MATE MTS PD Day - The Confidence to Write
Register here: https://memberlink.mbteach.org/Event.axd?e=2790
Conference Title: The Confidence to Write
Location: Virtual via Zoom
Date: October 25, 2024
Time: 9:00 am - 3:00 pm
This year’s conference will be delivered online via ZOOM Events. After you complete registration, you will receive an email two days before the event with instructions for accessing the conference site. You will have access to all sessions.
- Program -
09:00 am - 10:00 am - Session A - Morning Keynote
10:00 am - 10:15 am - Break
10:15 am - 11:45 am - Session B - Keynote Follow-up
11:45 am - 12:45 pm - Lunch
12:45 pm - 01:45 pm - Session C - Breakout Sessions
01:45 pm - 02:00 pm - Break
02:00 pm - 03:00 pm - Session D - Breakout Sessions
- Session Descriptions -
Session A: Welcome and Morning Keynote "The Confidence to Write" - Liz Prather
“I can’t write.” "I don't have anything to write about." "I hate writing." How often do we hear this every day from students at all different skill levels? What is it about writing that causes such self-doubt, disabling procrastination, and fear of failure? In today's keynote, author Liz Prather dismantles the myth of the Master Writer and discusses why so many students do not identity writing as a positive experience and how to change that. By examining the social-emotional resilience around the act of writing, Prather offers practical advice on how to help students confront and overcome their fears and anxieties around writing.
A 27-year high school classroom teacher, Liz Prather currently teaches writing for Morehead State University and is the Co-Director of Programming for the Kentucky Writing Project. She holds an MFA in Fiction from the University of Texas-Austin and is the author of three books about teaching writing from Heinemann Press: Project Based Writing; Story Matters; The Confidence to Write. Follow her on X @PratherLiz and Substack @writingteacher.substack.com
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Session B: Keynote Follow-Up Workshop - Liz Prather
How do we change the language we use to talk about writing in order to help students develop a solid writing identity? How do we center the student in a writing classroom to allow for failure that leads to writing confidence? Author and writing teacher Liz Prather will lead participants in multiple exercises to examine their own writing identities in order to help their students develop a writing confidence. Prather introduces Meta Writes, low stakes writing opportunities for students to write about writing, in order to develop a solid writing identity and to enjoy writing successes that leads to an essential writing confidence.
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Session C1: "But I don't know what to write about!!!" - Tara McLauchlan
Level: Middle Years, Senior Years
From writer’s block to writing rocks! In this session we will put pen to paper and blast through 20+ of the best creative prompts and resources that are sure to get your students excited to write. We will also discuss how these creative prompts can be used to inspire longer writing pieces and projects.
Tara McLauchlan is literacy coach in the St. James Assiniboia writing project. You can find her on the internets as @msmclauchlan on Instagram and X, and on her website msmclauchlan.com
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Session C2: "Sticky Note Sorcery: Simple Idea Sparking for Student Success" - Tiffany Devlin
Level: Middle Years, Senior Years
I have found that often the hardest part of writing for students is coming up with an idea. In this session, I will share how, through the use of sticky notes, students are able to quickly, easily, and unknowingly, develop ideas to successfully write both aesthetic and pragmatic texts.
Tiffany Devlin is a high school English teacher who is always seeking positivity, a good cup of coffee, and a great outfit.
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Session C3: "Writing Satire: Unlocking Student Engagement and Creativity Through Humour and Social Commentary" - Andrew Unger
Level: Senior Years
The combination of humour and social commentary in satire presents engaging, yet challenging, creative writing opportunities for high school students. This session, led by satirist and high school teacher Andrew Unger, will explore some of the necessary questions and considerations when planning a satirical creative writing unit in a high school ELA class.
Andrew Unger is a high school teacher in Steinbach and the author of the satire website The Unger Review (formerly The Daily Bonnet) and the award-winning satirical novel Once Removed.
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Session C4: MATE Book Club: Discussion of the "The Confidence to Write" - Shaylyn Majaraj-Poliah
Level: Middle Years, Senior Years
This session will provide teachers attending with the opportunity to discuss Liz Prather's book The Confidence to Write and to explore teaching strategies that are directly applicable and meaningful to their practice. Please have Liz Prather's The Confidence to Write read prior to attending this session.
The discussion will be facilitated by Shaylyn Maharaj-Poliah, a member of the MATE Executive. The author, Liz Prather, will not be in attendance.
