Middle Years Conference

Middle Years Conference

Banff, AB- April 25-27, 2019

Written By Lindsay Kate Anderson

This past Thursday through Saturday, before the snows returned, I found myself in Banff, AB surrounded by mountain views and middle years teachers (MYT). During the Thursday night speed sessions, at small tables of 6-8, we unpacked topics including student mental health, staff burn-out, technology, and options for  10 minute each. We genuinely all agreed… MY students are smelly, awkward, diverse, and most of all uniquely unique. Putting your finger on the specific needs of MY students is like trying to catch a gnat with chopsticks. Sure, you might be successful grabbing one but the reality is there are a million other gnats to snare. This year’s keynote speaker brought some incredible ideas and insights to refresh approaches to teaching in the dreaded MIDDLE YEARS.

If you are not yet familiar with Rick Wormeli, please plan to make him part of your summer professional reading. https://www.rickwormeli.com, I’d had the pleasure of seeing Rick speak over six years ago and his words regarding equity vs equality have stuck with me ever since. Wormeli pushed us to reflect on the ethics and morals behind marking, assignments, and redos. He believes in good practices for all students, and even dressed as a time traveller, reminded us of to keep our standards high!

By far my favorite moment of the entire conference was when Wormeli presented Maria and the Von Trapp children as an example of excellent assessment practices. For you see, Maria begins by assessing student’s previous knowledge and connecting the new learning to what they already know. From there … well you decide! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drnBMAEA3AM

I served double duty at the conference, both as a participant and presenter. For anyone toying with the idea of presenting at a convention, I would highly recommend the MYC. Sessions were small, intimate, and well received.