First annual professional development seminar engages students

There was a great turn out for the first Professional Development Seminar held at UW-Oshkosh on April 4th, 2009 in the Nursing/Education building. The Student WEA executive team planned for countless hours to provide this wonderful opportunity to students. As a result of their hard work, the team was able to receive full funding for the event. The registration fees, amounting to over two hundred dollars, from non paid members of the local Student WEA, were generously donated by the team to Outreach to Teach, an event that helps a school receive a makeover within the state.

Students were engaged by Ann Wusterbarth, the keynote speaker, who talked about the notorious first day in a classroom. She stressed the importance of honesty, ownership and respect among both students and their teacher to create a successful, safe and accepting community within the classroom.

The sessions that took place throughout the day were very beneficial to students as they gained new insights on how to engage, motivate and reach the biggest amount of students with a positive impact. Students learned valuable information on bullying and the significance of students, teachers and schools working together to stop the problem. Knowing the culture of students is an important aspect in incorporating English language learners into classrooms. These are just a few examples of the wonderful information that students gained from the speakers that came in from around the state.

After the sessions concluded students who participated in the seminar got the chance to win raffle prizes for their classrooms. There was an overwhelming positive response to the first ever Professional Development Seminar that was provided by the Student WEA executive team.