Illinois New Teacher Collaborative

Y2: Moving Beyond Survival
June 29, 2010
I Hotel and Conference Center, Champaign IL

New teachers and their first year of teaching were the focus of a statewide, one-day conference organized by the Illinois New Teacher Collaborative (INTC).

Approximately eighty first-year teachers attended the event, “Y2: Moving Beyond Survival,” at the I Hotel and Conference Center, 1900 South First Street, Champaign IL.

The conference offered new teachers time to reflect on and share the past year’s teaching experience, contribute to the improvement of pre-service teacher preparation, and network with beginning teachers from around the state.

The event offered ideas, strategies, and tools to help new teachers learn from each other, says Dr. Chris Roegge, Director of INTC.

“A new teacher’s first year in the classroom shapes his or her entire career,” Roegge said. “This conference gives new teachers an opportunity to learn new strategies in teaching, hear from their peers on best practices, and reflect on their experience.”

The Y2 conference was organized, in part, with the help and input of new teachers. The conference consisted of networking opportunities, breakout sessions, a panel discussion of veteran teachers, and a keynote address by Manuel Scott, one of the original Freedom Writers, featured in the book and film of the same name.