The first day of the KATE Conference went better than I had anticipated. When I first learned about the conference, I was somewhat turned-off about walking around to tables and listening to people reflect on their experiences as teachers. However, after the first few sessions, I became excited to implement things into a practice of my own.
In the session The Power of Discourse: Engaging Students by Activating Their Voices, I received several suggestions for how to implement student voices into class lessons. One suggestion that I found interesting was how to help students move to critical analysis of a text in class. The presenter suggested to have students discuss opinions of their interpretation of the text and move towards a more critical understanding. By allowing students to discuss their ideas, they gain valuable insights into others perspectives and learn how to hold discussions about differentiating view points.
Another session I attended was called Making It Stick: Communication. During this session, I learned different strategies that help students recall information from class. The presenters said that presentations/ lessons had to be memorable so that they stick with students after class, and they also stated that statistics turn students off to the lesson. These are not memorable, and students see these as boring and often forget them quickly. Another key concept is remembering teachers Curse of Knowledge. As a teacher, although we may find concepts simple, we must remember that students are only just being introduced to these concepts. This makes it difficult for teachers to simplify information, since we are "removed from the state of ignorance".
On Friday, I attended a session called "Control & Conquer Your Classroom". During this session, the presenters emphasized being proactive in the classroom- nobody's perfect and we will get 2nd chances. They stated that "kid's don't care how much you know until they know how much you care". Teachers should not be feared, but seen as allies. When students know that they are valued, they "will walk through fire" for teachers. I also learned that without student/teacher relationships, the classroom will rebel. As teachers, we can no longer assume students know how to behave at school- they must be taught the proper behaviors. When we teach students behaviors in at the beginning of the year, we must also show students the wrong behaviors- this prevents students having any grey areas.
Overall, this experience was a great chance for me to learn some new techniques and teaching styles. I am excited to implement the new techniques in the classroom and see them put to work!
Thanks for sharing your experiences from the conference. I like the ambitious energy that surrounds your post. While it was great to be surrounded for two days by experienced and battle-hardened veteran teachers, there was an ever-present feeling of perpetual struggle with students that could have been taken as a curse or a challenge of the profession. You clearly see it as a positive change inducing challenge to bring the best out of yourself and out of your students. I also attended the Control and Conquer Your Classroom session and found it insightful. It is paramount that our students feel that we value them. Looking back upon my own educational experiences I can clearly tell which ones I felt valued me. Those are incidentally the ones that were the biggest positive influence upon my life. You are going to do great as a teacher. Even though we will be surrounded, we will be victorious if we keep our heads and open our hearts. Good post!
ReplyDeleteThanks Erich! I noticed the same feeling, not only at the conference, but in my placements thus far in the program as well. I also can recall which teachers showed the most value for me in my years as a student, and gave the biggest influence on my own life as well. Those are the teachers that I have attempted to model through my placements, and hope to have as great an impact on my own students as they had on me.
ReplyDeleteI think the biggest thing to remember as a teacher is to keep our hearts and doors open to our students. If we can't be there for them, who will be?