Today I attended the 2008 MTCE and MSU Bright Ideas Spring Conference, and though there were no break-out sessions concerning the no-homework policy, I still managed to attend several lectures and learned a few interesting things. This year’s Keynote speaker was a man who’s name appears on the same list as writers like Maya Angelou, Alice Walker, and Mark Twain. That list? The top ten most banned books for the year. His name is Chris Crutcher, and he’s one of the funniest keynote speakers I’ve ever seen. Crutcher used personal anecdotes full of self-deprecating humor and heartfelt tragedy to show how, for him, the real power of a story is usually at least partly grounded in truth, and a sometimes gritty truth at that. Because Crutcher’s honest YA novels don’t skirt issues like homosexuality, teen pregnancy, and the real vernacular of teenagers, his books are banned–even in his own home town! He put it this way:

“Put one gay kid in a book, and suddenly you can’t cross the state border of Kansas; or a girl who gets pregnant in high school, and it’s all, oooh! this has got to go.”  

Listening to Crutcher read an excerpt from one of his books, Deadline,was a powerful experience. Somehow, a book always sounds great when it’s read by its author, and this case was no exception. Crutcher, in a word, delivered.

The other lectures and presentations I attended were less entertaining, but I think I took some things away from the experience. One presentation was on the use of blogs in the classroom as a conversational tool. Unfortunately, it was mostly blogging 101 type information. Web + Log = Weblog . . . hence, blog. I asked a question about the blog as genre and that sparked a little more interesting discussion, but ultimately I left feeling unsatisfied.

Another presentation about “best practices” for new and Preservice teachers had some interesting ideas, and some not so interesting ones. One idea: wear a necktie. Hmmm. Is this truly that important of a “best practice” that it deserves 3 minutes of a 50 minute presentation? Also, rubrics are apparently the end-all-be-all of “best practice” methodology. Debatable. I’m being pessimistic, here, aren’t I? It’s not my fault, it was a rainy day. There was some valuable information as well, and true-blue “best practices” as well; it’s just not as fun to blog about them.

All-in-all, I had a very good time. Lunch was excellent. Just meeting some seasoned pro’s and a few other know-it-all-noobs like myself was worth the trip.