Reflections on the Get Connected ELA Conference by Carol Frow, Amy Bouch, and Conference Attendees

 Reflections on the Get Connected ELA Conference 

by Carol Frow, Amy Bouch, and Conference Attendees

WPCTE had the pleasure of partnering with Saint Vincent College’s Education and Communications Departments for the very successful Get Connected ELA Conference held March 30, 2022 at the lovely Fred Rogers Center on Saint Vincent’s campus. The conference began with an uplifting keynote address from Dr. Matt Skillen who is a professor at Elizabethtown College in central PA and a co-editor of the NCTE Journal Voices from the Middle. Dr. Skillen was able to join our conference through the partnership with NCTE’s Cosponsored Speaker Program. Attendees then enjoyed three sets of sessions and several vendor tables as well as a tasty lunch before the day had to wrap up. During the closing, attendees reflected anonymously on a Padlet on several topics, which inspired plenty to share in this blog!

What was the best part of today?

Attendees at the conference ranged from teachers who have been around for quite some time to those in the very early and even pre-teaching stages. That blend of old and new also best summed up the best parts of the day! From the difficulties of the past few years, many people reflected on how energized they now felt: “My love for teaching was reinvigorated!” Comments also centered on best practices from such passionate and inspiring professionals, whether those were the sharing of older successful teaching strategies or those concepts new to many attendees. Being back together in person also brought joy to us all! How wonderful it felt to actually see people and talk with them in person whether that was at the vendor tables, before or after sessions, or lingering at the luncheon. By far, this response encapsulated the best part of the day: “Reconnecting with old colleagues from different networks. It was rewarding to see people from different chapters in my life all together in one place… all pursuing the same goal: to educate.”

What is one new thing you learned today?

The theme of the conference centered around connecting: connecting with other teachers, connecting with organizations, connecting with new ideas, and more. Conferences always provide numerous new resources, but attendees made exciting connections while learning and became enthused about the following topics: literary circles for higher grades, how to begin to work with project-based learning (PBL), writing workshop strategies, mindfulness concepts, National Geographic learning framework, publishing ideas for student work, and more. In reference to pecha kucha, one attendee stated, “I learned a great new approach to getting students to public speak in a way that doesn’t feel boring, hard, scary, or produces a monotonous presentation with a busy PowerPoint presentation.”  In the session about Lit Circles, students spoke about what they did during their novel studies, which inspired the following reflection, “Lit Circles and Book Chats are an awesome tool to encourage accountability and creativity.”  Writing was a central topic of the day, so naturally educators commented on new concepts in writing such as publishing which led to an attendee saying, “Wattpad is a great way to publish electronically that can create authentic writing experiences for students.”  Several sessions focused on the much-needed topic of social and emotional learning which resulted in such an important reflection that we all can relate to: “I learned how to create a safe and welcoming environment for students.”  With these take-aways, our students will soon be benefitting from all that was learned at this exciting day of professional development.

Finally, when posed with the question “What do I want to learn about at an upcoming conference?” one of the attendees so perfectly responded: “When is it?? Ready to do this again!” We have great news to share! WPCTE will be hosting another conference in the future. However, all details are still in the very preliminary brainstorming stages.

Carol Aten Frow is the president of WPCTE. She is an educator at Belle Vernon Area Middle School where she instructs Reading 7, Reading 8, and English 8A. In addition to her work with WPCTE, Carol is a former finalist for PA Teacher of the Year, a KTI star, and a teacher-consultant for the Western Pennsylvania Writing Project. When not immersed in all things school, such as currently directing the musical Schoolhouse Rock Live! JR. and finalizing a yearbook, Carol enjoys reading, traveling, scrapbooking, and being amused by her four cats—Emily (Bronte), (John) Milton, Leo (Tolstoy), and (John) Keats.

Amy Bouch is the Vice President of WPCTE. She is also the 2022 Grammar Teacher of the Year, a Teacher-Consultant for the Western Pennsylvania Writing Project (WPWP), and a reading-obsessed 8th grade English teacher at Chartiers Valley Middle School. When she isn’t teaching, she is making her way through all of the U.S. National Parks and traveling the world with her husband. Connect with her at abouch@cvsd.net.

Pictured: Amy Bouch (left) and Carol Frow (right) at the Get Connected ELA Conference on March 30, 2022