Today I attended a session on the importance of engaging in teacher research to learn more about teaching and learning in the classroom, as well as to recognize the literacy practices that our students bring to the classroom (Catherine Compton-Lilly, University of Wisconsin-Madison).   By doing this we are respecting and acknowledging our students’ “funds of knowledge” (Luis Moll).  What we don’t know about our students often blocks learning from happening and can hinder our understanding of why some children may be reluctant or resistant to what we are trying to teach them.  Perhaps the materials I’m using are not culturally relevant or they address topics that do not reflect who that child is.  Conversations with children and families allow for the building of needed relationships between the school and the home. 

I also attended back-to-back sessions by Linda Dorn on Reading Recovery and another one led by Andrea Garcia (Hofstra University) and two doctoral students on miscue analysis and language learning.  Presenters at both sessions were notable for their passion and willingness to ask the hard questions of schools and themselves in order to better teach the children in their classrooms.  Children are being left behind every day due to the federal mandates that are grounded in business theory and practice and we need to reclaim sound educational principles based on teacher expertise and experience.  

Even though during the last couple of days it has been fairly easy to choose from among the sessions being offered, tomorrow’s offerings are another story.  There are some important presentations that all seem to be clustered at around the same time and on the last day of the conference.  This is not the first time I wished I could be in two places at once! 

More tomorrow.