My Visit to the Ron Clark Academy

I had the great privilege of being able to attend the Ron Clark Academy in October, and I must say it was hands down the BEST professional development training I have ever been to!

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I have been a fan of Ron Clark since I read his book The Essential 55: An Award-Winning Educator's Rules For Discovering the Successful Student in Every Child. 

It has been on my bucket list to go to the RCA Academy for their teacher training experience for almost just as long.  You can imagine my excitement when my principal started making plans for herself and several teachers to make the trip. Even more exciting was the day that she sent the email with this:

While I was there I posted several pictures to my Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and since then I have received many questions about the experience. 

 I plan on posting a series of blog posts sharing not only some of my experiences from the training, but also, some ways that I have used what I have learned in my own classroom.  I will post a link to all of the posts as I write them here for easy reference.

Questions I have been asked:

1. Which type of session did you attend, the one day or two day session?

The Ron Clark Academy offers a one day session and a two day session.  You can find the dates of both types of upcoming sessions here.

I was lucky enough to be able to attend a 2 day session.  We experienced so much during these two days, I can't imagine how they would squeeze it into 1 day!  

I would highly recommend going to a 2 day session if you attend, but I know that it depends on your time and travel budgets. 

2. Do they actually provide training sessions or do you just observe classrooms?

The experience provides a mix of both, which is amazing!  You attend some sessions with the instructors where they provide professional development, and then you get to see them in action as you observe actual classes with students.

3. Did Ron Clark provide any of the training and is he as amazing in person?

Yes and yes! Not only does Ron Clark provide several sessions, you get to peek into his classroom and even experience what his students do which is quite a treat!  You can get just a little taste of it in this video below: 

4. If I attend the training, what should I wear?

People wore a variety of different types of clothing from business casual to jeans and school t-shirts.  No matter what you wear, you will most likely be comfortable.  I would suggest wearing pants on the day that you get slide certified!

5. What if my school won't pay for me to attend? 

This experience is so worth it!  If you can't get your school to pay for it, I would figure out how to set aside some extra money each month to get there. You might ask friends or relatives to donate in lieu of gifts for your birthday or Christmas.  You can also apply to Donor's Choose for professional development  including this opportunity.

6. The Ron Clark Academy is a private school, can I really use their methods in my own classroom?

Yes!  Although you may not have slide in your classroom, you absolutely can do things a little differently and bring the RCA strategies into your classroom!

I have been using some of these strategies in my classroom since October and both my students and myself have benefited from them!  I can't wait to share them with you!

Ron Clark Academy Inspired Posts

• The Essential 55 - My First Step to Implementing Practices I Learned at the Ron Clark Academy            
• Teaching School-Wide Behavior Expectations

You can also find some additional Ron Clark Academy style ideas I have found pinned on my Ron Clark Academy Pinterest Board.

More Questions?

If you have additional questions I haven't answered yet, feel free to leave them in the comments below and I will answer them as soon as I can!