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Session D1: "The Canvas Within: Unveiling Personal Narratives" - Karina Fast
Level: Middle Years, Senior Years
What if students could write about their life’s interests and themselves at the same time? Students are the experts when it comes to their hobbies and life experience. If we combine these two we create a masterpiece, and have students engaged in the writing process. Come along with me as we explore autobiographical writing that can motivate every student to shape their memories into an exciting story. You will walk away with material that can be easily incorporated into your English Language Arts program.
Karina Fast, holding a B.P.E., B.Ed., and PBDE, and currently pursuing a Master's in Education, is a devoted educator with 27 years of teaching experience. She is the author of the children's book titled Kind Of. Currently, she engages students in both physical education and English Language Arts in grades 8, 9, and 10 at Westgate Mennonite Collegiate.
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Session D2: "Grade 12 ELA Provincial Standards Test" - Joel Matheson
Level: Senior Years
This is a session where we delve into the Grade 12 Provincial ELA Standards Tests. We will explore the 2-year process of creating, administering, and marking these provincial tests. In addition to that, we'll explore the latest updates and changes for 2024/2025. Together, we'll discuss strategies to support your students with writing the test. Furthermore, we will dedicate some time to analyze specific test questions and connections to outcomes. If you are new to the Grade 12 ELA Standards Test, we will practice marking questions together with past rubrics and exemplars, so everyone can get a feel for the experience.
Joel is a former Middle and High School ELA Teacher and Principal who now is the project leader for the Grade 12 ELA Provincial Standards Test.
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Session D3: Presentation - David Alexander Robertson
Level: Middle Years, Senior Years
Writing can be tough for kids, and working towards creating stories can be accomplished incrementally. By taking one small step, and then another, kids can work their way towards a piece of creative writing that they can be proud of and that can help grow their confidence on the page. This workshop will go over some of my own processes in writing stories and will relay some activities kids can participate in that will be both fun and effective to get their work done, and done well.
David A. Robertson is a two-time Governor General's Literary Award winner and has won the TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award and the Writer's Union of Canada Freedom to Read award. He has received several other accolades for his work as a writer for children and adults, podcaster, public speaker, and social advocate. He was honoured with a Doctor of Letters by the University of Manitoba in 2023 for outstanding contributions to the arts and distinguished achievements. He is a member of Norway House Cree Nation and lives in Winnipeg.
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Session D4: "How I Transformed my ELA Credit into a Story Lab" - Daria Salamon ((Krause)
Level: Senior Years
When we take the time to share stories with each other, we get bigger inside, we see each other, we recognize our kinship—we change the world, one story at a time…” Richard Wagamese
This session is for those who want to re-imagine how students earn an ELA-Credit —one story at a time. We abandon the idea that participants in the Story Lab are students earning an ELA credit via teacher-driven activities; participants become storytellers, cultivating their own voices and stories that take flight via a variety of forms, genres, and mediums. Story Lab participants design their own learning path, working with other storytellers and the teacher (also a storyteller) as the curriculum (sense-making, system, exploration, design, power, and agency) organically grows around the participants and their narratives. The Story Lab participants range in age, grade, culture, language, and gender; the more diverse the participants, the stronger the lab! This session will give you the dynamite to explode your classroom and the tools to build a Story Lab allowing students to earn an ELA credit that is authentic, relevant, inclusive, and engaging.
Daria Salamon (Krause) (she/her) has taught in the River-East Transcona School Division for the past twenty-five years. She was awarded the Certificate of Merit from the Reading Council of Greater Winnipeg. Daria has also worked as a storyteller for the past two decades writing two books (The Prairie Bridesmaid, Don’t Try This At Home: One Family’s Misadventures Around the World); her journalism and stories have been published in the New York Times, Washington Post, Today’s Parent and Prairie Fire among many others. Daria believes storytelling is a superpower that has changed her life. This past year she was granted the opportunity to pilot a Story Lab in her classroom and the experiment was thrilling and exceeded her wildest expectations.
- Conference and Membership Fees -
MATE Conference & Membership Fee ...................... $30 until October 22 / ..... $40 after October 22
MATE Teacher Candidate Conference & Membership Fee ....... $20 until October 22 / ..... $40 after October 22
MATE Membership Fee ............................................... $20*
If you do not have Internet access, please contact Linda Ferguson at (204) 255-1676 or at email mate@mts.net to make alternate arrangements for payment.
Cancellation Policy: No refunds.
If you need Conference or Registration Information, please contact Linda Ferguson at mate@mts.net or (204) 225-1676.
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