This weekend, you had the opportunity to engage in professional development through attending a conference.
Now that you are in the role of a teacher, as opposed to a student, how was this different? Tell us what you looked for, or wanted to look for, that you did not in the past. Remember, not everything is about strategies or loading up the "toolbox." There are more subtle things.
Tell us what you learned, whether it was regarding content, pedagogy, or relationships, that you can use in your classroom immediately or in the future.
So, I got to attend Promising Practices on Saturday. Overall, it was a pretty pleasant experience, even though our class mentioned that it was catered more for math and science this year. Surprisingly, I got more from this year’s Promising Practices than in the years past.
ReplyDeleteThe first workshop in particular was the one I liked the most. This workshop was titled: Confidently Working Toward Your Career. To be honest, I was not entirely sure what to expect when I signed up for this. My intentions were simply based upon the fact that, like the rest of us, I am graduating soon, and I wanted to know where that placed me. I did not get an answer to the question I walked in with, but rather, walked out with SO much more than I anticipated.
This workshop was run by two women who are chemical engineers: Yasah and Katherine. They began the workshop with some common myths about college, the workforce (teachers and STEM students alike), etc. One of the myths I was given stated: “Upon graduating college, I am guaranteed to make more than $60,000 per year” to which I answered false. There is no guarantee. Most of us, if not all of us, have never taught before. We are new. We practiced and trained and filled our toolbox, that was what our classes were for, but the fact remains that we are still new teachers. And that is okay. We will learn more, gain new experience, and move along. I teach because I like it; overtime, my passion will reward me in more ways than one.
This workshop also covered a lot of information about discrimination. Both of the women running the workshop were also black. Most importantly, these women are chemical engineers. They talked about discrimination they felt based on their gender and race in their fields. Their advice to students, teachers, and anyone else present, that if a place you work for discriminates, to stand up for yourself, others, and, if the discrimination continues to not work there. I think, I want to extend this thinking to our students as well. The school I am placed in is mostly Hispanic. However, most of the teachers are white and female. On the way back from the convention, I had a conversation with a friend. We looked at common stereotypes there are for teachers. He claimed that when he heard the word “teacher” he instantly thought of a middle-aged, white woman. Unfortunately, this stereotype is close to the situation I have seen at my school. Most of the teachers, in the English department at least, are white, older than 45, and women. There are two male teachers, but both are white. There is one minority teacher, but she is a woman and still the same age as the others. In this case, the two exceptions I showed still fit HALF the stereotype. I wonder, where that places me as a teacher? How do my students see me compared to their other teachers? I may be young, but I am still fitting the category. Do my students feel that, because of my race and gender, that they may experience some difficulty approaching me about certain problems; problems they may feel I could never understand.
As teachers, our students sometimes see US more than they see their OWN FAMILY. It is CRUCIAL to build that community and trust the moment those students walk into your class on the first day. We can help those students when they feel comfortable enough to let us. We need to see and report and acknowledge discrimination, bullying, etc. no matter how petty we see the situation.
The second workshop I attended only furthered this for me. This workshop, though it applied mostly to younger children, was about bullying in schools. Many bullies now focus on more than just race, gender, disability, but also sexuality. I have a gender-fluid student (gender may change day-to-day) in one of my classes. His peers seem to accept them more than their teachers do. The teachers only want to call them by their birth name. While they do not mind, it did make me think more about what they are taught and what I hear in the schools.
I even heard some teachers think that the nickname they had for the days they felt more feminine was a joke! And, despite most cooperation from their peers, I still hear slurs and name calling, not dire3cted at them, but names and slurs I am sure hurt my student. I, personally, try everything in my power to prevent these name calling from being uttered in the class.
DeleteBut then, I look at their curriculum. I do not see a heavy amount of content about sexuality. We are working on culture, and the books we have cover race and gender and stereotypes, but fail to mention anything outside of that. I really wished I could have gotten some outside materials from the workshop to alleviate this, since I am not really sure where to look.
Overall, I was afraid, especially since not many of us were going, due to content of the conference, that I was not going to get anything out of this! It was only until I got into the conference and started talking to people that I realized, I am NOT the only teacher my students will have. English, is not always going to be their favorite subject. They may like math, science, technology, engineering, computers, and so on much more. I think that, as one of their MANY teachers in their lives, that I help them find what it is that they love and are passionate about, I can demonstrate what passion for a subject looks like by showing interest in my own! I can show my students they I also care about theirs by finding tools, tips, and practices to get them where they need to go, wherever that is.
