ELA with Avery

  I recently had the privilege to attend the Kansas Association of Teachers of English (KATE) 2025 Conference, Empowering Voices, Inspiring Change: Navigating Change in Turbulent Times. As a pre-service teacher and an introvert to a fault, this was my first KATE conference, and I was pleasantly surprised by how much I learned and the fact that I even enjoyed the experience. I was lucky enough to be able to attend every breakout session and learn from a diverse group of experienced educators and experts. Although I entered uncertain, worried that I was missing a day in the classroom and that I would just be overwhelmed, I left the conference feeling incredibly inspired and ready to make plans for my own future classroom. Spotlighting Reading in Your Classroom Every single Keynote speaker over the weekend was absolutely incredible, but the standout speaker was author and elementary educator Colby Sharp . Throughout his presentation, I found myself tearing up, and a look around the...

  On The Importance of Reading People don’t read about subjects that they don’t know about. So, when designing an antibias classroom, it is essential that both we educators and our students have access to a wide variety of books and other media in our classrooms to expand our worldview. As Tricia Ebarvia explains, books can be thought of as windows into other perspectives, letting us readers experience things we might never even think of or be able to empathize with otherwise. In addition to acting as windows, some books are more like mirrors, affirming a reader’s own life experience. Books are undoubtedly important, whether they act more like a mirror or a window. However, many students will only reach for mirrors. This isn’t their fault; it’s out of habit. Students will naturally gravitate toward the familiar. Additionally, many teenagers and young adults need the affirmation that a mirror-book can provide. As Ebarvia puts it, “students read what they need, whatever that may ...