This year's KATE Conference was not at all what I expected...I really enjoyed it! Although I was only able to attend sporadically on both Thursday and Friday, I definitely wish I had been available to attend more of it. Everyone was very nice and, after discovering I was a WSU pre-student teacher, very supportive!
My favorite session on Thursday was really informative on how to implement graphic novels in the classroom. The presenter was extremely thorough, which was great because I have a very limited knowledge when it comes to this genre. However, after this session, I now have several different ways and resources to teach units that students typically find dry and boring.
The session that was the most helpful to me was the one about using children's books in the classrooms as a tool for learning literary terms. Complete with assignment sheets and examples, this session clearly detailed how to have students write children's books that included examples of literary terms. When the books were complete, the students would go read them to 2nd graders, which I think is a great way of insuring that students put a great deal of effort into their books! I am definitely planning to use this in my future classroom, especially since my students had just finished taking a test over these terms last week and the results were a bit disheartening. After attending this session, though, I feel like I have a new and very exciting way for them to not only learn, but also invest themselves in their work.
I just want to agree with you that the KATE members and attendees were very supportive of us as pre-student teachers. It was also great to meet and talk to first year teachers that have recently gone before us as guinea pigs.
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