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In any career, we need time to “re-fill our bucket” so to speak. It is so easy to get bogged down in the little details of the teaching profession and it is not uncommon to get stale. That is why it is important to do something to reset and give ourselves a spark. This past Thursday, I had the opportunity to attend the GAR Educator’s conference. It was such a great conference and gave me some ideas to think about.

1. One of the main speakers spoke about the need to understand the unconscious bias that we all carry with us when it comes to race, gender, religion, etc. It is so important to recognize when it is happening and be more intentional in our thoughts and actions.

2. The first breakout session I attended was about Growth Mindset. While I have read many articles and books about Growth Mindset, the speakers brought home the point that it all starts with the teacher. If the teacher does not demonstrate a growth mindset on a consistent basis and really mean it, it is going to be very difficult to convince the students that this is important. I love the idea of providing students with opportunities to struggle in a safe environment and allow themselves to make mistakes, which will help them improve and grow.

3. The second breakout session I attended was about Project Based Learning (PBL). The two administrators from Hudson detailed a STEM lesson in which students were working on a real-life scenario involving a high-speed car. The lessons were for an authentic audience and allowed the students to see how these skills they are learning in school can be used in the “real world.” I was inspired to begin thinking about ways this applies to an English class. One of my goals is to identify authentic opportunities for students to communicate through writing and talking to experts in their fields of blogging, writing, etc. When the assignments are connected to something real, it is more meaningful.

Overall, I feel like I took away some really great ideas and it will take some thinking and planning to carry them out, but I look forward to the process. Be ready, students!

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Comments

  1. AnonymousOctober 6, 2019 at 8:22 AM

    It sounds like you had a really good time at the conference. Thats neat you guys split up into two sections. I can't wait to hear your ideas from the conference. As a student reading this blog, it really is important to have a growth mindset and it's okay to make mistakes, which helps us improve and grow at the same time.

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  2. AnonymousOctober 7, 2019 at 5:15 AM

    I love what they had to say about the importance of having a growth mindset in the classroom. Sometimes, I think we all forget that we have the ability to improve at something. I also like what the conference had to say about making mistakes in a safe environment because mistakes are vital for learning. I think I would have enjoyed attending this conference!

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