KATE Conference Blog

 

The KATE Conference was an exciting time for me. The conference took place on November 1^st and 2^nd. Sadly, I was not able to make the first day of the conference. That does not mean I did not have a great time. I went to a breakout session that talked about the KATE Pages which is their blog and their Kansas English which is peer reviewed journals where teachers can write about anything English related to help out other teachers. I was more interested in learning about the blog than anything else. With their blog it is less formal, so more stuff gets published than with the Kansas English journal. I liked learning about how to submit work to the blog and that they showcase students works as part of their voices of America. That being said teachers and educators can show their short stories and creative work on the blog as well. There are limits to the number of words the post can be which I don’t think is a big problem but trying to get students to write 1000 words or less does seem like a problem. Students these days only write thinking that their teacher is the audience, but I believe getting them to publish their work on the blog is a great tool to help them broaden their audience.

The Peer-reviewed journal is a great tool for English educator and teachers. I especially recommend new teachers check out the column teaching tips. As new teachers come into our schools, we can never get enough help. Eventually problems arise and with the column teaching tips it is most likely that another teacher has had the same problem, and you read about their experience with that problem and gather ideas on how you can handle it. They even have book reviews, reflective essays, practitioner pieces, and Kansas-Specific Articles which are all helpful tools for a new English teacher. With the practitioner pieces teachers in the ELA describe how they teach a particular skill, text, or concept in their classroom. Scholarly articles have research-based studies and academic arguments that are supported by research done in the ELA or literacy education. The book reviews are help because if you are struggling to find a book to teach in the classroom you look at this specific column to get an idea on children’s/Young adult books and recent published English/literacy pedagogy texts. It help to continue to learn and absorb knowledge. With the pedagogy texts you can learn new ways to do assessments or even get ideas on how to teach a text in the classroom.

The reflective essays are about how to teach ELA and/or literacy in the classroom and as a new teacher stepping into the classroom you never have enough information to use. The Kansas articles are in general relatively easy to understand. They are articles that have been published about ELA/literacy that are specific to Kansas. I believe this website is essential for learning more about the English Language Arts classroom. The guess speaker Jason DeHart talked about how comics and graphic novels have gotten a better reputation in the classroom. He also talked about the complexity of these pieces can be, not just in the artwork but in the way it is presented with its themes. I thought it was really interesting to learn more about how we can use comics and graphic novels in the classroom. Not only that but picture books can be just as complex. There really is no perfect book to teach in the classroom. Every book be essential even if it does not spark every student in the classroom. As long as one student is inspired to continue reading and writing then I would say that the book was perfect for them. The KATE conference is an incredible place to learn more about the ELA classroom and a great way to make connections with other teachers and learn from their experiences.

With that said if this blog post has inspired you the dates are step for next year. Save the date for 2025 KATE conference October 24^th and 25^th. This is a great way to get student teachers introduced to more experienced teachers and as a student teacher myself I had a blast creating my own panel with my fellow classmates and teacher. I did a book talk on the book Invisible Son by Kim Johnson and how you can use this YA book in the classroom and if I can do it so can you.