We had a wonderful turnout at the 2013 Fall
Conference. The Keynote Speaker, Dr. Roberta Sejnost, gave a brief overview
of the English/Language Arts Common Core Standards, and then presented a
wealth of practical activities. We had three breakout speakers from which
to choose -- Dr. Sejnost, who gave a vocabulary presentation; Mary Gardner,
who talked about the Common Core in content-area classes; and Nancy
Bonkowski (a former NIRC grant winner,) who presented a unit on Mysteries.
Grant winners included Jennifer Dahlke-Ney from DeKalb and Dylan Teut from
Belvidere. We also heard from Representative Bob Pritchard and DeKalb
County Regional Superintendent Amanda Christensen. We were fortunate, too,
to have Erin Taylor from Wonderland Books and Toys in Rockford and Peggy
Sherman from PS Associates. Several people won raffle prizes, including
books from our sponsor, Walmart, and gift certificates from our vendors. We
hope to see you next year!
