NMCTE’s FALL CONFERENCE SAW ET’s IN ROSWELL

 What a pleasure it was to host everyone in our fair city.  About ninety or so ET’s (English Teachers ~ thanks Dennis) came together in Roswell during the last weekend in October for a wonderful Fall Conference 2005.  Teachers from all over the state came to listen, learn, talk, and share their ideas for 21st Century Literacy.
 After greetings from outgoing President Janet Malta and conference chair Dennis Fazio (our new President), Jeanne Whitehouse Peterson, our keynote speaker, reflected on her mother’s influence on her life as she entered the teaching profession.  “The catfish has joined the cotton balls,” so said her mother, a lifelong teacher from Amity, Oregon.
 Jeanne reflected on the thread that runs through her teaching.  “I believe that as professionals the more we engage our students in the reality of life, … the closer we are to the heart of teaching.”  According to Jeanne, that thread for her is books, writing, community, and making students and not programs the center of learning.
 She asks, “Where is the child?”  Children grow up in a world they don’t construct.  We must take students out into life to see and experience the rhythms and patterns of the land and life.  That connectedness to the realities of life reflects Jeanne Peterson’s journey.  She asks us to also question ourselves about what is the thread for our journey.
 And then there were the sessions—reading, writing, growing as teachers, discussions about violence in young adult literature, ideas on censorship, publishing books with students, using newspapers in the classroom, using writing and vocabulary in the math curriculums, bridging the digital gap—all sessions of great value and filled with wonderful ideas……..
 We certainly missed those who could not make it this year—see inside for more on the Fall Conference.