Coffee and Keynotes (and a couple of other things)

Janet and I pose here at the Columbia University subway stop on our way to Roone Arledge Auditorium. Each morning we left our hotel early, made a Starbucks stop to help us fuel up for the day, and arrived in time to secure excellent seats for the Reading Institute's Keynote addresses.

Even though I have heard Lucy Calkins speak many times,  I am always eager to hear her inspirational and thought provoking words again and again. Her Keynote on Monday, the first day of the Reading Institute, was no exception.  Lucy spoke of the challenges we face today in education, yet reminded us that we have tools to be able to understand and overcome those challenges: the passion, commitment, knowledge, and love of kids that we bring to our teaching lives help us to put our signature on our teaching. Before a later Keynote one morning, Lucy graciously posed with members of our team.

I eagerly anticipated Tuesday's Keynote presenter, Kathy Collins. I heard her a couple of years ago at a previous Reading Institute and remembered how much I enjoyed her talk. Although she is very funny, her message, "See Clearly and Teach Responsibly", was an important one. She used the metaphor of a phoroptor refractor to urge us to use different "lenses" to see the bones of our teaching practices, the structures we have in place, the possibilities and potential in ourselves and our students differently.

On Wednesday, the keynote speaker was Tim Rasinski (Mr. Fluency). I read his book a few years ago and learned a lot. It was great to hear him speak as he reminded us about the art of teaching. I went to his lunch session on fluency as well as his closing session on word study. I learned many things about the importance of fluency and how to develop fluency through poetry and music. I am very excited about his ideas on word study (working with Greek and Latin roots). I came away with specific ideas I will incorporate into my word study teaching to meet CA 5th grade ELA standards more effectively.

David Booth was Thursday's keynote speaker. This was the second time I had heard David speak. His message was on how new media and technology intersect with teaching and how important it is to incorporate media into our teaching. The bad thing about his keynote for me: now I REALLY want an iPad.

Jon Scieszka. I was really looking forward to seeing and hearing this fabulous, humorous children's author. He has been a favorite of mine for many years. I have encouraged many, many students to read and enjoy his books as I have: The Stinky Cheese Man, Math Curse, The Time Warp Trio series. During Friday's Keynote, Jon shared many stories from his childhood with us which are part of his new book, Spaceheadz.

Great Keynotes to begin each day of my wonderful week at Teachers College Reading Institute!