I am pretty pleased with this last conference. It was also the most organized I have ever seen it!! I do hope to hear about everyone else’s experiences in the conference they attended!
I still have much to learn still. I think, however, I have come a long way. I see not just tools, but practices and methods and people I can look for and talk to and gain knowledge from. I hope that, despite our inner ‘demons’ that we can gain knowledge from just about any source, regardless of the context.
Sounds like a worthwhile conference on a number of levels, Danielle. I'm happy you got a lot out of it.
DeleteI have to say going to a conference this semester was a much different experience than before. Usually going there I’d learn some interesting things, take back some cool fliers, and even cooler tools, and then get back and realize I had no class to try anything out on. I would hear a lot of really great ideas, but I went in without context. It was hard to imagine these ideas playing out, when I had enough difficulty imagining how a class itself would play out. Now that I have a few classes of my own to provide context it made this conference much more useful.
ReplyDeleteI went to ASTAL this year, which scored me two free YA books I can put on the bookshelf in my classroom, let’s hope kids like star wars and/or sharks. The most important thing I took away from the conference, however, was the talks about non fiction. It’s a unit I’m dreading having to teach, if I’m even going to get to that point, during student teaching. If I’m going to be honest my school’s approach to non fiction is kind of awful. They have a computer program and students just read articles and answer questions on it. Doing this every so often covers the requirement for teaching non fiction I guess. One quote really stuck to me which was “some kids only want to read if they know its true.” This wasn’t me as a student, but when I heard that I instantly thought of a few of my students, one of which who constantly reads books about the holocaust, and uses world war 2 to relate to everything we discuss. Listening to a reading by an author who wrote about the Vietnam War, but structured it through baseball brought back some of the reasons I loved non fiction. The story never really ends with Non Fiction, if you dig that book you can go and read more about the Vietnam war, and there is the underlying passion for discovery that’s stitched into each line of non fiction. Those books beg you to explore, even after the last page has been read. I often feel like non fiction has been robbed of its glamour by high school classes. Going to this conference has inspired me to try and bring that back.
"and then get back and realize I had no class to try anything out on." You know, I did not even realize that until you said this! Maybe that is why I usually was reluctant to go to these things. But now we're not just looking for tools we're looking for a bunch of other things too!
DeleteI'm also doing a unit on nonfiction Wednesday and it is difficult!!
I am appalled by the description of what passes as nonfiction at CFHS! Hopefully you can expand that repertoire. There are lots of kids, particularly boys, who like it way more than fiction.
DeleteThis year, I went to the ASTAL Conference. I had been in previous years, but this year I was not there for fun (well, I was…), I was there to scout out things I can use in my classes. I chose ASTAL over Promising Practices for two reasons: first because we were warned that the content might be less helpful this year than in the past, and second because ASTAL, the Alliance for the Study and Teaching of Adolescent Literature, draws writers, readers, teachers, and people with a passion for producing and consuming texts specifically meant for the age group my readers belong to. In short, I took a chance that adolescent literature lovers might give me more of an insight into adolescent readers than the people across the street. In the end, I do think I got a lot out of it, starting with books (always a good thing to acquire, if I do say so myself). I also was able to talk to some local authors, who discussed their writing process, and methods for getting things done when time is short (useful advice for student teachers).
ReplyDeleteOn a more scholarly note, I agree with Joey’s point about the discussion of Nonfiction Text. Nonfiction is fun, and it is required, but the idea was, at least to me, that you still needed good, engaging nonfiction. All texts are not made equal, and an article from a psychological journal is different than a picture book on the creation of Earth Day. Both are valuable, but I think too often, people think informational texts need to be dry and “scholarly.” But a text can teach you something, sometimes more, by doing more than just throwing information at someone.
I also had the chance to talk to a couple of writers, and we got into a short discussion of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), and how it could be introduced in your classroom. It was a nice conversation, unfortunately cut short by the next speaker taking the podium.
In the end, it also served to recharge my batteries. I love books, I love reading, I love writing, and to hear experts in the field discuss the writing, reading, and teaching cycle was wonderful. I was exposed to a lot of new literature, shown some new ideas, and given a chance to learn and relax at the same time. It was a great day spent, and I look forward to doing it again.
I'm glad you enjoyed the experience Matt! Can't wait to hear more from you in person!
DeleteI'm glad you had an opportunity to talk with like-minded folks about the writing process--I had a writing conference myself this weekend and feel excited again about my work!
