1. You get to meet people with similar interests
and experiences who may help you expand your educational and
professional network
2. You become exposed to new opportunities and
experiences
3. You may be challenged to consider new ideas
and theories that can impact your own teaching
4. Your may be energized, inspired
and encouraged
5. You too have the opportunity to exhibit,
demonstrate, or share your ideas for reading
6. You have an opportunity to build potential
partnerships and relationships that will help you personally or
professionally
7. You might be inspired to write or create
something new for your own classroom
8. You may receive answers to difficult or
challenging questions that you have been considering
9. You will find lots of practical information
you can put to immediate use.
Here
are a few of the comments from some of the sessions from the last
conference:
Amanda
Slater, an elementary education major at UCF said, "I attended the
National Geographic Explorer session with Mireya Mayor. This
was a very interesting session. I have never been to a
conference before and this was an excellent session to kick off the day
for me. I was very intrigued and really liked her speech and
pictures. The video clips were amazing. What an
awe-inspiring woman!"
And Carmeron
Jones, a 5th grade teacher added, "I really enjoyed the National
Geographic presentation with Mireya Mayor. I loved all the
pictures and videos that she provided. I can't wait to show
my class her website and let them track a "real-life"
explorer. They will love that added to our science center."
Brain
research has been a focus in teaching at my school for several
years. I was excited to attend Katie Garner's session on "The
Secret to Cracking the Reading Code". Her research-based
strategies and bag of tricks were energetically presented and left us
all satisfied and empowered to "crack the reading code".
Pamela Buff, Bradenton, FL
Deb Tremblay,
Osceola County contributed that the
Conversations and Comprehension presented by Vicky Zygouris-Coe and
Lourdes Smith offered wonderful ideas and strategies to engage students
in reading and help them interact with one text, regardless of content
area. Targeted conversation will increase comprehension, and
the presenters offered three different approaches that may be
integrated into any classroom without an overwhelming amount of teacher
preparation.
