Idol (not idle) worship

I'm currently at the CRA conference in Sacramento. I came here with two of my co-workers, the head librarian and the SpedEd Department Chair, both women I like personally and professionally.

We got in late last night, and the librarian (who'd driven the whole way) turned in right away. The SpEd person and I went to the hotel restaurant for dinner before the kitchen closed. On the ride up, we'd talked about a lot of things, but especially about my excitement of going to a workshop given by Dr. Kate Kinsella, an educator, speaker, and researcher that I highly respect. She is number three on my list of people I want to grow up to become, just below Joyce Dyer and Donna Sheridan.

So, Mimi (the SpEd woman) and I are looking at our menus, and I look over her left shoulder, only to see Kate Kinsella at the next table, talking to some people. I totally felt like I was in high school. "Psst. Mimi. Kate Kinsella's sitting behind you." Mimi slowly looked over her shoulder long enough to see Dr. Kinsella, and then whipped her head back to front and nearly squealed! Our heart rates imemediately went up a bit, and we turned into two schoolgirls back stage at the concert of the latest boy band... except Kinsella will change the education world much more than any boy band has changed the musical climate in this country. Mimi did this great, "Ms. Kinsella? Will you sign my menu?" kind of mimic, but we both knew neither of us would ever have the guts to do that... to just go up to Kate Kinsella and introduce ourselves. I mean, this is KATE KINSELLA! Ha! We went on to talk about what she must do when she's traveling (does she get to talk about something besides pedagogy?) and proposed creating a t-shirt with her head and the conference logo on the front to commemorate the event of SITTING NEAR Dr. Kate. Ha! (Did I mention we were tired?)

This morning, I showed to my all-day session with her late a few minutes because the keynote let out late. The convention liaison for the session pointed me toward the front because I had my laptop and wanted power, so I could take notes the whole 8 hours. Since the plug was under her table, Dr. Kate asked that I not disrupt the session by doing so, and I complied. I took notes on the outside of an envelope.

However, the session (both the morning and afternoon part) were wonderful. Some people were seriously overwhelmed with all her information, but Kinsella even admitted that the workshop she was giving was typically 2 days. She explained, "I feel like I'm giving you just enough information to make you dangerous." Many of the techniques she went over were similar or exactly strategies that Read 180 uses, but that's not coincidence, since she's one of the authors on the program. But, consequently, I already knew some of the strategies and was not as overwhelmed, I think.

Since I'm teaching roots from a book suggested by the district, and I don't like the way they present the roots, I asked her about teaching roots. She'd mentioned earlier in the session about teaching high-frequency prefixes and suffixes, but not roots. It turns out she feels affixes are more important. Once the students master those and how to use the information, then you can teach the roots, "but, you know, only the really important ones." I gave the example of "bene-" as one I thought was important. She challenged me to name some words that use the root, so I mentioned benefit, beneficial, benefactor, and she asked me when the next time my students would be using those words in my class. I admitted I didn't know. Her point, which she was reiterating from earlier in the day, was that teaching word families (assume, assumption, etc.) of common academic words was more helpful and useful to the students.

I saw her point, and I agree mostly. My issue is that she never gave an example of a root that was "important," so I felt there was no closure. However, in my teaching of roots (and even basic syntax), I'm finding that students don't know how affixes change the meaning and usage of words, and that's something much more manageable (and "useful," as Dr. Kate said)... rather than archane words from the roots workbook like "pusillanimous" (root, anim = life, mind, soul, feeling). I had never seen or heard that word before it showed in the roots workbook. I didn't know how to say it or what it meant, even with my knowledge of roots and affixes. However, I know now, and I think I might use it in my band's name when my husband gets Guitar Hero II.

After the session, which she dismissed early because she had to catch a plane, I waited for the crowd to clear. I asked her if she wanted help taking her stuff to the hotel, and she accepted my offer. We walked through the conference hotel, down the block in the rain, to the hotel we were both staying at, so she could get her car and checked luggage. We talked about the program I'm teaching that she authored, the people she's gotten to meet in her travels, and how lazy or misguided some people can be in their instructional strategies. It was a cool talk. I dismissed myself before her car came, so I could go upstairs and dump some stuff in my room before meeting my co-workers in the exhibit hall. I still feel like I carried the rock star's guitar or something. I only hope that my teaching will be informed by my experiences today, especially those relating to language acquisition.

I'm dreading going back to my classroom Monday with these new strategies that Kate Kinsella has given to me... everything I planned before will seem so shabby and weak. It's like getting used to Madame Forestier's mirrored closets and pretty jewelry, only to return to the beat up couches in Madame and Monsieur Loisel's home.

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On a side note, is it kismet that the Sacramento Convention Center, which is across the street from my hotel, is hosting the CRA conference and Scrapbook Expo in the same weekend? I didn't even know... I swear. I've been deleting their emails for months because - honestly? - why should I drive to Sacramento in the fall when the Expo will come to my neighborhood in February?

In order to work through the temptation of going and spending money, I called the woman I crop with most Fridays, Rosetta. I was breathing shallowly as I told her about the coincidence, as if I was an Narcotics Anonymous member calling my sponsor. You know what my "sponsor" said? Essentially, "go to the crack house, enjoy yourself, and bring me some back too."

I'm left wondering, though... did I call her because I wanted her to help me be strong? Or did I call her because I knew she'd be jealous and would encourage me to go?