KATE Conference Reflection

As part of our professional development, students in Core 3 were asked to attend the KATE conference at the Marriott this year. This conference consisted of multiple breakout sessions and keynote addresses from Sarah Smarsh and Michelle Cuevas. I put on my slacks and laced my Sperry's - I was ready to grow as a professional.

Erin Downey Howerton initiated the conference following a breakfast filled with fruit and bagels. She discussed many different books flying off of her shelves at the public library from all different genres. I found this presentation very exciting because it was like getting multiple book talks that ignited curiosity in my own reading life - I had some students in mind from my placement for some of the texts too. I found her examples of graphic novels very intriguing; students at my placement LOVE graphic novels. I was excited to learn more about a few titles that I could in turn recommend and read myself.

I also attended many breakout sessions. One of them that impacted my learning the most was a session by Abigail Crane that focused on "Meta-cognition and the Self-Differential Classroom." Crane presented many different learning aspects that I did not even think of prior to entering the room. She introduced the concept of allowing students the option to decide how they wanted to write or answer prompts. She includes a Quick Write option, a Quick Write but start with the topic sentence of the template, and a template to fill in. Students in her classroom are allowed to decide which way they want to learn that day. If they finish early, she challenges them to try the Quick Write option. I found myself wanting to try her mini-lesson in my own classroom. I did not realize that providing options to our students helps them make the most out of their education. I took the most from this session.

Unfortunately, Sarah Smarsh could not attend the conference, but excerpts from her novel were still read aloud. These read-alouds grew my interest in her novel, "Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being  Broke in the Richest Country on Earth." I thought it was something I would not be interested in, but her writing style pulled me into her emotion-packed memoir. I think I will pick up a copy of this text for sure.

This conference was a fun, engaging opportunity that I was glad to be a part of. I wish I would have done some more networking. Hopefully, I can return as an educator instead of a student so I don't have to worry about any other work commitments. Plus, the we had cake was pretty delicious. Never pass up an opportunity for cake.