SPARKS Conference - ED 710

On 4/21 , I had the opportunity to attend a conference called SPARKS. This conference is designed for teachers with zero to six years of experience. I was selected to attend by our union rep and I was thrilled to have the opportunity to network with people outside of my school. This conference is sponsored by our union, TABCO, and allows new teachers to better understand the roles of our union. We discussed topics like certification, retirements, member benefits, and legal. I learned a lot of important and new information.

A conference like this is really important for me to grow as an educator. I often find it difficult to network with teachers outside of my department, let alone outside my school, and this provided a fantastic platform. I have become very comfortable interacting with my students, public speaking and the like, but I still have a great deal of shyness when it comes to interacting with others that I do not know. This conference pushed me out of my comfort zone and had me interacting with teachers from all grade levels and different schools. In fact, it was an overnight conference so I was roomed with someone I did not know. My roomie was actually from my school and it helped forge a friendship that probably would not have formed on its own. Now I have friends outside my department and someone I can talk freely with when needed. 

Beyond the conference, they provided us with team building activities. They sent us in groups on a scavenger hunt through Annapolis followed by dinner. This was really awesome because I made more connections with people while we competed to win the hunt! I look forward to attending conferences in the future and have already signed up for a three day summer conference in July.