Finding Inspiration (KATE Conference Reflection)

Attending the KATE Conference amidst so many English teaching professionals who really have a love and passion for this field was really inspiring. I loved seeing how many English teachers were excited about new developments in the field and who wanted to share their expertise with other English teachers. Knowing that there’s an organization that is all about how much English teachers love their job and how much they want to support other English teachers is really amazing.

During the Conference I attended a breakout session during all six of the time slots. While I got something out of all the sessions I attended, two in particular stood out to me as particularly informative and important for me to have been there, so I’m glad that I chose those two sessions!

Planning with Intention (Online Reflection #2)

As September moves to October and as the semester is already somehow nearing its halfway point, I find myself more and more concerned about developing content and lessons for my current students and my future students. As Randy Bomer says it, “[t]he notion of design – of carefully combining elements to achieve a particular response – is crucial” (12).

While I may not have all the answers right now about how to plan an effective unit, I have many resources that can guide me through planning to the best of my ability. While my mentor teacher and I seem to have different outlooks and teaching styles, I know I can use her advice to plan my five-day unit I will be teaching at the end of this month. She wants me to do a transition between the semester’s two texts by facilitating a movie viewing of The Inevitable Defeat of Mister and Pete. I watched the movie, and I liked it; it even made me cry. But how should I incorporate it as a transition between two memoirs written by two completely different people? What should the students be doing while watching the movie, especially because my mentor teacher told me today that they should not just be answering questions or filling out a worksheet.

The Sign I Needed (Genre Reflection #1)

Dear James*,

Thank you for walking in late to class. This may seem like a strange thing to thank you for, especially because day in, day out you stroll in late as if you have no care in the world.

But this day, this day it was different. This day the class was handing in their first reading questions and because you were late, yours was on the top of my stack I collected.

I don’t really believe in signs. Do you?