My First Professional Conference

Yesterday, I attended my first professional conference, organized by The Kansas Association of Teachers of English (KATE) and it was refreshing to say the least. There were several presentations to choose from, in fact, I wished I had time to see all of them. I can honestly say I learned something valuable from every presenter and can’t wait to apply that knowledge in the classroom. I also plan to share some exciting ideas and lesson plans with my cooperating teacher.

            Most inspiring speaker: Curtis Chandler, KS Teacher of the Year- I’ve dreamt about one day earning this title, so I knew this was one session I did not want to miss! What does it take to earn this title? For starters-ENERGY! And this guy was full of it…energy that is. He is full of ideas on how to connect students’ interest to the standards of reading and writing. Also, he is working hard to incorporate science principles into his Language Arts classroom of eighth graders. He said when you walk into a science classroom, you can tell students enjoy the hands-on activities and enjoy testing theories; so, he incorporates those principles in his classroom. Curtis Chandler also says he is not afraid to dress up- in fact, he was dressed in a flight suit, complete with a homemade helmet for his presentation. I love this idea-spice things up and make learning fun! I also noticed he has students repeat key ideas or words with a small action to go with it. I imagine this helps students who might be daydreaming, those with special needs, and ESL students.

            Most informative speaker(s): Amanda Torbett and Monica Swift-Their presentation on “Survivalism 101” Navigating….the Critical First 5 Years of Teaching was full of information I can use to prepare immediately. They provided a survival guide which includes a list of supplies you will need, ideas on organizing in the classroom, how to handle other teachers and parents, plus many more resources that I’m sure to use.

            The keynote addresses, by Clare Vanderpool and Jay Asher, were interesting. I enjoyed hearing their stories about the anticipation they felt before learning they were published authors. Clare Vanderpool reminded everyone that teachers should continue to give students creative writing opportunities. Jay Asher was entertaining, infusing humor about his experiences with rejection letters especially. It reminded me that teacher feedback for students’ writing should be positive and informative.

            While I did not have a lot of time to network, I did speak to many of the presenters, who encouraged future emails for information. One particular presenter, a Derby teacher, was excited that I enjoyed her ideas and said she would love to share more through email correspondence. A very brief conversation between myself and the President of KATE entailed encouraging words and an invitation to student teach for him at Washburn High School. I was flattered, even though he was saying so in jest, considering I live in Wichita and plan to teach middle school.

            Going in to this conference, I had no idea what to expect. The experience was fantastic and I was able to meet several teachers, some new and some experienced, who had positive thoughts about the profession and renewed my energy to be the best teacher I can be. Cliché…yes…but it just sounded like the perfect ending!

Inspiration is Awesome-reflection #3

As a pre-student teacher, it is easy to get overwhelmed! There are days that I think, "Am I going to be a good teacher?" Usually I can pinpoint where the frustration stems from-an unruly student, family commitments pulling me away from homework, or seemingly unreachable deadlines! Thankfully, a fantastic day follows-a day filled with engaged students, fresh ideas, content family members, and deadlines completed and checked off my to-do list! Today, I had one of those fantastic kind of days!

Today, I found inspiration...the kind that makes you want to be more than an average teacher. It began with a problem that I have observed in my 7th grade CWC language arts class. For several weeks, I've observed students making very basic mistakes in their writing. At first, I was surprised that their writing displayed errors such as improper capitalization, beginning multiple sentences with the word "and" or "because", and several others I consider elementary writing concepts. Not only were they basic errors but a significant portion of students were making the same mistakes. To make matters worse, the structured curriculum for this Title I school does not provide much instruction geared towards revision. My dilemma became a matter of efficiency because, while I try to walk around and help individual students fix these issues, there just isn't enough time. Also, what student wants to hear that they need to make revisions every day. So, after giving it some thought, I came up with a solution.

In our textbook, grammar instruction is a highly debated topic. Should it be part of the middle school curriculum and if so, how much should we try to fit in? My solution to this problem is to address one problem per week and to do so, "in character".  Provided my CT allows me five or ten minutes to teach a mini lesson twice per week, I am going to transform into another person/character to focus on one mistake per week, using Smartboard and the document camera. I have not decided on my character's name yet; however, she will be British (with a thick accent) and with the help of a few props, should surprise my students and get their attention. I've left out a few details and have a few more to consider, but I will let you know the results very soon. 

After sharing my idea with another teacher and para, I'm fairly certain students will appreciate the creativity and variety.  In fact, I learned there is another teacher in the building who dresses up in character for parts of his lesson and the students love it! I'm looking forward to trying it out because you never know until you try...right?!  My excitement is also growing as I look forward to teaching my unit next week. I'm learning that teaching with a restricted, pre-designed curriculum can be difficult to plan!