Conference for English Teachers

[Tammy Gillmore]

If you could create a conference for English teachers, what would you include?

This is my dream for our area of our state. With a little encouragement from our educational co-op teacher-center director, I am dreaming even more and am interested in what English teachers want to learn, discuss, share at such a conference.

What session topics would you include? Time lengths?

How many days?

How much would you pay to attend a conference led by teachers…not those who have been out of the classroom for a while…but current, in the trenches, teachers?

When would you host the conference? During the school year? Right after school dismisses? Before school starts?

Other topics that should be considered?

[Clix]

I would focus on the state standards, with the exception of Reading Across the Curriculum (because I think to deal with that effectively, you really do need to have teachers from other course areas working with you; else it makes the ELA teachers frustrated and grumpy, and we don't want that).

I'd want to start by examining the standards and what they mean, so that each teacher is looking at the standards through the same lens, so to speak.

Then we'd look at how to assess and grade: how do we determine whether or not a student has mastered a standard? How should excellence be rewarded? Is mastery a requirement, or is competence acceptable? What do we do about students who master some standards, but not others, by the end of the course? Should they repeat or progress?

Next we'd study lesson planning based on different curricular models. There would be a large session for everyone, in which teachers familiar with the various models would each get a few minutes to discuss that model's strengths and weaknesses. Then we'd break into small groups and do more in-depth study of one of the models. You could choose to work with the one your school uses or one that you're interested in learning more about.

We'd study management issues and consider how to encourage behavior that leads to mastery of the standards while being careful to grade on the standards, not on the behavior. Then we'd go back to our group based on a curricular model and discuss its particular difficulties in classroom management and strategies to deal with them.

I'd like to have shorter sessions in the afternoons on a broader range of topics, from discussions about often-assigned works and how to avoid just doing the same thing over and over but not sacrificing the quality you've developed over time, to instruction and practice with different technological tools that include discussions on ways to use them effectively in a classroom setting. Maybe sessions on obtaining materials, funding, and other assistance in new ways.

I would run it Friday-Saturday-Sunday, with an optional early registration on Thursday evening and perhaps a coffee and dessert meet-n-greet. If it was at a hotel, as many conferences are, I'd want to make sure it was one that offered a decent continental breakfast. Lukewarm coffee and stale mini-donuts do NOT cut it. ;p

Lunches would be provided, and that's where we would have some of our full-group sessions. There would be a long session in the late morning and one right after lunch, and then shorter sessions in the late afternoon, followed by an optional long session. Dinner would be separate and I'd like to encourage that as networking time somehow.

I've got more ideas, but we're meeting friends for a picnic and if I don't stop NOW, I'll make us late! ;D

[Tammy Gillmore]

I can see this...we have "Frameworks" in our state on which the students are tested in literacy at Grades 3-8 and Grade 11, so this topic would definitely be on the minds of the attendees!

I have drafted some topics for short sessions (1 1/2 hour). Have quite a range from discussing young adult noves, to who teaches what classics, Poetry Slam! (already have a teacher who really wants to host this session...she hosts one within her special ed room), vocab instruction, ways to teach the research paper, and so on...

Part of my dream is that all the presenters would bring units/handouts and at the closing session, the teachers would receive a copy of all this on a cd to take back and use. I want them to leave with lots of "good stuff." Life is busy...it's great when you stumble across resources that are applicable to what I teach.

I'm hoping our co-op will help fund this so that some of the costs will be be off-set...free lunch is always a nice treat.

Timing? One reason for hosting within a few weeks after school lets out is the co-op hosts workshops on many of the topics we might cover...then the teachers could sign up for whatever they would like to learn a lot more about. For example, lit circles, blogging, wikis, and so forth.

Thanks...I would love to read more of your thoughts on this!