Ms. Brill's First KATE Conference!!!

WOW, I can't believe I got to attend my first KATE Conference last week. I am so grateful I had that opportunity - especially because I was able to attend sessions with my classmates. It was so comforting to have all the pre-service English education candidates with me at the conference to go through that new experience together. 

The sessions I attended at the KATE conference were amazing. One that was particularly helpful for me was the session for pre-service teachers. I loved that I was able to share my fears with other classmates and have discussions on how we can combat these fears. The presenter kept telling us that we are teachers, and we are warriors. I love that, and I think I’m going to make that my new phrase from now on.

I couldn’t help but feel like a proud mom when I attended the sessions my classmates lead. They all carried themselves so well and were able to keep the session on task. I admired them so much for their courage in standing up in front of teachers that have had their own classrooms for years and having the confidence to know that their ideas were valuable.

I have so much respect for the “real” teachers that attended these sessions and offered their input. It was so helpful to have people with experience in the session. I met several of them at the social at Public, and I think that is so valuable to me as a pre-service teacher. I could tell they cared about my success and wanted to get to know me.

My favorite memory from the conference was definitely when a teacher in USD 259 commented during one of the sessions that she had confidence in all the future teachers she saw at the conference. Overall, when I left the conference, I felt like my inspiration for teaching had been reignited. I am so excited to attend the KATE conference again after I have a class of my own and can bring my own advice through my successes and failures to pre-service teachers!

We are teachers, and we are warriors!

If I Could Write a Letter to Me

Dear Future Ms. 

          I hope this letter finds you happy and healthy in your life and in your teaching career! What has teaching been like now that you have been in the classroom for a few years? If you were to look back at where I am right now in my college experience, what is the biggest piece of advice you would give me?

So far in my education classes I have learned a lot about reading strategies, accommodating for diverse learners, and other strategies for improving my teaching. Something I hope I see this year and in my student teaching experience is more feedback from my peers in my education classes, my instructors, and my Mentor Teacher.

Classrooms, teachers, and students are always changing, so I think it’s important to include what I have observed in schools over the past couple years so you will be able to compare it to what you are experiencing in your classroom now.

Observing in the middle schools and high schools has been really beneficial to get real-world experience – at least I’m hoping so. I am interested to look back on my student teaching experience and see how helpful it was to my actual real-world teaching. The Mentor Teacher I am paired with has a lot of great ideas that I would like to implement into my classroom. I can tell that he wants to go beyond just teaching the bare minimum. I hope to one day have student teachers and inspire them as much as my Mentor Teacher has inspired me.

Education majors also have a unique experience in being a student that observes students. We are learning along with the students we observe but in different ways. Social media has a huge influence on students in the classroom now. It has an influence on their language, their writing process, and so much more. I am interested to see how social media will change and affect students when I am a teacher.

I have several predictions and goals for myself and my career in teaching. I predict that I will be teaching in a middle school somewhere in Kansas. One goal I have is that I will still have as much love for teaching as I did in college. One way I can achieve this is by staying up-to-date with new strategies and techniques in the classroom to make mine more interesting. Another goal I have is to make a difference in students’ lives. Every student has one teacher that made their middle school or high school years more special, and I hope to be that teacher for at least a few of my students.

Just as I have asked for advice to my future self as a teacher, I also have some advice for the future teacher in me as well. My advice is that even the most accomplished teachers have their off-days and mess up sometimes. No one has perfect lesson plans every single day of the year. Even college professors aren’t perfect. I also believe teaching and learning should go both ways between myself and my students. I need to be learning from my students just as often as I should be teaching I hope when I read this letter in a few years, a few of my predictions have come true and I have accomplished at least some of my goals.

Until then,

Ms. Brill