The MACUL Experience

The MACUL Technology Conference at the COBO Center in Detroit was a refreshing break from the usual. Don’t get me wrong, I love my students! However, for a day, I truly got to be the student as I sat and took notes on various speakers at this conference. I was extremely hopeful to find some technological resources that I could bring back to my placement and use in my everyday teaching. Luckily, I found a World Language focused speaker who had resources in order to improve the ability to assess speaking in the classroom. Giving oral exams is an incredibly time consuming process and it was great to hear that this teacher has been using technology in order to have students record their oral exams through programs like MSU Clear Conversations and Lingt Language. These tools allow you, the teacher, to record yourself saying questions and then the students record a response. The kicker is that the students are timed and on video, so it’s pretty clear if students are trying to use their notes or other resources on the test. It is incredibly difficult to simulate real conversation in an exam and these tools allow language teachers to save time and still assess students’ spoken skills. 

Another of the sessions that I sat in on was called "Lightning Talks." Now, the name can be slightly deceptive, there was no actual sudden electrostatic discharge during this event, however, the jolt of energy and enthusiasm that I got from listening to these passionate speakers allowed these talks to live up to their name. The idea behind "Lightning Talks" was that each of the speakers was given 5 minutes to talk, and their powerpoint presentation played behind them at a rate of 15 seconds per slide without their control. These speakers had to be succinct, powerful, well-spoken and above all, passionate. The most inspiring of these talks were the speakers who chose not to speak about content but spoke about kids. When it comes down to it, I cannot relate to every single content area but, we aren't here to be content-area teachers, we are here to teach kids!!! One woman talked about how we go through a process of judging and sorting people when we meet them. We do this with students as well. Students know the labels that we have placed above their heads because the way that we teach reflects these labels. She challenged us to tear down any negative words we have placed above students heads, no matter how infuriating their behavior or performance can be. She encouraged us to put positive words such as "scholar" and "high achiever"  above every kid because each student has this potential and needs us to believe it. I was inspired by her passion and her dedication to kids. 

Another speaker gave what was more like a spoken word piece than an informative talk. It was absolutely chilling. He spoke about a girl who went to school while still taking care of her 2 baby sisters and alcoholic father at home, with no mother in the picture. He reminded us how some of our students have to be heroes every day and the Cs that they may be achieving in our classroom may be triumphs to them. Every student that comes into our classroom is dealing with something and it is our job to care about them and be solid mentors, role models and confidants for them. Ending the conference with that powerful 5 minute piece was a great end to an enlightening day. I look forward to opportunities to attend more conferences like this one and bring back passion, technology and revitalized energy to my classroom.