#TeacherNerd

I've been to two or three teacher conferences and I've always loved them. This writing workshop was no different! <3

My first session was art in education. Upon entering the room, I was immediately distracted by the amazing chairs. But I won't make the same mistake twice! The session presenters had us do two separate activities. First, we did something similar to blackout poetry but were given additional craft implements and were invited to create art with a message. I found the activity even more inspiring than the first we did in class. Both allowed for creativity but the second invited more options. In addition to the poems, we also interrupted Shakespeare using Tableaus. We split into groups and it allowed us to really analyze the reading in order to stage the tableaus. After each activity, the presenters asked us, "What did we do?" They promoted us to use only short descriptions like communicate, interpret, analyze, etc. It ended with a sharing of best practices of other art in the classroom. I only wish we had more time.

The second session was about relationship building. Some stuff I learned, I already know like Human Bingo. But I learned other activities like Name Juggling, One-minute listening, and 365 Questions of self. My favorite thing about these activities were the presenter always ended the activity by asking how we can use this activity in our classroom. It allowed us to get pretty creative on how to build relationships while academically improving.

Though I wasn't as inspired by the keynote speaker as the sessions, I found her activity of letter writing inspiring and only hope it would have the same effect on a student.

Overall, it was a wonderful learning experience. I am thankful I was reminded of how much I love these conferences.