2024 ICTE Fall Conference

​Every Teacher’s Journey​​​

The 2020s haven’t been easy for many educators. Having to guide students through staff shortages, rapid societal shifts, and a pandemic and its aftermath put a great strain on many teachers. Further, the news around education has so often been overwhelmingly negative, with each new news report making the current political disputes, increasing student mental health challenges, and funding issues feel intractable.
These struggles and issues are real, and yet lost against this backdrop is that the 2020s have also quietly offered more innovation and fresh solutions to old problems than ever before. Losing the face-to-face classroom for a while gave us a better sense for what matters, and recent years have seen a renaissance in our understanding of learning, the brain, and best practices. 
Lessons from the 2020s—led by full-time classroom teacher and author Matthew Johnson—looks to share what we’ve learned from this decade so far to take on the multitude of challenges we face in a better, more balanced, and, with some luck, a more joyful way. 

Gather with interest-based groups to discuss the chaos you're currently facing and process ways to move forward with hope and joy.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/16t1V0IHAoFO-N4L_Y3eRNSRV-Z3uhaDcTFU0MI8cn4I/edit#slide=id.g24c2ee36dc1_0_21

This space is for teachers in years 1-5 of their career (including preservice teachers). We'll do some active reading, writing, and talking about early career triumphs and struggles and how to sustain ourselves in this profession. This will be a brave space where vulnerability and authenticity are valued. We will place an emphasis on work/life balance and culturally responsive practices in the English classroom. This session will be adaptive to attendee needs, so feel free to come with personal concerns or areas where you need extra support.  NOTE: In order to maintain the integrity of this session, this is not a space for teacher educators, mentors, or veteran educators.

LINK TO SLIDES

Grammar and language instruction has long been, in the words of Brock Haussamen in Grammar Alive!, “the skunk at the garden party of the language arts" that turns many eager learners into disengaged participants. But why? How does grammar—something so relevant and essential that we use it in the creation of every syllable we say, write, or think—often become one of the dullest and most disconnected parts of the ELA classroom?
Good Grammar will explore this question and offer practical, on-the-ground solutions from a full-time teacher for how to make grammar and language instruction more accessible, practical, and connected to students’ reading, writing, and most importantly, the deep well of language knowledge they bring with them already. The title—Good Grammar—seeks to remind us that grammar doesn’t have to be boring or feel punitive. Instead, it can be a force for good for more students, affirming who they are, honoring the language expertise they bring with them, and helping them to bring their unique voices to the page.

Even though writing scholars like Thomas Newkirk emphasize that narrative is the backbone of all writing, school curricula emphasize argumentative writing instead. How might we create more space for narrative writing? How do we teach it in ways that it does not lose its sparkle once it becomes "schoolified"? Using Ruta Sepetys' book You the Story: A Writer's Guide to Craft through Memory as a mentor text, this session will invite students and teachers to view narrative with a storyteller's eye. Bring your notebook and be prepared to write!

SPARK VIDEO: Bot or Not?: All ELA educators are thinking about the growth of AI and its impact on writing instruction. AI tools can help our students with certain tasks, and they can be a hindrance in others. In this session, I will share a game I play with my students to help them recognize the benefits and drawbacks of AI-generated writing. We call the game "Bot or Not," and it's fast, fun, and easily customized. Participants in this session will learn, laugh, and leave with tools to help students engage in authentic conversations around the things AI writing can and cannot do.

SPARK Rural YA: This spark session will share findings and insights from previous book club discussions with Iowa teachers. Additionally, there will be an opportunity for teachers to sign up for the Spring 2025 iteration of the Reading Rural Book Club. Attendees will walk away with Rural YA Literature titles to share with their students.

SPARK Thought Experiment: I believe students like to go deeper than they think they can with their learning! Therefore, several years ago I began teaching a philosophy unit in my Advanced Placement Language and Composition classes.  In this session I will explain how I set up the unit (student-led Socratic seminars), offer a list of philosophical essays, and include a few philosophical thought experiments. There's more than a trolley problem!

Marci Rickords, Kaitlin Ritland, Quinn Dreasler, and Rachel Wagner, alums of Iowa Writing Project's Level I Institute 2023-2024, came away from class with a clear sense of the pedagogy and instructional practices it takes to create confident and capable student writers. Join these teacher-learners/teacher-leaders as they share what they know to be true about teaching writing: adult and peer response to student writing is crucial, student SEL is strengthened and supported through classroom writing, and reflective practices amplify student voice.

PRESENTATION MATERIALS (click on link here)

Kids like talking. Kids have opinions. Kids like talking about their opinions. But have them brainstorm about a topic for an essay or a project and they stare at you blankly and mumble "ah-uh-no." In this session, Skip Olson - second runner up of the 67th annual "Is It a Pumpkin or a Baby?" contest of Humboldt County in 1992 - will be your guide on how to get kids from weak, spoon-fed, intermittent drops to a torrential downpour of ideas (or maybe just a nice shower which, according to any Midwesterner, is something we could always use). Come for the strategies, stay for the increasingly bad puns.

Tired of comprehension quizzes? Bored with summary passages? Want to find a new way to see students interact with a text? Learn about a variety reading strategies to spice up the engagement of reading in your classroom. Explore visual and speaking tasks with that require minimal teacher preparation to see your students' analysis and depth of understanding of a complex text.

To Analysis and Beyond

Come learn about how a rural English teacher brought a True Crime podcast into her curriculum and enhanced her students ability to openly discuss their opinions, accurately research, work as a team, and create their own podcasts.

Secondary students thrive when their identities are recognized, their skills honed in intellectual pursuits, their concerns honored with the chance to critically solve problems in their community, and their joy is centered in the classroom. Join a literacy professor, an English Language Arts /ELL educator, and Reading/SPED teacher in this interactive session as they share the insights, strategies, lessons, and assessments inspired by a year-long study of Gholdy Muhammed’s Unearthing Joy. Engaging strategies, authentic assessments, and on-line resources wll be shared with partipants.

We will share our experience delving into the Science of Reading at the secondary level. Participants will experience a structured literacy lesson and leave with resources for rigorous, low prep routines to build reading skills. This is a session for ALL teachers of ALL grade levels. No prior experience necessary!

​Link to Slides :)​​​