When I first started teaching, one of the first things I did was attend a conference. It was a chance for me to learn new strategies and get some great ideas for how to improve my classroom. Plus, they were also just a lot of fun! But as time went on, I got busier with work and personal life. It wasn’t until recently that I realized that there’s nothing more important than attending conferences if you want to stay engaged with your field and grow as a teacher.

Develop a learning goal for yourself for the conference.

Having a goal in mind will help you stay focused on what’s important. Setting up a learning goal helps you decide which sessions to attend and, more importantly, it helps keep you accountable for what you do at the conference.

If your goal is to learn more about how students use technology in their classrooms, then look for sessions that address this topic. If your goal is to figure out how to incorporate social media into your curriculum and make it meaningful, then look for sessions that share ideas on how teachers have done this successfully in their classrooms or schools.

Find ways to connect your new learning with your current teaching practice.

The best way to incorporate new knowledge into your teaching practice is to first reflect on it. What did you learn? How does this change the way you think about what’s going on in your classroom? Do you agree with the ideas presented, or are there elements that made you uncomfortable? How can these new ideas help improve student learning and engagement in your classroom?

You should also consider how these ideas might be used as part of a curriculum change. If a conference speaker presented an idea that had been interesting but didn’t quite make sense for my students (e.g., because their reading levels were too low), I would still use the idea as inspiration for something else: maybe creating an activity with them that builds on their strengths rather than focusing solely on skills they struggle with.

Give yourself some time to process. Reflect on what you learned and how you can implement it in your classroom.

Now that you’ve spent two whole days learning about the latest education trends, it’s time to take some time for yourself to process all of the information. Reflect on what you learned and how it can be implemented in your classroom. If there is something you don’t have time to implement right away, make a note to do so in the future.

Take a notebook, but don’t feel like you have to take notes during every session.

When you take notes at a conference, it’s important to not feel like you have to take notes in every session. You might be interested in one topic more than others, or the presenter might speak over your head and leave you feeling confused about what was just said. In those cases, just skip the session and go spend time networking with other educators instead!

You can also make use of different methods for taking notes when needed. If typing is more efficient for you than writing by hand, then a laptop or iPad can help out with that! Or if writing by hand helps keep things fresh in your mind after returning home from the conference or when reviewing back later on, then feel free to grab yourself some good old pencils and paper! Whatever works best for each individual should be used without hesitation!

Education conferences are a great way to learn and they’re also a great place to meet colleagues from other places who share your values and interests.

National Education Conference are a great place to learn and they’re also a great place to meet colleagues from other places who share your values and interests. At these conferences, you can network with teachers like yourself and find the inspiration that will help you grow as an educator. Conferences are also a great way for teachers to get excited about what they do again by making friends with other people who share their passion for teaching.

Conclusion

Education conferences are a great way to learn and they’re also a great place to meet colleagues from other places who share your values and interests. They can help you improve your practice, but only if you take the time to take in what others are saying, reflect on it, and apply it in your classroom. If you do all of these things—and we hope our tips have helped with some ideas on how—you will be much better off for having attended an education conference!