DeleteI attended the ASTAL conference on Saturday. This was my first time attending this conference and I am so glad I did. Much like Joey, I have always walked away from conferences with a few cool ideas but never a place to try them out. Today I get to try a few ideas out on students. We are beginning the second quarter curriculum today, which focuses on research papers. I thought it was really interesting to hear an author state that they felt non-fiction was dead. I guess that I have always realized this, but never really spent any amount of time thinking about it. Fiction is much more preferred by people because I think it serves as escapism from reality. However, if non-fiction presented ideas in a format that provided enjoyment and fun maybe people (students/children) would want to read it more. Personally, I like some non-fiction, but I’m a fiction lover at heart. So, I’m going to ask my students today what their feelings are about non-fiction, and whether or not they like it or find it useful. I’m going to guess that they do not like it, but they find in necessary for research papers. I may be completely wrong and I kind of hope I am. I want to see at least two or three students raise their hands and proclaim their love for non-fiction.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed hearing from authors within RI and surrounding states, and their current works in progress. What I loved most was hearing authors talk about the road blocks they encounter, their writing process, and their insecurities around their writing. Most times when reading a book you think about how smart the author is and that they are an exceptional writer, but it never really crosses your mind (well, at least my mind) that they may not think their writing is exceptional. It is nice, as a writer (eh-sort of), to see that published authors are also hypercritical of their writing. I think it will be beneficial to discuss that aspect with reluctant or hypercritical student writers. Maybe that will be an experience I explain to a student and they take that as the nudge to keep writing. Maybe that nudge will force them into authoring a best seller. Who knows
There is so much to learn from nonfiction, and the writing can be just as compelling as fiction. I try to switch off from nonfiction to fiction every time I pick up a book.
DeleteSo, I also picked up on how critical writers are of their work, and how honest they can be as they speak to non-writers about it! In a weird way, I find this refreshing!
DeleteAfter attending Promising Practices for the past three years, I decided to try something new by going to the ASTAL conference instead. I had heard great things about this conference from other students and faculty who have attended it in the past, and I was not disappointed. It was an honor to be surrounded by authors of books for young people and others who are passionate about the genre.
ReplyDeleteThe biggest lesson I took from the ASTAL conference was the knowledge of the resources available right in our own state. Even as an adult reader, I find it validating and exciting to read a story that takes place in my home state. In readers of all ages, it’s nice to feel proud of where you come from, and reading a book you enjoy that takes place in your home state is a way to have an instant connection.
It was incredible to see how many authors are writing stories about their hometowns or the towns they now call home, located in and around our little state of Rhode Island. We were sitting at a table with Mark Peter Hughes, author of the book-turned-Disney-movie Lemonade Mouth. Having such wonderful texts and amazing authors at the local level is exciting and something I plan to remember when thinking of texts to incorporate in my classes.
Great point, Jess. This state has a fabulous arts community, and writers are definitely part of it!
DeleteI too, was incredibly impressed by the local talent and the work of the RIC folks who brought it to us! I will remember this event as I make my way into a classroom setting where I can make use of these materials.
DeleteI enjoyed my first ASTAL conference Saturday. It was invigorating to be amongst authors of literature designed to reach the students I'm with day in and day out. There was a positive vibe in the air that I will try to capture here, in bulleted format:
ReplyDelete* "Write about what haunts you"-this was relevant since my students are finishing up a memoir writing unit
* I noticed a different public speaking style in these authors compared to classroom teachers. While both are trying to attract their audiences to the content versus promote it, this group seemed more laid-back in their approach.
* The content of the speeches was hopeful; with a strong focus on the goal of continuing to create, possibly mixed with fear.
* One author emphasized that there was no need to traumatize the reader in the process of creating a traumatized victim. I took that to mean that drama for dramas' sake has no place in young adult literature!
* I heard a tone throughout them all of constantly feeling challenged in their writing process to find their voice. This is good information to share with our students, since we talk to them about finding their voice.
* Avoid gerunds-they make your writing passive!!
* Why get together like this-1. To celebrate books 2. To support those who write and read them 3. To keep books alive, especially in a world where the competition for kids' minds is more fierce than ever
I hope you can tell I enjoyed myself. I also added to my library!!
"Write about what haunts you"
ReplyDeleteFor someone who write a lot it was really inspiring to hear in words the idea that I've been trying to get at in my own writing. I also thought this was relevant for students. What a compelling creative writing prompt that would make!