KATE Conference Wrap-up

Last Thursday and Friday I, along with my pre-student teaching classmates at WSU, attended the KATE (Kansas Association of Teachers of English) conference. For most of us, this was our first professional conference as (soon-to-be) teachers. I believe it was a beneficial experience for several reasons, but the top of my list was the opportunity to spend time with other English teachers talking about what we do, how we do it, and how we can do it better. "Better" is a subjective term, of course. I think for most of us, we want ways to engage students, teach more effectively, and maybe even have some fun. I think I can put a check mark next to all of those!

The two keynote speakers were both authors of young adult fiction, and they were both great in different ways. Brent Crawford, author of Carter Finally Gets It and its sequels, spoke from the point of view of a former "bad kid." He was a jock in high school, not a great student, and if the content of his books is any indication, he and his friends pretty much spent their time thinking about girls and goofing off. Yet, he credits his teachers with planting the seed that grew into his career as an author. He writes books that might appeal to kids like him. We as teachers can learn something about reaching out to every student from his stories. We never know what little spark may grow into a flame, now, tomorrow, or long in the future. The other keynote speaker, Rachel Hawkins, is a former English teacher. She said that the characters in her books (Hex High and sequels) are inspired by former students. Her time spent with teenagers informed her writing of teenage characters. She understands our struggles as teachers and spoke at length about her time as a teacher and the challenges she faced. Some of us may even see a little of ourselves in her.

The breakout sessions were very informative. I was lucky enough to be able to attend a session in every time slot. My favorites were the sessions that gave me concrete ideas of things I can use in my classroom. Grammar Strip Tease gave some fun and effective ideas for teaching grammar using fortune cookie sentences. The session on using comic books in the classroom gave me some great resources for where to get more information about comics and some recommendations on what comics to use for different purposes. Fiction to Non-Fiction was part presentation, part brainstorming session. I left with some wonderful suggestions on ways to select informative texts to pair with literature, as well as some great examples of real ways real teachers have done so in the past. I may even be using some of these ideas in the next few weeks at my pre-student teaching placement. Finally, the session on using children's books with high schoolers and community college students gave me not only some fun and genuine ideas, but actual copies of lesson plans to use and/or adapt for my own use. I love how this lesson uses the writing of children's books to assess grammar in a more interesting and genuine way.

On Friday, I was honored to be one of the students chosen to do a reading of my genre reflection. My work Discovery was my most recent post here on my blog. Being given the opportunity to share my work with other teachers and hear their reactions to it was an honor, a joy, and a wonderful way to close out the conference.

Discovery (Genre Reflection #1)

As I reflected on my teaching life in preparation to write something, anything, about it, my immediate reaction was to think of my students and what they are to me. I thought of the poetry I've been reading in preparation to teach it to my students. Intrigued by the idea of autobiographical poems, I set out to write one on the subject of my students and our student-teacher relationship. The resulting poem (included here) began as one thing and progressed into something completely different. I started out thinking about my students and how they quickly become more than just my students. They become my kids. I'm not just concerned about their progress in English class; I'm concerned about their lives, now and in the future. As I wrote, the poem steered itself into something more about them and less about me. It wasn't about what they are to me, but what they are to themselves. I discovered a focus I hadn't realized was there.

As we write, our original intention frequently falls away or goes to wait in the corner for another time or place. As we follow bunny trails of thought, we may discover something new, something that we didn't know was there, lurking under the surface of cognition.

In the process of writing, I surprised myself. My hope is that my students will also find these little Easter egg surprises hiding behind the tufts of grass of other thoughts while they write. Maybe the Easter egg will hold something wonderful and deep, worth further exploration, or maybe it will be little more than a fleeting colorful thought. In any case, it will reveal something that the writer didn't anticipate. What a joy, to discover something new within ourselves!

In these written excursions, I want my students to find themselves and their voices, to discover what they think and what they have to say about it. Then I want them to say it! I want them to have the skills to express it all so the rest of the world can come along and follow their bunny trails. Perhaps their readers will hop along some bunny trails of their own, the process of discovery continuing.

Discovery

by Lara Engle

My students,

Full of energy,

Want to have fun.

“Work? Not now.

We'll get it done.”

Curious

Quick

Busy

Emotional

Powerful

Inspired

Harness it.

Direct it.

Feel it.

Connect it.

They find a thread.

They pull it loose.

Unravel it,

Follow it,

Sew it into something new.

“Ms. Engle!

Come here!

I want to show you what I did.”

Unexpected

New

Unique

Is it good?

What do you think?