Expectations vs Reality

     I recently had the opportunity to attend the KATE conference. I had high expectations going in with hopes of gaining a plethora of knowledge to apply to the classroom. I don't know if it was the buildup for it or the fact I set my expectations so high, but I left the conference feeling a little let down. Not to say it was all bad there were some great moments, it just wasn't what I had expected.

    The breakfast both days was awesome and this also allowed me time to get around and talk with peers about theirs plans for the day at the seminar. Also, the initial key note speaker was great. She had planned activities that made me look at things from a different view point, showed a new way to look at poetry that I will be able to use in the classroom, and never seemed to be bragging or trying to sell me something. Had my seminars I attended all went like this the conference would have far surpassed my expectations.

     The first seminar I attended while interesting had a focus towards the elementary levels, while interesting I felt I really wasn't gaining much of value from the lecture. The books on poetry they had brought to showcase were aimed at a k-5 level and much of the lecture was about getting young children to write poetry.

    The next session seemed to be hit and miss for me. It was suppose to have a focus towards young adult literature, which at the beginning was the case. however, as the lecture progressed it seemed to deteriorate into a Common Core Bashing session. Had the session been able to stay with the initial topic I feel I would have really enjoyed this session; instead I left thinking about what it could have been.

    At lunch I headed out with friends to get some food and we rushed back to see the lunch keynote speaker. I really hoped it would be inspiring like the one I had witnessed in the morning. What I found was a man giving the opposite speech of what I had heard earlier in the day instead of bashing common core he was touting how great it was. This was followed with what seemed to be a sales pitch for his books.

     I know common core is a hot topic right now and I hope that is why the conference was plagued with seminar after seminar debating the merits of it and going off topic from their initial presentation. This is not to say all the sessions ended up this way/ I went to one very enjoyable session where the presenter commented jokingly that his presentation would be common core free. This presentation showcased a history lesson on "The Little Red School House." During the presentation he gave the history of the little red school houses across the US and showed pictures from a trip he had taken to see a number of them. This provided a much needed break from the common core debate and was very enjoyable. Likewise I was able to attend a session that showed how to relate the importance of protecting our past through archeology and how to relate it to the English classroom.

     I do plan to attend next year and hopefully after some of the excitement of common core has started to die down we can have more seminars that focus on teacher development and less on common core positive and negatives.

Genre Reflection

The Lost Student

            Imagine a classroom where you feel you do not belong, a classroom you never wished to be in, quite frankly a classroom where you feel destined to fail. This is the reality for one young girl who never did well in English classes, but suddenly found herself placed in Honors English I her first year of high school. Struggling with the assignments she put on the façade acting as if she doesn’t do the assignment to be “cool,” when in reality she is too scared to try fir fear of her friends finding out she isn’t “smart enough” to be there.

            This was not always the case however. When first coming into the class she had hopes of succeeding, of impressing her friends and family, and creating a new school identity for herself. But upon completion of her first essay the dread that filled her eyes was clear, the amount of red marks on her paper staring back at her, with the unmistakable F telling her that she had tried, yet still failed. This demoralized every fiber of her being. From this point on she resided to not even try at her assignments, to act like she failed, because the assignment didn’t matter to her, and to act out to get laughs from her peers, when her secret might be in jeopardy.

            The breaking point arrived the day of class reading. She sat with her heart pounding hoping in vain that no one would call on her to read. Alas, this was not to be the case as she heard her name called and felt all the eyes upon her she struggled to find an escape.  With no clear way out she took the only way she could think of. Knowing the repercussions could be severe she threw her book to the floor an yelled, “I don’t read and you sure ain’t going to make me!”

            Being quickly escorted out into the hall her strength and façade quickly faded upon exiting the threshold of the room. Breaking down and confiding her fear, worries, and lack of belonging to the instructor, she knew that the instructor may help, but she also knew things couldn’t possibly be worse. To her wonder the instructor explained options to her and said she would help to have her placed into a normal classroom. Though it won’t be instant she now has hope once again for the future.