Friday, March 15, 2013

Slice of Life Fifteen - Conference highlights



Slice of Life is sponsored every Tuesday by Stacey and Ruth from Two Writing Teachers. For the month of March we are challenging ourselves to write a Slice A Day.


Conferences. When I first started teaching I don’t think I understood the power of attending conferences or workshops. If I did attend any, they were ones that I could go to in a nearby town. Even those were pricey, in retrospect, but I went.

Now I go to as many as I possibly can. I have three professional development days in my district. The remainder of the conferences are paid for by me. (Chris too, I suppose.) I consider this money well spent. I attend sessions and come back rejuvenated, ready to tackle anything in the classroom. Better than any day of shopping or at the spa, at least in my book.

I’ve been fortunate in the last week to attend two fabulous reading conferences – Michigan Reading Association and Illinois Reading Council’s annual conferences. In a few days, I’ll try to summarize some of the key insights I gained from these sessions. Right now, a few pictures will have to suffice.

The sessions at MRA were wonderful. The highlight was meeting up with so many wonderful friends. Here are just a few shots.

Donalyn after her fabulous lunch talk on communities.

The famous Mr. Sharp.

What can I say, Brian is so famous he has to wear sunglasses? 

Filming a #nerdbery video. Trying not to laugh.
At IRC I laughed out loud during Jeff Anderson’s amazing sessions. My highlight, however, would be presenting with two amazing colleagues, Clay and Wendy.

Clay, Wendy, and I. Presentation done. 

And with that – spring break begins at 2:10 today! My week of reading and relaxation will commence. Have a fabulous Friday, my friends.