Out-of-Town Conference

Last weekend I had the pleasure of attending a conference in Oklahoma City for the Oklahoma Middle Level Educators Association.  To be honest, my expectations were relatively low.  I wasn't looking forward to writing sub plans and leaving my kids with my husband for three days.  But as it turned out, it was a GREAT experience.

First of all, we stayed in the hotel where the conference was being held, which was VERY nice and convenient.  Second, they started everything off by a super-energetic performance from their middle school choir.  Can you see them in the picture?  They are standing all around the room dancing. Yes, I said dancing.

You can't tell from this picture, but there were probably 50-60 members of this choir.  I counted 10 boys.  No surprise there.

The theme was "I Teach...I Am a Superhero!" and it was fabulous. I went to several break out sessions.  One was called "The ABCs of DoK in ELA" (to non-ed folk, that's "Depth of Knowledge" and "English/Language Arts").  It focused more on assessment than I was hoping (and, for anyone who cares, Oklahoma, like Kansas, opted to NOT to go through their government-funded consortia, in their case PARCC), but I still found it mildly relevant.  It was interesting to talk to Oklahoma teachers and get a feel for what their concerns were...which was assessment.  I went to another break out on the 5 Es of lesson planning, but I wish I would have skipped that one and gone to the one called "Teaching the African American Male Student."  The girl I was with said she cried, it was so good and moving and necessary.  The best break out session I attended was on questioning techniques, and I am going to implement the principals the second I return to class.  SOOOOO good.  I may do a post just on that.

Our keynote speaker addressed the most important thing teachers need to hear this time of year - RELATIONSHIPS.  He talked about the "emotional bank account" and how every interaction with a student is either a deposit or a withdrawal.  He gave us a honking list of ways to make deposits with both students and co-workers.  Most of what he said was stuff I had already heard, but in the context of dating and marriage relationships, not student-teacher relationships.  I felt like a warped, cracked sponge just soaking up all of this watery, renewing encouragement.  It was EXACTLY what this teacher needed at the end of February.

And...here are the super-cool t-shirts!  Mine was pretty baggy...considering ordering a SMALL the next time I get a shirt!  We'll see :)

A HUGE thank you to my principal and fellow super-heroes for a great experience!

And...as a side-note, we got to meet the director of the CIA!  His name is John Brennan and Brian thought he was a sportscaster.  He got him to sign his copy of National Geographic anyway.  Being the head spy is pretty cool too.