Yesterday, four colleagues and I drove from Northbrook, Illinois, to Springfield. We're here for the Illinois Reading Council Conference, one of the highlights of my professional year. As we drove through the flatness of the Illinois countryside, there was much talk and laughter in the van, and very little talk of school.
I'm so happy that I'm not attending this conference alone this year, as I have in years past. I am a social person, and I find that in order to fully process information, I need to talk about what I've seen and heard. After a day full of sessions, I like to talk to those who have traveled with me, dissecting bits and pieces of the various presentations, figuring out what will work for me in my classroom and what won't. Those debriefing times are among my favorites.
Yet, how many times do I forget to offer my students that same opportunity to talk and debrief their own learning?
Great Slice Mindi, To connect your professional life with your classroom...collaboration- it's what I love about the National Writing Project model and what I loved about teaching...
ReplyDeleteBonnie
Glad you are with colleagues at the conference. Hope you have another great day of learning, talking, writing, & reading.
ReplyDeleteRuth
Great question to consider at the end. Glad you have companions to share your learning, going solo is lonely and hard.
ReplyDeleteIsn't collaboration wonderful. I love that you were able to share with and process with friends. Great reminder to us all about allowing children to oral process too. :)MaryHelen
ReplyDeleteI hope you have a wonderful time learning/seeing new things with your friends. You captured the moment well, in the car, getting to talk about things that are so often ignored in the quick hall conversations.
ReplyDeleteI am a fellow Illinois teacher. However, I was not able to make the trip this year for the IRC conference. Too hard to leave my 10 month old girls! Hope you enjoy and learn and meet great leaders! Do share some good stuff! I'll be looking forward to it!
ReplyDeleteThanks!
Point well taken! I need to do the same with my students! Thanks for sharing! Happy Slicing! :o)
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