Supplemental Post #3 - KATE

Teachers annotating, taking notes, and being students. That is what I experienced at the Kansas Association of Teachers of English conference a few weeks ago. I wanted to reflect on the KATE conference because it made a huge difference in my life goals and teaching style.
The one thing I really loved was the Keynote in the beginning with pop up commentary on poetry and how we relate things we don't always know about but connecting it to what we do know! Kathleen Blake-Yancey did a great job expressing how this would work with our students and why it helps retention with English students. I remember discussing it with classmates and new teachers on what they wrote and something teachers could do with their students.
Then Socratic Circles was the second thing I enjoyed.
Here is the facebook group and ideas:  https://www.facebook.com/SocraticCircles
We discussed the theory and method behind the madness. I hope I can buy his book so I can enjoy and implement it in my classroom! We sat in a group for the first session and discussed theory behind it. Then for the second session, which was my favorite, was two circles. The inside circle was the discussion group while the outside group took notes on the way people spoke rather than the content. This was fun because I got to bond and discuss with teachers of all ages and styles. I was the youngest in the group and was able to help lead the discussion by asking questions and looking up vocabulary between sessions. I hope to buy the Socratic Circle book for my own classroom.
I was also able to attend and enjoyed:
Dr. Mason's: Cracking down on the ‘that’s so gay’ crowd: New Teachers as LGBTQ Allies
Waters: Step away from the grading pen: Using formative assessments to lighten your load and increase student understanding.
Dawson: The Anatomy of Influence: What Gastby, Video Games, and Research Have in Common (Core)
then finished up with Copeland's: Socratic Circle I and II

This KATE conference helped me revert back to my roots of how I've always wanted to be a teacher, "when I grow up" type of thing. I know I want to do meteorology in a way but teaching seems much more meaningful and I'm the type of person who wants to impact others' lives. I know that most of these teachers care about what their students are learning but also how they learn.