Charleston and the Myrtle Beach strip!!!  So much to see and do....and not all of it was good!  The BEST people-watching EVER!!
This may be the only "strange" picture that is appropriate to post on my blog, but trust me there were MANY strange moments.  I kind of love Bourbon Street!!!!

After a great night of sleep at The Royal Sonesta....
 ...we were up early for beignets at Cafe du Monde.  DELICIOUS!!
I certainly hope to make it back to New Orleans again in the future!

5) Giveaway & Freebie

Don't forget that you can enter my "Amanda's Favorites Giveaway" this week to be one of SIX winners for some great prizes!  Remember, you can enter DAILY using the "share" option!!

And, you can also pick up our WEEK 4 FREEBIE still in our Teacher's Clubhouse 6th Birthday celebration!
{Click Above to Download - Types of Writing Signs Pack - Correlate to Patricia Polacco Books!}


13 comments

  1. Wow! Your week was sooooo much more fun than mine:) Thanks for the freebie!

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  2. Congrats on your 1 year blogiversary! Ive been blogging for a year yoo but sm not close to your # of followers! I live wbt. I primarily used class-yes, mirror and hands and eyes. Id love to hear more about the other wbt tips you learned.
    Jessica

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  3. After reading this I want to go to New Orleans...sounds like a blast! Thanks for the freebie!
    Kheila
    Two Friends In First

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  4. Yay! I'm so anxious to hear more about your WBT Conference. I have been reading about it SO much on everyone's blogs and decided to order the book. I just ordered it yesterday and have been watching SEVERAL videos. I hope to try to implement some of it into my room this year but only bits and pieces. I'd love to attend a conference and learn tons more! Do they have conferences all over, do you know?

    -Allison
    Adventures in Room 204

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  5. I wanted to go to this conference so bad, but with a 1 year around I just couldn't. I plan on attending this session (actually all of your sessions) during Summer Academy. I started WBT in my classroom last year, but all of my knowledge came from You Tube videos. I can't wait to see what you present!

    Congratulations on one year!! :-)

    Jeannie
    The 2nd Grade Surprise

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  6. Looks like so much fun! My class went to New Orleans for a few days on our Senior Trip & I loved it! Bourbon Street is so fun!

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  7. I joined up wit the WBT book study this summer to learn more about it. I can't wait to see what you have planned for your district training! I'm sure it will be great!
    Nicole
    Teaching With Style
    Whole Brain Teaching With Style

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  8. Looks and sounds like you guys had a great time. I am jealous. Thanks for sharing and can't wait to read all about the WBT conference.
    Tammy

    Mrs. Flickinger's Butterfly Oasis

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  9. Can't wait to hear more about the WBT conference! I love using it, but I don't always use it to its full extent. I think I could do a lot more if I did. =)

    Laura
    Kinder Kraziness

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  10. So jealous of your trip to Cafe Du Monde! I lived near New Orleans for years, and that's the only cuisine I miss from there(not a spicy or seafood fan). How funny that you stayed in Pineville! That's where my uncle lives!

    Don't Let the Teacher Stay Up Late

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  11. yay! Welcome back to the real world! NO looks amazing and I do NOT eat seafood either. Hmmm, maybe I could lose weight if they did not serve fries!
    Rachel

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  12. Looks like it was a lot of fun!!! I didn't know that Channing had a bar. I look forward to reading more posts about WBT.

    April
    Wolfelicious

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  13. Your trip looked like it was fun! Can't wait to hear more about WBT. I did a few attention getters last year and it worked so well.

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