Showing, Sharing, and Transforming: how attendance at a Highlighting Literacy conference influenced students, student teachers and beginning teachers

Abstract

David Booth, a renowned storyteller and educator, conducted a one–day Saturday conference that focused on reading comprehension. The day consisted of three one–hour sessions that discussed and demonstrated effective comprehension classroom techniques with elementary school students. This conference was conducted at a public college in New York City. Conference participants included approximately 240 undergraduate students, graduate students/practicing teachers, faculty members, parents, and 11 elementary students who took part in session two. In this article the authors share the reflections of participants on the content of the conference and how this professional development experience had a transformative influence on their beliefs and teaching practice.