MCTE Conference

The conference last week was beneficial for me to go to as a soon to be teacher. The two sessions that i found to be really helpful for me were the ones that talked about experiences from first year teachers and the pros and cons to their experiences, and the digital storytelling. I thought the session that surveyed 50 teachers, most of which were in their first five years of teaching was interesting to attend, since i am going to be a first year teacher soon. However, i thought it would have been more beneficial if we had actually had the opportunity to hear from the teachers themselves, not just read about the stats and information. I knew a lot of the positives to first year teaching experiences, but i was shocked to hear about a lot of the negatives from first year experiences. I think the biggest shock was when teachers didn't even have their own classroom. This would be hard for a first year teacher because you want to feel at home and comfortable, and if you don't have a room it is hard to do that. I also think that not having textbooks would be the biggest thing. Even though this was an English conference, i could see this being a huge hindrance for other subjects, especially math, which is my major. This would be really hard because if the students don't have textbooks, it is nearly impossible for them to be able to do the homework, or have a resource to look at while doing homework. This also relates to the digital storytelling session that i went to. the session started off a little rocky because the two teachers leading it couldn't get the technology to work, and sine the session was all about technology, they were a little worried. However, i think this happening only emphasizes that technology doesn't always work, and you have to have a backup plan. This is a positive lesson for all teachers to learn. However, i don't think i really would want to use this in my English classroom just because it seems to basic. I could see using it for middle schools but if i used it in the high school, i would want to find a way to make it more complex. However, in a math classroom i think this could be very beneficial to the students. I think this is true because it would be a good way to get the students thinking outside the mathematical way to explain things. It is a way to incorporate english into a math class, which can help some students who might not think very mathematically. They could use these digital stories to explain a concept in math and then show their stories to the class. It would be a good learning experience, and i plan on using something like this in my math class once i am a teacher. This conference was really helpful and gave me a lot of motivation as a soon to be teacher. I think it is especially beneficial when it wasn't even a math conference, but i was able to apply these topics to math.