KATE Conference 2014: Christmas for English Teachers

KATE Conference 2014: ReThink, ReConnect, ReNew. 

During the course of my educational experience at Wichita State University I have learned so many valuable concepts and ideas that I have either implemented already in my placement or have made a mental note to use in my future classroom. From textbooks, I have learned the do's and don'ts of teaching, various instructional strategies that would best benefit an individual student, and how to create a lesson plan. The 2014 KATE conference was ironically one of the most exhausting, yet exhilarating functions I have ever attended.

From the very start I was inspired when keynote speaker, Dr. Howard Pitler stated the various types of teachers (Traditionalists, Sophisticates, Warm Demanders, and Sentimentalist). I was relieved to finally learn that there was a title for the kind of teacher I have always aspired to be, and more importantly, that it was okay to be this kind of teacher. As of now, I consider myself a Sentimentalist and I hope that with more experience inside the classroom that I eventually become a Warm Demander. Dr. Pitler's statement that "kids do not care what you know, unless they know that you care" is the epitome of everything I stand for and a message I plan to always relay to my students, after all, we are people FIRST and students second.

Of the various sessions I attended where I learned how to integrate History, Art, Music, and even learned how to use Literature in cross-curricular instruction, one of my favorites was held by Eileen Wertzberger in the session, The Power of Discourse: Engaging Students by Activating their Voices.  Unlike the other meetings I attended, this was spontaneously set-up as a round-table discussion. I learned some amazing techniques to promote student involvement and strategies to combat shyness in students. Outside of promoting active students, this presentation also covered several innovative ways to share the importance of the content we are teaching and how it applies to their lives outside of the classroom. Because Mrs. Wertzberger was so inviting, I felt comfortable sharing my own ideas, and experience within the classroom.

Taylor Mali:

My involvement with Taylor Mali was by far the highlight for me during this conference.
Seeing him in his element, working with the poetry students during our workshop, and watching how he constructively criticized each one of my students' poems and their performance was awe-inspiring. The students loved every minute of it and It was obvious that their eagerness to learn and better themselves had increased. Not only did I appreciate what he did for my students, but I found myself (more times than I can count) saying "oh my gosh, that is so true!" or "I've never thought about it in that way." During a workshop that was designed to teach, inspire, and satisfy the needs of our High School students was so profound that I also benefited.
 
Taylor Mali continued to amaze me during lunch when I found out that he, just like myself, eats salad, cake, and pasta! ;) He then went on to share poems with us that were related to our aspirations of becoming English teachers, but I was most appreciative of his poems that conveyed memories of his personal life. There is something comforting about knowing that someone as great and influential as Taylor Mali also has a life. Not a life filled with touring, teaching, and sharing poetry, but a life filled with pain, heartbreak, love, accomplishments, and disappointments. He is a man who is hysterically funny and inspiring to teachers and students everywhere.

This years KATE conference was better than I had anticipated. Everything I learned was completely invaluable and I feel so privileged to have had this opportunity! I look forward to my involvement in the conferences to come and excited to reconnect with all of the awesome Kansas teachers again.

Happy Blogging!
 From a completely renewed student-teacher,
Destinee Manns.