Obligations
We are all very grateful to Patrick Bettencourt for encouraging and supporting the presentation and trip. Not only was the conference an excellent experience in terms of professional development; it was very exciting to get to know our fellow colleagues. While many conversations revolved around instructional and scholarly aspects of our lives (previous experience, reading and writing interests, academic pursuits, professional opportunities, and future hopes for education and our personal careers), there were also moments when we learned a little about the humanity of the profession, the many things we shared in common outside of work, and the "lives behind the curtain" (so to speak). We hope that faculty, both new and seasoned, have this same opportunity for professional growth.
Certainly, in addition to all of this, we also intend to provide an article for the division newsletter, intellectually stimulating discussion to all those who are interested, and materials/handouts to anyone who seeks more information.
Certainly, in addition to all of this, we also intend to provide an article for the division newsletter, intellectually stimulating discussion to all those who are interested, and materials/handouts to anyone who seeks more information.
posted by Emalsam | 7:30 AM
6 Comments:
I am grateful to Patrick Bettincourt for leading the way to this conference and supporting us, and also to Adrienne and Op who sent in the panel proposal. I have to say that on Thursday night at 10pm as I drove to the Bay Area so I could take a flight to Long Beach at the crack of dawn on Friday, I asked myself “Did I really need to take this on?” Flying back home a short while later, I felt so glad to have participated. For one, I really enjoyed listening to my colleagues talk about their hiring experience. Furthermore, our panel was well-received and that always feels good. Finally, away from the weekly workload, I was able to really appreciate being part of an academic community--both local and statewide--in a way that I haven’t been before.
We owe them [our colleagues/our division] our best, most informed efforts in the classroom, not to mention the shared information for our colleagues. I consider my job a service; therefore, one of the reasons I go to a conference is to get more to give. This blog is a way of sharing more information than is allowable in the newsletter and perhaps in a more casual manner than might show up in an article.
So, if we had to condense our reasons for going into one concise paragraph, what would they be?
Well, professional development is an obvious one, and I already mentioned collegiality, both formal and informal, but I would have to say that general inspiration is a key reason to attend a conference like ECCTYC. In the day-to-day of being an instructor, I don’t find that I have a great deal of time to explore different pedagogies and interact at length as much as I’d like. Conferences, while intellectually demanding, are enough of a breather from the upkeep of being a teacher to reinvigorate and revise what I do in that day-to-day mode when I come back.
If I had to condense my reasons for going to conferences such as the one we recently attended, I'd have to say that inspiration and professional development are the most important. As a teacher, I have benefitted from nealy every conference session I've ever attended. For example, the first conference I ever attended was the MLA conference in 2000. The presenters at one of the sessions I attended had very detailed handouts of the discrete lesson plans over the course of a 3-week unit on textual analysis. At the time, I found those handouts invaluable as an example I could follow as I planned my courses. But I have revisited those handouts repeatedly over the past five years and gleaned more and more practical tips to incorporate into the lessons I plan. But aside from that, when teachers attend conferences and return inspired and reinvigorated, their students are immediate beneficiaries. When teachers share what they learned, their colleagues derive benefits as well. And that, I think, is what we owe to our students, our colleagues, and our division.
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