“Provoking Emotion for Growth in English Language Arts,” Steve Lafer

The session will engage participants in a discussion of emotion provoking topics and in writing exercises designed to move students from feeling to expression of feeling and the adjustment of text and speech to adequately convey the emotion behind the discourse. A discussion of the place of emotion in the classroom, the place of teacher emotions in the classroom, and means for encouraging the emotional involvement of students in reading, speaking, listening, and writing will be facilitated and include dramatic readings of literary works, consideration of the controversial and emotion raising aspects of stories appearing in newspapers, magazines, on television, radio, and in film. We will consider how regular exposure to such materials and activities aid in emotional growth and the development of critical language arts skills.

“The Spooky House": Emotions and Vulnerabilities in the Classroom, ” Patricia Sharpe, Anne O’Dwyer, and Philip Mabry

This workshop will invite participants to acknowledge vulnerability in the classroom, to consider the emotions it evokes, as well as its dangers and possibilities. The story of one teacher's inability to comprehend and validate her students' excitement will offer a metaphor for talking about emotions, vulnerability, and the relational "third space" we seek to create with our students. Finally, we will explore how "safe" the classroom can and should be.

“Wrath and Envy: The Leisure Class in My Class(room),” Robert Peltier, and “‘Elitist White Lady Who Tries too Hard’: Pedagogy, Emotion, and Race in Co

“Wrath and Envy: The Leisure Class in My Class(room),”
Robert Peltier, and “‘Elitist White Lady Who Tries too Hard’: Pedagogy,
Emotion, and Race in Contemporary College Classrooms," Allison Brimmer

How does emotion intersect with the complexities of socioeconomic class and racial/ethnic identities in (and beyond) the classroom? How do teachers and students enact their multiple identities in relation to these categories and with what successes and failures? This session will help participants to understand themselves and their pedagogies in more depth by sharing stories and writing about their experiences.

“Develop a Creative Practice to Help Connect to Emotions and Honor Them as a Teacher,” Laura Roberts

Teachers are members of a “high-touch” & high stress profession (Skovholt, 2001). Many leave the field after only five years (Ingersoll, 2001, 2003). How can we keep teachers in the field happy and help them avoid burnout? I believe that taking care of oneself (emotionally & mentally) is of the utmost importance particularly for teachers who are in an emotionally depleting profession. I will offer a manageable personal creative practice as a way to do this, versus the traditional offerings of professional development, higher pay, or a change in environment. Come reconnect, renew and rejuvenate through a creative practice that helps explore and pay attention to emotions in a safe personal way.

Hidden Depths: A Workshop,” Joonna Trapp and Barbara Turnwall

An interactive workshop drawing on elements of the teaching life that energize and drain us emotionally. Using memoir as genre, what stories can we tell that illustrate the effects of emotions in our teaching? Participants will read, write, and share in community during the workshop.

Opening Plenary Session: Peter Elbow

Biographical Information

PETER ELBOW's ideas about freewriting and responding to writing have shaped the way writing has been taught for the past few decades, both in the United States and in an increasing number of international settings. His perspectives on issues like academic discourse, evaluation, the nature of binaries, voice, dialect, and standard English have helped to define the theoretical concerns of the profession of Composition Studies. Elbow is the author of many books, including Writing Without Teachers, Writing With Power, Embracing Contraries: Essays in Learning and Teaching, Everyone Can Write: Essays Toward a Hopeful Theory of Writing and Teaching Writing, and others, and he is co-author of a textbook, A Community of Writers. He has also published many essays in composition and English journals, and given countless presentations and workshops all over the world. He has taught at various colleges and universities, and directed the writing programs at SUNY Stony Brook and the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where he is now a Professor Emeritus.

THE EMOTIONAL LIFE OF TEACHERS: Conference Schedule

The 2007 Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning (AEPL)Conference begins tomorrow.

Click Here for a printable schedule. This document is a PDF.
If you prefer a Word document, Click Here.


For driving directions Click Here.