Conference Overview

All of the workshops were great! The speakers were excellent, and we were given the opportunity to speak to many Australian teachers. We loved tea time which was at 10:30 and 3:00.

I added many reading strategies to my "tool box". The one workshop that impressed me the most was called STEP. This is a program that provides in-services to all teachers and teaches them reading strategies. The quote that I came away from this workshop with was "I am not a reading teacher, but I do teach reading."

After the workshop, I talked to the presenters who gave me a report that was from a Southern Association of governors which Texas is a member. The report emphasized that "reading must" become the number 1 priority in all schools. If students' reading levels are improved, than their grades will improve.