English Teachers

Have I ever told anyone how much English Teachers are alike? I mean for instance we all correct spelling and punctuation, we're always talking about books, and we love to discuss teaching. This weekend I went to the state English conference. Most people would say "I hate English teachers", but being one myself, I really enjoy them. I am on the state board, so I had a lot to do, but also got to enjoy myself. I facilitated a discussion on fun with groups in the classroom. I didn't really realize until I started talking to other teachers how much group work I do. My students learn the most when they do they type of group work I do, so I use it. Other teachers don't use it at all! For lunch we had this incredible speaker. I mean fabulous! He was the 2000 teacher of the year in sd and he was magnificent. We laughed from the moment we got there until we left. Laugh, Love, Live and Leave a Legacy. I definately want to be more like that. We had some great sessions and a wonderful banquet. The 2004 Author of the year David Allan Evans was the speaker. He read us some of his poetry and talked about writing poetry. He signed his book afterwards. It was great for me to see him again. He was my favorite English professor at college and I was inspired by him. Some of the things I do in class are because of him. After the banquet we had some very open discussion at the bar and a very relaxing social session. Sat. morning we had more speakers. My favorite was Jason who did bringing pop music into the classroom. Hopefully I can also incorporate that into my class this spring. I had some much fun and learned a ton. I can't believe that I enjoyed presentations so much. English teachers rock!