Professional Growth
Teacher Leadership Insitute Conference
Participating Members:
Haley Stonebraker
Cameron Collins
Courtney Cambal
Emily Monahan
Abby McCracken
Melissa Crookston
Lucas Ali
Rowan Alexander
Kendra Moxon
Luke Falbo
Leta Cirgliano
Maura Carr
Brooke Barnot
Kayla Fencil
Mackenzie Schropp
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Katelyn Zanotti
John Kerlicker
Brandon Cross
Sweta Patel
Courtney Francia
Connor Lane
Alexa Fetterman
Allie Grimm
Aubrey Mollenaur
Felicia Yocolano
Stephen Aulerich
Danielle Wolff
Carly Franks
Kristin Rhodes
Joseph Bolla
Miranda Anker
Natalie Sarnese
Jaden Difillippo
Kelsey Butler
Nicola Queer
Matti Tyskewicz
Alex Poellnitz
Matthew Grayo
Lydia Myers
Emily Shelley
Olivia Senay
During the fall SPSEA Executive Board Meeting, Dr. Chris Clayton, SPSEA Guru Extraordinaire, pushed every region to have a conference. The Southwest Region accepted this challenge and the Teacher Leadership Institute was born. In addition to the Southwest Region being invited, high school students interested in becoming teachers were also invited at a discounted price.
Although a regional event, it was held at Pitt-Greensburg with Pitt-Greensburg students making up the majority of people on the planning committee.
Depression: More than Sad
Participating Members:
Colleen Murphy
Kaylee White
Leta Cirigliano
Katelyn Zanotti
Haley Stonebraker
Summer Lash
Matthew Grayo
Carly Franks
Jenny Espinosa
Cameron Collins
Courtney Cambal
Natalie Sarnese
Emily Monahan
Molly Staszak
Abby Bechtell
Luke Falbo
Jay Grubb
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In conjunction with a consortium of local schools, Pitt-Greensburg SPSEA participates in three to four workshops held on our campus each year. These workshops are geared towards teachers, parents whose children have disabilities, and preservice teachers. The first of these, held on September 19, was titled "Depression: More than Sad" and focused on depression and suicide. It is important to recognize what depression is and how serious it can be for our students. Jennifer Sikora, from the American Foundation to Prevent Suicide, was the presenter.
Google Classroom Workshop
Participating Members:
Luke Falbo
Kendra Moxon
Randall Duke
Sweta Patel
Conner Lane
Lindsey Wittkeopp
Carly Franks
Mioni Robb
Angela Schwartz
On November 8, 2018, Sarah Brainard, an English teacher at Jeannette High School and a former Pitt-Greensburg SPSEA member, presented a workshop on Google Classroom and its uses for teachers. This hour-long workshop showed us how useful Google Classroom can be for not only communicating work assignments, but also for collecting student work, promoting collaboration, and simplifying classroom presentations.
Slippery Rock State Conference
Participating Members:
Lucas Ali
Luke Falbo
Cameron Collins
Rowan Alexander
Summer Lash
Nicola Queer
Maura Carr
Our student members LOVE going places together: out to dinner, to class, to study -- and to professional development activities! Our members left really early on a Saturday morning to join with SPSEA members from all over western Pennsylvania to attend the conference at Slippery Rock. Tons of fun and learning was to be had by all!
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SPSEA Annual State Conference 2018
Participating Members:
In April 2018, Pitt-Greensburg sent a delegation of about 15 people to the State conference, including freshmen and seniors. (We also had a few graduates on the panel of "new teachers"!) While there, members got to experience a wide array of professional development sessions and meet many SPSEA members from across the state. This is always a great opportunity for our members to learn more about education. We were inspired to return to our campus and have an "Arm me with" campaign of our own!
Carly Franks
Rowan Alexander
Nick Papson
Ashley Brantley
Brittani Malik
Allison Popelas
Lindsey Wittkopp
Luke Falbo
Lucas Ali
Kendra Moxon
Lucinda Wracher
Jessica Williams
Amanda Stein
Randy Duke
Mauricio Trejo-Garcia
New Teacher Workshop
Participating Members:
Jessica Williams
Leta Cirigliano
Emily Shelley
Shannon Speed
Allison Popelas
Kristin Rhodes
Tori Ventrosco
Conner Lane
Sweta Patel
Deja Peterson
Angela Malone
Mioni Robb
Cameron Collins
Haley Stonebraker
Melissa Crookston
Peyton Clark
Matti Tyskewicz
Mina Waldron
Tiffany DeMartino
Allie Grimm
Alexi Fetterman
Lydia Myers
Sarah Raptosh
On January 24, 2019, four practicing teachers (and prior SPSEA members!) came to talk about what they wished they knew prior to going into their own classrooms and what challenges they faced. The four teachers were: John Carlisle, AP History teacher at Penn Trafford; Thomas Trapp, social studies teacher at a charter school for non-traditional students; Corey Funk, a fourth grade teacher at Metzger Elementary; and Rebecca Nannini, a long-term substitute at a nearby elementary school.
Social Media Workshop
Participating Members:
Mioni Robb
Leta Cirigliano
Melissa Crookston
Abby McCracken
Rowan Alexander
Alyssa Sadler
Lucas Ali
Kaylee White
Alex Poellnitz
Arianna Seger
Lindsay Beach
Mackenzie Schropp
Brooke Barnot
Maura Carr
Kendra Moxon
For this workshop, Caroline Smith, the Marketing Content Coordinator at Pitt-Greensburg, introduced us to the pitfalls and perils of social media. She explained that anything and everything on our social media (including facebook, instagram, twitter, snapchat, and tinder) could be viewed for aspects of morality and viewed in light of us being teachers. We were advised to post as if our grandmothers could see it.
Behavioral & Emotional Needs Workshop
Participating Members:
Kendra Moxon
Lindsey Wittkopp
Lucas Ali
Luke Falbo
Kelsey Butler
Emily Monahan
On February 13, 2019, Pitt-Greensburg SPSEA in conjunction with the aforementioned school consortium held the second of our parent-teacher-preservice teacher workshops. This one was titled "Considerations and Strategies for Supporting Students with Behavioral and Emotional Needs." It was presented by Kelly Heitechue of the Westmoreland Intermediate Unit's Training and Consultation for Behavior and Autism Intiative.
“Students don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”
Anonymous