A Preservice Teacher's View of the KATE Conference 2018

KATE online reflection

Professional development is, I believe, a must for most careers, but especially for educators. Every classroom, every building, every district, and every student is different. Allowing us to collaborate as professionals and share our stories, successes, experiences, and even our not so successful instances allow us to grow as educators and ultimately do what we all want in this profession: assist our students in being successful both inside and outside of school and to help them make and achieve their goals by equipping them with the tools to do so successfully. (Honestly, the list of our wants for our students could go on and on, but I feel that statement was broad enough to lump as much in as possible.) With this said, my attendance at the Kansas Association of Teachers of English (KATE) Conference 2018, afforded me the opportunity to do all of the above and some.

At check-in, I was pleased to see that we are provided with a folder full of helpful tidbits, a name badge, and of course the very important program - I’m serious, hang on tight to that program, it is everything during your time at the conference. While it seems small to be thankful for a folder, I am certainly the type of person that enjoys organization and this little red folder with my name stickered on it was a valued, handy tool. In fact, I’m still using it to hold my plethora of notes taken during the breakout sessions and imagine I’ll keep them in it for safe keeping and easy reference. I look forward to receiving and filling a new folder at next years conference.

I would say the most beneficial moments for me as an educator were the breakout sessions. There were five options for every session to choose from. This made it hard to decide which session I wanted to attend, but beneficial as so many of us have different ideas in mind as to what we want our takeaways to be from our experience there. Day one, unfortunately, did not offer me quite the growth I was hoping for but was still an enjoyable day. The first session I attended was Empowering LGBTQIA+ Staff and Students, while enjoyable, did not provide me with any new information. Perhaps, that is because I have attended a safe space training through GLSEN a few years ago and maybe I should have taken that into consideration when selecting my session. I will say though it reinforced the knowledge I did have, so while I may not have gained much new information or tools to use, it was engaging and brought things to the forefront of my mind again. The second session I attended was probably my least favorite because about halfway through the presentation the speakers, after having been asked what grade level this was intended, declared it was for comp I and II. At that point, I was a bit disappointed as I am secondary, primarily middle level. It might have been beneficial to have the grade level detailed on the blurb section of the program. However, you can always find a silver lining and I was able to give my notes to a colleague who intends to teach comp I next year. We traded notes as it turns out she too went to a session that was not quite her grade level.

I attended six total sessions in two days, so I’ll spare you the details of every last one and now highlight my favorite. That’s hard to do though as the other four I attended were excellent all in their own ways. Using Classroom Libraries to Increase Motivation to Read was probably my overall favorite for many reasons. Not only did I take away a rejuvenated feeling and motivation to build a better library for my students, but I also walked away with newfound knowledge on the types of reading students should have access to in my library, printed reading inventory resources, and an end of the year reading evaluation form. Did you know it is best to have at least 300-600 books in your classroom library? Did you know your library should have manuals, cookbooks, and pamphlets? I did not! This was definitely one of those moments I thought, well duh! Of course our libraries should have these things, it makes complete sense. Especially considering I’ve participated in class discussions regarding the importance THAT students read, not necessarily WHAT they read. You’ve got to love those A-Ha moments. Furthermore, the presenter for this session was extremely engaging. He was excellent at incorporating moments of laughter and who doesn’t love to laugh?

Day 1 of The Kate Conference

The most beneficial for me as a human, not just an educator, was the time spent with not only my fellow core members but other English educators. While it is all in a professional environment, it was so nice to have those breaks in the day to just chat with my people. It is not often with a schedule like mine that I get much free time and I have to say this was probably my favorite part about the entire thing. Yes, we talked about work, and yes, we shared stories about our placements, but it wasn’t for an assignment or work, it was just us enjoying each other’s company and for that, I am truly grateful. It’s awesome to be a member of the English Education graduating class of 2019. Together we are amazing and though I’m excited to graduate in May, I know I’ll miss these days in the coming years, and I’m looking forward to hopefully seeing them all at future KATE conferences.

Day 2 of The KATE Conference