RITELL Conference- November 2014

            Attending a professional conference is an exciting and educational experience that is meaningful for all educators. On Saturday, November 15^th, I attended the RITELL conference with high hopes for growing inspired—you see, I thoroughly enjoy and appreciate immersing myself in any activity or event within the education field. After reflecting on the four-hour conference, I have concluded that the information presented was essentially meaningful to only educators who are already involved with RITELL. As a new member of the organization, I was disappointed when I left with many unanswered questions and a lack of meaning for the information offered.

            First off, I assumed that I would learn about RITELL at the very beginning of the conference, presumably as an opening to engage the audience. This seemed appropriate, because many new members were present and eager to get involved. However, many informative details were left out of the introduction. It was certainly nice to see the organizers and supporters of RITELL, but it would have been so helpful to learn more about RITELL as a professional association. Yes, I understand that the organization is for teaching English language learners, but I wanted to know more. It would have been valuable to learn about past and future endeavors and more about the applications for this teaching.

From the very beginning of the conference, I felt lost and therefore out-of-place. Especially as a new member, I thought that more emphasis would be placed on integrating us into the organization. The main presentation that I attended was supposed to link Common Core and WIDA standards using multicultural literature for ELLs. For educators who were informed and work with ELLs, this presentation was probably valuable. The three presenters explained several books that were helpful in teaching ELLs; however, I could not differentiate why these books were ideal for ELLs and not simply the majority of students. And may I add, these presenters certainly lacked presentation skills, which was a major disappointment due to the confusion and structural instability that this caused during their presentation. I completely understand that public presentations are very challenging, but I was preoccupied with the disordered presentation of information rather than the content, the reason why I attended in the first place. This was a difficulty for me, especially considering how this presentation lasted for about an hour and a half.  

            Although I did not find a great deal of value with RITELL’s conference this year, I am always eager to learn new information to better myself as a future educator. Therefore, one thing that I will take away from my first conference is the importance and value of attending professional conferences. Continuing education and learning is a central idea of teaching, especially considering a teacher’s role in the classroom to shape students into self-regulated learners. If I should ever teach ELLs in my classroom, I will certainly be able to select books that are appropriate for their level of reading and understanding. In the future, I will structure my classroom with every student’s needs in mind. Multicultural education, as I also learned, is an essential component to consider in a diversified classroom. With an array of cultures within one classroom, it is important to incorporate multicultural texts within the curriculum. Such integration will provide an educational basis for an unprejudiced, respectful, and cooperative classroom, and the RITELL conference targeted this idea as a major point of discussion. 

            Another meaningful detail of the conference was the author’s discussion of his novel, When This World Was New. D.H. Figueredo was an incredible asset to this conference, and each attendee was given a copy of his multicultural text. He anchored his discussion to his process of writing the book, and his presentation was both interesting and valuable. He encourages others to share their stories, because different stories reach different people. This is an essential idea to consider, because it is important to teach students in ways that are relevant and meaningful, of course, to them. It is also essential to encourage students to be supportive and knowledgeable about each other, and this will foster an open-minded, cooperative learning environment. Children must be prideful of their ethnic backgrounds and explore others’ heritages to become fully intellectual and perceptive learners.  

            Finally, I have recently done some browsing on the RITELL website and found useful resources. Before attending the conference, I did not know much of anything about the website. So it is important to know that there are resources readily available to teachers and future educators. I plan to revisit the website on a regular basis due to my new membership and desire for educational exploration. As I’ve mentioned before, I was disappointed with the RITELL conference this year, but I think that I have found meaning as I’ve navigated through information and ideas for myself.