Wow, thank you RR for making it manditory that we attend this conference! Like most everything assigned in this class, I understand why you require it of us. It makes sense to me. I appreciate it!
When I first got there, and listened to the Keynote speaker Jacqueline Woodson, I was pretty impressed by her. I liked her style. I didn’t like how she made an issue out of her sexuality, not because I have a problem with it, I just didn’t think it was pertinent. Nobody in the room asked her if she was married, did they? No big deal. I think I am going to take out Locomotion from the library (as soon as I pay my debt). In the car on the way homr, the girls were talking about how Ms. Woodson just started quoting from the book without making any comment that she was about to do so. That did throw me off a bit too. But, overall, I really liked her. I think it would be interesting to help her answer her fan mail via the internet, I should have talked to her about it. Some key “notes”-get it? “key notes!” that I got from her lecture:
-everyone has a story
-everyone has a right to tell their story
-When you are writing, fear is not allowed.
-You can’t write if you don’t read
I liked her technique of revising:
- tell me what you love
-ask me three questions
-tell me what still isn’t working
For concurrent session 1, I attended “Introducing a twenty-first century curriculum: incorporating mass communication into the english classroom.
I went to this one, because the girls I rode with went to it, and I didn’t want to get lost. I also hadn’t taken the time to look over the itinerary, so I didn’t have any set ideas of what interested me. I was disappointed. The three speakers were all really young, and I didn’t get a whole lot out of their session. Basically, the first speaker talked about wikis, and how they are not reliable resources because anyone can edit their content, no matter how knowlegable (or not) they are on the topic. She reccommended having your students edit a wiki to prove this fact, however, I don’t know how practical that would be. How would this really fit into a curriculum? Anyway, the next speaker talked about using u-tube to find examples of News with limited perspectives. Maybe this would work better in a journalism class, or even government? Lastly, the third speaker talked about layout and marketing and suggested students re-design a book cover for the book they are reading, taking into consideration: Contrast, Repetition, Alignment, Proximity, and Dominence. This seemed like a computer class assignment, demonstrating what you have learned in marketing class by tying it in with what you are reading in English. I fel tit had very little to do with actual literature.
For my second break-out session, I went by myself to “Staging outside the margins: How ensemble plays give voice to at risk populations.” Wow, after the first lady spoke, I was mega-inspired!!! She told us about her experiences working at Allegan Alternative School, and having her students use The House on Mango Street to write an ensemble play. The play was loosely based on Chapter 12, Those Who Don’t. She said her students connected with that chapter because people who don’t know them think they are druggies, scarry, etc. I don’t want to get too far into what she did, but I will on my pedogogy project, because she gave me alot of amazing ideas!!!! Her husband followed her, I don’t have anything interesting that I learned from him, and the last lady had us acting out poetry. It was ok, but nothing was as great as that first lady!
Anyway, I had an incredible experience at the Bright Ideas Conference, and I would definately go again. And I would probably drive alone, because now I know where it is, I would stay the whole time and go only to sessions that interest me. If I learned one thing it is to not be so afraid of getting lost. I’m a big girl and I can find places when I need to.
