Click here for the 2024 Fall Conference Schedule
Teaching sometimes feels like driving through a construction zone. All may look clear according to the map, but an unexpected roadblock – a detour – has the potential to derail even the best adventure. Similarly, we plan and prepare in our classrooms, anticipating the journey ahead, only to learn mid-stride of new district initiatives, new legislation, new struggles facing our students and ourselves. It is easy, then, to lose sight of the joy that initially drew us to this noble profession.
Now more than ever, we must take the opportunity to focus on what truly matters in education and reinvigorate our spirits with the passion and courage to forge ahead into the unknown.
We hope you will join us for the 2024 ICTE Fall Conference – Refocus and Revive: Finding Joy in the Journey — held October 10-11, at Stoney Creek Inn Hotel & Conference Center, 5291 Stoney Creek Court, Johnston, IA 50131.
THURSDAY KEYNOTE
On Thursday, we will learn with Matthew Johnson, an English teacher who has spent the last decade researching and implementing strategies to focus our feedback to help us save the most valuable resource in education: time. His book, Flash Feedback: Responding to Student Writing Better and Faster – Without Burning Out, not only provides teachers with efficient, time-saving strategies but also take-home resources to implement in the classroom. He writes, “Faster is not always better. However, the right innovations can increase speed and allow us to do more with less…amazing teachers and researchers have, often quietly, given us a blueprint for exactly how to do that. It is possible to respond to student writing effectively, efficiently, and memorably – in less time.” As a practicing English teacher himself, his keynote gives us hope that balance is possible.
FRIDAY KEYNOTE
Then, on Friday, join us to learn alongside Jim Burke. (Yes, that Jim Burke!) With over thirty years of classroom experience and numerous best-selling books and awards, Jim has spent his career focusing on best practices to help students learn – and best practices to help teachers teach. In the words of Jim himself, “Few resources these days are more scarce or threatened than our attention. As teachers, we struggle to capture and keep students’ attention through the assignments we create, the texts and topics we choose, and the methods and media we use. As if that were not challenging enough, while we compete against social media and students’ mental and emotional difficulties in the ‘attention economy,’ we must grapple with many of the same challenges ourselves when it comes to the demands of our work.” His keynote on attention spans and their impact on our classrooms, our students, and ourselves will undoubtedly help us navigate these ever-changing times in education.
SUBMIT A BREAKOUT PROPOSAL AND REGISTER!
As we look to the summer, please consider ways you can share your knowledge and passion with our ICTE community. You can participate in our summer book studies, submit a breakout proposal, and register for the fall conference. You can also apply to be a member of the ICTE Board or nominate a teacher for an award! Together, let’s refocus, revive, and rediscover joy in the journey that is teaching English.
See you in October!
Deneen Nelson, Conference Chair
