"Study as if you were to live forever, live as if you were to die tomorrow." (Maria Mitchell)

"BECAUSE I KNEW YOU,

I HAVE BEEN CHANGED,

FOR GOOD."

Anne King was my favorite speaker at the conference. She was humorous, but I could really sense her passion and caring for Middle Schoolers. She began the session with reciting the poem "Children as Kites."

Anne based her presentation on several cartoons that help explain Middle Schoolers. The following cartoon is not an exact one that she used, but one that portrays Anne's sense of humor about trying to understand the middle years. (if you can't see the cartoon very clearly, you can also see it here just scroll down to the second cartoon)



A few key points that Anne made were:

* "Focus on the positive instead of the negative"

* "Students need to feel part of a group, and it's OKAY to make mistakes."

Anne really emphasized the fact that students at this age still need to feel cared for. They may not show it, and more than likely they'll show resentment for even having to have an adult in control over them. However, teachers should understand that despite their mixed emotions and roller-coaster attitudes, students need to feel like they belong. Everyone is different, but each and every person is unique in their own way. It's normal to go through changes during the Middle School years that are unexplainable, but that doesn't mean that they're weird.

It was refreshing to hear Anne speak about how to understand kids at this age rather than only giving methods on how to teach. First and foremost, teachers should be able to understand their students before they can effectively implement anything into the classroom.

For example, Anne pointed out that when you ask students to do something, at first they might not respond. On the second or third time asking students the same thing, they might just sigh or grunt. That's okay! Don't get upset, because the fact that they grunted means that they actually heard you!

Overall, I was pleased that I attended the conference. I gained a lot of insight about Middle Schoolers and also received tons of great ideas that perhaps one day I will get a chance to use in my own classroom.