KATE Conference 2016

Last weekend was the KATE Conference (or the Kansas Association of Teachers of English) in Wichita. I've known about it for a couple of months, because I was recommended to submit a presentation proposal. If you are a classmate or a colleague of mine, you probably know I like talking about graphic novels, and how they can be used in a classroom. I was told that this would be a good topic to talk about at this conference.

I was extremely nervous about the idea of presenting at a conference - this was something I had never done before, but it was certainly over a topic I talked about a lot. After some encouragement from friends, and a lot of proof reading, I decided to submit a proposal after all. The proposal was as follows:

            "As graphic novels become more and more popular, it is natural for some of our students to be drawn to them. Whenever I am with students in a school library, a handful of them always head straight for the shelves in which they are stacked. Students may love them so much because of their colorful pages, the range of topics they cover, or the ease with which you can get through a story. No matter the reason, it’s clear to me that some students would prefer reading graphic novels to any other kind of print media.

I have been interested in graphic novels myself for many years, so for me, this is where my passions meet. My goal as a teacher is to get books into the hands of children that they are excited about while also promoting their intake of good literature. With such insightful graphic novels such as Koko Be Good by Jen Wang or American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang, I believe these two goals can be met at the same time.

If we take the opportunity to teach students how to read graphic novels with a literary eye, we can show them that the comics they love to read also contain a deeper well of knowledge and insight. Teaching graphic novels in classrooms would mean exposing students to texts that deal with cultural and societal issues while also having conversations about artist and author choices within these texts. These lessons would also involve a history of comic books and graphic novels, as well as a tutorial on how to read such forms of media. With such a range of genres and topics, we can use graphic novels to start many different kinds of conversations within a classroom as well as open the door for analysis of literature that may have before seemed overwhelming or uninteresting. If a student isn’t thrilled about reading Moby Dick by Herman Melville, using the graphic novel based on the same story as supplementary material may be the ticket to getting that student engaged."

A couple of weeks later I found out that my proposal was accepted. I was very excited. And very nervous.

It was wonderful getting to attend the conference. Everytime I am surrounded by teachers, it is always so rewarding. I meet people who are really passionate about their content, and really excited about the opportunities to help students. The conference started out with a presentation by author Bill Konigsberg. He is the author of The Porcupine of Truth, Openly Straight, and Out of the Pocket, and he just came out with Honestly Ben, the follow up to Openly Straight. His speech was entirely moving - there was a couple of times I found myself close to tears. He talked about growing up as a gay kid, who didn't feel like he fit in to the stereotype of being gay, and also didn't feel like he could be honest about his sexuality. He grew up liking sports, and according to the stereotypes, gay males didn't like sports. It was years later, when he was a writer for ESPN, that he came out as being gay - and he came out in a very public way. He wrote an article titled "Sports worls still a struggle for gays" in which he talks about how hard it is for athletes to be honest about their sexuality if it does not fit in with that would be considered the "norm". He also talks about how someones sexuality says nothing about how well they can play sports. He says he can relate to this struggle, because until then, he had also said nothing about his sexuality.

"I'm an honest man, I do not lie about it, yet ironically by not saying anything I sometimes feel dishonest. Basically, my choice is either to correct people, or simply say nothing. I've done the  latter. Until now."

The coolest thing about conferences like this one is that you learn so much more than about being and English Language Arts teacher. You also learn a lot of really valuable life lessons. I would say that getting to listen to Bill was my favorite part of the conference. He opened my eyes to the struggles our students could being going through silently. Everyone is trying to figure out how to be their authentic self, while not feeling like they are alone in this journey. He told us about how books can saves lives, and sometimes by getting the right books into the right students hand, we can show them that they are not the only ones like them. 

As for my presentation, it went extremely well. It was a small and comfortable setting. I got to blabber on about something I really love, and I saw the twinkle in a couple of other teachers eyes when I mentioned literature strategies that work with graphic novels. I hope to continue bringing my passion into being a teacher, and to always step outside my comfort zone. Because that's where the growth happens. 

Teacher Identity - Genre Reflection #1

The purpose of this genre reflection assignment was to reflect back on what our teaching experience has been like so far this semester in a way that especially resonated with us. This meant that we could write about it in whatever creative way we saw fit. As someone who is always trying to merge writing and visual creativity, I knew I wanted to do a type of illustration. Previously, it has been a goal of mine to create several self portraits that had the sole purpose of reflection, so this seemed like a good opportunity to create one. I will not go into much more explanation of the final product, though, as I feel like the best experience with art and literature is for the viewer to be able to take away their own interpretation. I will say that I'm excited about the direction this is going in, and I do not feel like this project is over. I would like to continue to refine this idea in the future.

Viewing It vs. Doing It - Online Reflection #2

This week I've been given the reigns in the classroom and told that I can teach whatever I would like. This is a lot of freedom to give someone who basically doesn't know what they're doing yet. (Ok, that's not true- but when faced with a project like this, it can seem that way.) I knew that I wanted to do something that tied in to what they were already learning, so that cut down my options. I didn't want to swoop in and teach something that I chose at random, then to just have the teacher resume the previously built on lessons and curriculum when my turn was up ("We now return to your regularly scheduled programming").

Brainstorming started after my last blog post. I'm working in a classroom where they read a lot of articles and take a lot of notes. Was there anything I saw missing? Were there other ways they could look at taking notes? So, this is what I decided to focus on: "Good Reading and Writing Habits". The aim of this lesson is that they can even use these skills in other classrooms, or even in their life.

In my last blog post I talked about walking around, while the teacher guided the class in their lesson, and encouraging students to implement good focus strategies. This has come in the form of me asking open ended questions that apply to what they were working on, or showing them good ways to jot down their ideas (or encourage them to write down anything at all). The easy thing to do from my perspective in the classroom is ask myself "What's working? What isn't? What would I do the same or change completely?". And I spend a lot of time inside and outside of the classroom answering these types of questions to myself. I think that I have the answers...

And then I get in front of the class and try to do it for myself.

There is definitely a difference between knowing what you should do, and doing what you should know. I can stand in the wings all day and think "Oh, I've studied this, I know how this should work", but getting on the stage and seeing all of the things you have to account for is a completely different story.

I've only been in front of the class for two days, but already, I've noticed several things:
1. It's easy to see the students who are engaging in the lesson, and speaking out, and even easier to overlook the ones who are not participating at all.
2. Just because a class is quiet does not mean they are paying attention or absorbing what you have to say.
3. Even if you feel like the lesson went well, that may not be the case from another perspective. Never stop trying to grow and improve. Never stop asking questions.
4. It's hard to think of everything when you are up there. It's easy to forget a point you meant to make, or to skip around the material on accident.
5. Student engagement doesn't always come in the form of them talking. Engaging in a lesson can also mean that they are writing when prompted, so you need to prompt them more to write (as some students don't feel comfortable speaking out).

But a similarly important realization:
6. It's ok to have fun. When the students can tell you enjoy what you are doing, they seem to start enjoying it as well.

The majority of the feedback I've gotten from my instructor so far is her asking me how I'm going to get a higher percentage of the classroom involved while I teach. The answer to this wasn't immediate apparent to me, so I set out to find someone who could give me some hints. Stacy Hurst has some really good tips here, in her post titled "Seven Ways to Increase Student Engagement in the Classroom". Some easy suggestions she has is to include movement throughout the lesson, or to give them 2 minutes to write down ideas for every 10 minutes of your teaching. She even gives you ways to recognize what a completely engaged classroom looks like.

The rest of this week I will be working on implementing some, if not all, of these strategies and see how they work out for me.