My KATE Conference Experience

What did the KATE Conference mean to me?  I have been inspired and I feel like it was an impactful experience.  I learned so much from the breakout sessions.  My favorite session was titled "Selfie Culture: Make it Work."  I was unsure about going to this one at first because I did not know if it would be beneficial to me as a teacher.  I was so wrong.  Stacy Chestnut and Alexis Fisher incorporated numerous activities I can use to get to know my students.  One activity I would like to do with my sixth graders would be the "Five Core Values" we got to do.  They had us first write our five values and then put a circle around it.  The next circle is where we had to write names that help us protect those values.  The circle after that are people that do not always help us with our values but we continue to have around.  The last circle are the names of people we probably should not have in our lives.  I like this activity because I feel like middle school is a good time for students to look at the type of friendships they have.

Another session that I am happy that I went to because it was not at all what I expected was the "Pod Save Us All."  I never really thought about podcasts being a tool for teaching.  The one that I could use with middle school students would be Storycorp or Poetry Now.  I feel like Storycorp would work with middle school students because it would be a good way to show how to create a story.  I think that the stories on this website are meaningful and students may empathize.  I liked the podcasts for Poetry Now because the authors of the poem read them.  Students would be able to understand the flow of the poem.

The next session I want to talk about is the "Get Out of the Way and Let Your Students Read."  I remember reading Penny Kittle's book Book Love during Literature for Adolescents.  Although I enjoyed the book and Kittle's discussion on how to get students to read more, I did not really know how to incorporate the strategies in the classroom.  This session showed me how teachers are able to use strategies effectively and how to incorporate your own spin on the strategies.  My favorite technique was how the teachers check on how students are doing with their readings.  I found it encouraging that the teachers presenting were getting some of the same results that Kittle was experiencing!  I now know that I will be able to incorporate a few of these strategies into my own classroom.

I liked being with a group of English educators who are passionate about their profession.  They were all welcoming and I was thankful for it because I was a little nervous going into the conference the first day.

One presentation I with I went to was the "Hatred of Poetry" session.  I heard so many amazing things from the other teaching interns about it.  One session that I thought would be different was  the "Including Diversity in the Middle and High School Curriculum."  I appreciated that they gave more titles of diverse novels that I could incorporate into a middle school classroom but I wish that there was more discussion about how to teach it.  The session never really got past discussing the novels.

Overall I am so happy that I attended the KATE Conference.  I want to try my best to return next year and learn even more!

Should I Call On You? (Blog Post #2)

Where did I last leave you on my journey through student teaching?  Ah yes, I was trying to figure out how to ask more in-depth questions.  I am happy to say that I have gotten better at posing higher level questions to my students.  I think I was able to ask better questions because I was teaching my unit last week and I had to plan out lessons for five days.  I took my mentor teacher’s advice and read the text we were going to be reading in class, Freak the Mighty by Rodman Philbrick, while I was planning so I could write out the main questions I wanted to ask.  Now that I have had the practice to write out what higher level questions I want to ask I now need to work on asking higher level questions on the spot.

During my week of teaching I tested out my question of “how do I incorporate discussion and still have enough time to complete the lesson.”  I can now tell you after a week of teaching that it is really difficult to balance!  I wanted to get through all that I planned with my students but in order to do that there were some days that I did not ask all of my questions I wanted to ask.  If I had more time to teach I would have had more in-depth discussions with my students.

One struggle I had while teaching was not calling on the same three students to answer questions.  How can I get more students involved in the discussion?  After the first day of only calling on people who raised their hands I experimented the next day and decided to call on students.  I gave students time to think about their answer when they did not talk right away but there was one student who refused to answer the question.  I also gave an opportunity to talk in small groups but that did not help her answer the question.  What are other techniques I can use to help students be more comfortable voicing their opinions in the classroom?  One technique I have found on John Spencer’s article Encouraging Introverts to Speak up in School was number seven on his list of ten ways to get introverts to speak up in class.  He says “I conference ahead of time with students who are anxious. I affirm their courage in speaking up and allow them to share their frustrations with the situation.”  I like this idea because he gives students a chance to talk to him one-on-one about any issues they might have about speaking in front of their classmates.  I want to try this technique with my students who are shy.

One idea that I want to incorporate into my teaching is allowing students more free time to write about whatever they want to.  Students are given times when they write in my mentor teacher’s classroom but I would like to incorporate more time for students who enjoy writing.  According to Bomer (2011), “we need to teach students to attend to their thinking, to develop and extend it” while writing (167).  I would want to incorporate at least one fifteen minute block a week where students are allowed to write whatever they want to write about.  For those who were like me and did not like having too much freedom while writing I would post writing prompts on the board to spark an idea.

Link to John Spencer’s article: https://www.quietrev.com/encouraging-introverts-to-speak-up-in-school/

Bomer (2011). Building adolescent literacy in today’s English classroom. Portsmouth: Heinemann.

Waiting to be Called On (Genre Reflection #1)

Dear Heather*,

            I am sorry I did not give you a chance to talk in class today.  You have such amazing ideas in your writing but you seem shy when you are sitting in class.  When I walk by and you are working on partner work I have noticed that you are actively engaged in your conversation because you are usually talking to your friend.  I would love to hear you give your insight to the rest of the class.  Is it because you do not like speaking in front of others?  Do you not want students to comment on what you are saying? 

            When I was in middle school I did not like having to speak in front of other students unless I was asked to do so by the teacher.  I did not really come out of my shell and feel confident to answer questions until high school. 

            I hope to make you feel more confident about speaking up during discussions.  Today we talked about the first chapter of Freak the Mighty and you looked actively engaged in what your peers had to say.  I wish I had called on you so you could have been a part of the conversation.  It is still early on in the year so there is a chance you may become more comfortable giving your opinion. 

You came up to me today in the hallway and asked me a question.  That made me really happy!  I like that I am starting to build a relationship with you and I hope that also makes you more comfortable.  I look forward to working with you and helping you become more comfortable in the classroom.

                        Best Regards,

                                    Ms. Jewell

*name was changed