TALE Conference 2017 Presenter #doctoralpursuit

This week I received the news that my proposal to the 2017 TALE Conference (Texas Association for Literacy Education) was accepted. The conference is in Corpus Christi, Texas in February (2017). My proposal's topic is "I've Completed a Read Aloud: Now What Can I Do With It?". It will be an hour long session; other details will follow closer to the time for the conference. Now I have the work of gathering research to bring my presentation to life. It is very important to me to get this right and I am excited about this opportunity.

I will start with gathering more research and constructing an outline of  what I want to cover. My basic idea is to show ways to teach comprehension, vocabulary, and fluency using  books from different genres through read alouds. It is a best practice for a teacher to conduct read alouds in their classroom, I want to show some ways to maximize the read alouds they already do. I also want to expose them to other genres to read aloud to their students.

The conference theme is: Literacy, Alive and Well: Supporting Effective literacy Interaction for All Learner; so, my research will contain some information to include  read alouds that engage all learners.  I will need to remember the strategies I've learned when working with adult learners to ensure that my presentation is engaging, informative, and fun. My presentation will need to be an hour in length; I want to have more information than necessary, in the case that my nerves get the best of me and I forget to pace myself.

This is not my first time being a presenter - I do presentations for work often. It is the first time that I have proposed and created my own independent presentation. It is a part of my residency as a doctorate student; so, this is good practice.  It is my first real professional gig. No, it's not something I will get paid for; I even have to register to attend the conference. It's the experience that I am looking forward to gaining. I do plan to use the same presentation for other conferences and opportunities this year. I even plan on attempting to present at a major national conference.

Thanks for reading.