Dear Friends, Readers, and Supporters of The Missouri Reader,
Teachers should never stop learning! We believe in this so strongly and practice it ourselves. Teaching is one of the toughest professions, but clearly, the most rewarding, too, which is why we keep doing it each and every day. One of the reasons it remains rewarding is, as often as possible, we take time to step out of the classroom to fellowship with other educators and swap ideas and teaching strategies. Many schools are bringing professional development (PD) opportunities right inside the walls of their districts, and while that is appreciated, there is just nothing like packing a suitcase, loading a car full of teachers,
and traipsing off together for a good dose of PD!
While we do love going to the International Reading
Association conferences around the US, it is also won-
derful to have PD opportunities just down the road. We
are so blessed in both the fall and spring to attend
conferences right here in Missouri! This past fall, we were
able to spend time at the Missouri Early Learning
Conference learning new strategies, getting new book
titles, singing new songs, meeting new book characters,
and writing new poems to take back to make our
teaching feel new and improved. We got to spend quality
time with the likes of some pretty BIG STARS in the field
of education including Greg Tang, Jennifer Jacobson,
Susan Kempton, Valerie Ellery, and Eric Litwin (just to
name a few)! We now look forward to another dose of
inspirational PD this spring when we attend the Write to
Learn Conference which is tailor-made for writing at each
level from early childhood to high school and beyond. Visiting the website and seeing the line-up of slated speakers will surely excite you about making sure you are there, too!
After getting your dose of PD, go back to your classrooms and try out what you’ve learned, then
take a few minutes to sit down and write about your experiences. What you are doing is worth
sharing! Our readers will appreciate the PD provided through reading the next issue of The Missouri Reader featuring you! We would love to hear all about the exciting happenings going on in your schools, so get busy writing and share it with us! We look forward to getting our healthy doses of PD with you very soon!
We hope you enjoy this issue!
Julie Bryant and Jennifer Fox
A Good Dose of PD
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Editors' Expressions