Elevating and Celebrating Effective Teachers and Teaching in Kentucky

Just under a year ago, a few educator colleagues and I had a dream, and it all started with my friend, Sherri, telling us about what we were about to experience as we prepared to attend the national ECET2 conference in California. At this national conference, I met a fellow Kentucky educator whom I had never before met because he was from another part of the state.  When we returned home to Kentucky, many of the Kentucky ECET attendees began a twitter campaign and tweeted our hearts out because of Sherri's inspiration before we even attended the conference.  Sherri had a dream that we would put on a similar conference here in Kentucky for our teacher friends.  Today, that dream became a reality.  Even in the midst of a Kentucky snowstorm, teachers braved the elements to come together in Lexington to elevate and celebrate our profession.

Classroom teachers led our day, from our Master of Ceremonies (a high school social studies teacher) to our opening keynote (Sherri) to our breakout sessions (teachers from all subjects and grade levels), to our colleague circle groups (teachers from all grades and subjects) to our lunch keynote speaker (Florida 2010 Teacher of the Year, Megan Allen) to our closing speaker, a 6-12 science teacher from Robertson County, Kentucky.

Sherri encouraged us to get up, team up, and speak up because our profession depends upon it.  As

educators in all capacities, we do what we do for the sake of students, and it's important that we not do it in isolation.  By collaborating and using our voices, we can make a difference.

Sherri Presenting.  Photo by Amanda Riley

Irvin Scott led us in song, and together we began the togetherness Sherri mentioned in her speech.  Imagine a room full of teachers singing (to the tune of the Black Eyed Peas song--I've got a feeling) "I've got a feeling that I'm making a difference in kids' lives."

Venturing into colleague circle groups, teachers from around the state gathered in small groups of eight to discuss important issues around education in our state right now.

• What obstacles have you as teachers faced in becoming a leader in your school or district?
• What successes have you achieved in teacher leadership recently?
• What can be accomplished in your school, district, and/or state to encourage teacher leadership?
• What steps can you take in order to help more teachers become leaders?
• What and how will you share materials from this conference with those in your school/district?
• What does teacher leadership mean to you?
• What does teacher engagement look like in your classroom/district?
• What are the best mechanisms/social media outlets to continue the discussions/interactions/work of the Colleague Circles?

Not all of these questions were discussed at once, obviously.  In between break out sessions, teachers returned to their colleague circle groups to talk, network, and collaborate on building one another up as a teacher.


Break out sessions (led by teachers) included

1. Learning and Improving Practice Through Collaboration
2. Leveraging your Voice
3. Teacher Leadership that Transforms
4. Fireside Chat:  Personal Journeys in Teacher Leadership
5. Your Voice Matters:  Reimagining Teacher Preparation
6. Google Apps in Education (cancelled due to a new baby being born by the presenter's wife)

At each breakout session we attended we met new colleagues and actively participated in the conversations around each of the presented topics.  These were led by teachers; they were not "sit and get" PD sessions.

We sang, we laughed, we grew teary eyed from stories, we shared and collaborated, and we left feeling inspired with our teaching souls nourished.

Do These Three Things to Benefit from Attending Professional Conferences

 

In a time of tight school budgets, too often opportunities for teachers to attend conferences fall by the wayside. With continued research about the benefits of professional learning being embedded into our jobs, I think it’s important we also remember the benefits of attending professional conferences.  As professionals in our field, it’s up to us to benefit from our limited opportunities to attend professional conferences. 

Listen.  Attending professional conferences can be a professionally rewarding experience because we get to hear and participate in sessions as well as hallway or lunch table conversations.  Listening to presentations informs us of what other educators are doing beyond our own school/district/state walls.  In turn, this can inspire our own research, reflection, and refinement.  Just as we know “shutting our doors and teaching” leaves us feeling isolated, at conferences we should make it a point to talk and listen with others.

Learn.  We learn from talking with others about our work because we can see what confuses people, articulate what’s working or not working in our own practice and acquire new ideas to try in our own schools and districts.  When the sessions we attend at professional conferences set clear learning objectives, we can evaluate our own attainment of those learning goals as we participate in the session.  Just as we want students to self-assess themselves in our classrooms, so should we assess ourselves when we attend professional conferences.

Network.  Seeing people in our field excited about their work is a benefit.  By networking and socializing with others, it’s amazing how many opportunities to collaborate with others come our way.  In an increasingly globally connected society, we expect our students to learn and collaborate with others within and beyond our school walls.  As professionals, so should we collaborate with others at professional conferences before we attend, while we’re there and afterwards as well.  Building new and effective relationships with other professionals increases our ability to continue providing learning opportunities for our students.

When we listen, learn, and network, we return home from professional conferences feeling refreshed, invigorated, and ready to move learning forward in our local communities.  This is exactly the way I feel right now upon my return from the Kentucky Council of Teachers of English Annual Conference.