CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Two Chicago teachers who recently received Golden Apple Awards for their innovative teaching practices will be the keynote speakers at the 2018 Beginning Teacher Conference at the University of Illinois.
Now in its eighth year, the conference will be held at the I Hotel and Conference Center, 1900 S. First St., Champaign.
The theme of this year’s conference, to be held June 26-27, will be “Whole Child, Whole Teacher, Whole Community.” Breakout sessions will discuss topics such as student-centered teaching and learning; strategies for supporting children’s emotional needs, such as trauma-sensitive teaching and social/emotional learning practices; connecting with parents and community partners; and becoming a teacher leader.
Keynote speakers will be Fitzgerald Crame, who teaches language arts, math, science and other subjects to fourth- through eighth-graders at the Thomas Edison Regional Gifted Center in Chicago; and Daneal Silvers, a kindergarten teacher at the same school. Crame and Silvers are the 2017 and 2018 recipients, respectively, of the Golden Apple Award.
The theme of their joint presentation, to be given over lunch on June 27, will be “Who Wants to be a Teacher?”
Hosted by the College of Education and the Illinois New Teacher Collaborative, the conference is geared toward pre-kindergarten through 12th-grade educators statewide, regardless of where they earned their degrees or the content area they teach. Beginning teachers are provided with practical strategies they can put to use in their own classrooms.
Educators who attend the conference can earn hours to satisfy their annual professional development requirements.
Registration is available online. Registration fees are $90 for 2018 U. of I. graduates and $130 for teachers with one year of experience. Hotel accommodations are available for reduced rates of $70 for single rooms or $20 per person if sharing a room with other attendees. Hotel rooms must be reserved by June 7.
More information, including an archive of past speakers’ presentation materials, is available on the conference website.
INTC is a statewide partnership of individuals and groups interested in attracting and retaining new teachers and enhancing their abilities to promote student learning.
Sponsors of this year’s conference include the State Farm Companies Foundation, the Meemic Foundation and the Network to Transform Teaching.
