This week I had the pleasure of attending the annual Kansas
Association of Teachers of English Conference. Not only did I learn many new
and useful ideas, I actually had the opportunity to present my own ideas to
current and future teachers!
What an experience! There may have been a few sleepless
nights, but I am happy to report that it was completely worth it.
First off, I was able to attend a few informational, as well
as influential sessions presented by teachers from around the state, but also
my own peers from the Wichita State University College of Education. So,
prepare for lots of fun teaching tips! HOW EXCITING!
I would like to commend Mary for her thought-provoking
presentation regarding how an author creates a sense of empathy for characters
that would not usually inspire empathy. For example, would you typically have
empathy for Germans during the Nazi rule of World War II? Probably not. But,
author Markus Zusak does just this in his novel The Book Thief. The specific examples of Germans being manipulated
by propaganda and the comparison of modern day North Korea really sold the idea
that empathy can be applied to anyone and any situation. I now know that The Book Thief is a must read, The VICE
Guide to North Korea is a must watch documentary, and inspiring empathy in all
students is a must teach lesson! Thank you and great job, Mary!
Next, I was able to attend a beautifully constructed
presentation about channeling the arts in Language Arts by Keely. Wow. I have
always been a big supporter of using art and creative projects in the classroom
and Keely gave me all the resources and evidence to support that it truly opens
a whole new door of learning for students. I am looking forward to Christmas
break so I can read I’ll Give You the Sun
by Jandy Nelson, which is full of art and it’s affect on people, and further my
list of projects and activities to encourage and enthuse students to use their
talents in conjunction with literature. Thank you, Keely!
The last session I attended, aside from my own (yay!), was
one presented by Beth Gully, a professor of English at Johnson County Community
College. It was centered around the lost art of writing thank you notes—kind of
ironic considering this is basically an electronic thank you note. I
particularly loved her idea of prompting students to write in the thank you
note format when giving peers constructive feedback during the essay revision
process. I definitely plan to incorporate it in my future classroom.
Finally, I gained invaluable experience as I presented my
own ideas on fostering kindness in the classroom through literature. Jacqueline
Woodson’s picture book Each Kindness
and memoir brown girl dreaming were
my focus texts. Psssst…Woodson was also one of the keynote speakers for the
conference. HOW COOL! Kindness is a concept that can be taught to anyone and it
is especially vital in middle school when students are struggling with growing
up and identity issues. I loved being able to share my ideas with a wider
audience and using the feedback from practiced teachers to help me modify and
improve upon my classroom kindness philosophies.
Jacqueline Woodson was a wonderful speaker and the 2015 KATE
Conference was a wonderful experience. In closing, I would like to leave you
with this quote from Woodson’s conference speech, “No one wants to be
tolerated. We want to be accepted.” May we all strive to teach our students to not
just tolerate others, but to accept them with kindness.
