Going to a convention?(The Back Page)

MANY a teacher who's returned from a convention has been heard to say, "Conventions are all pretty much alike--nothing new this year." A statement like that is usually the sign of a poorly planned trip on the teacher's part. Any convention, with its displays, meetings, conferences and concerts, is like a bewildering display of fancy foods to a man on a cafeteria line; indiscriminate choice or wholesale gluttony may have some undesirable after effects. The needs of the teacher must be considered before a wise choice of items can be made.

Before he leaves, the teacher should make a pre-convention plan by asking himself these questions: (1) What do I need in the way of materials, literature, ideas, or techniques that I might find at the convention? (2) What are the needs of my school, department or room? (3) What might I be able to bring back to my students or my fellow teachers?

Ideally, the teacher will have been keeping a list of the items he will want to look for. Most teachers do have just such a list in their heads but often the press of convention business leaves them with the feeling that something has been overlooked and the wanted item is only recalled on the way home.

Finally the day arrives. Furnished with a definite purpose, the teacher begins making his rounds. Here, a number of procedures will help:

(1) A notebook is an essential item. In it will go names, publishers, ideas, addresses. If you come across a book you want to remember take an extra 45 seconds and write out a full description of it including the title, author, date of publication, number of pages, size of the page, number of illustrations, whether it is suitable for grades, high school, college, etc. Many a teacher has later on looked up his convention notebook to find out more about a book he saw there only to come upon some such description as, "Roads to Voc Ex--good." No way to order, no sure memory of what made the book good, what it might cost, where to find it.

(2) Free literature will come your way in vast quantities. Don't discard it--save it. If you can't use the catalogue or the price list, perhaps another teacher back home can. If you teach in a college or university, pass on these items to a student who will be teaching next year. Beginning teachers need all of this type of material they can get. Many firms represented at the convention will be happy to send a catalogue of their merchandise to each member of a class you may be teaching on the college level if they feel the material will be put to good use. Even in the high school or grades, such material can be used.

(3) Along with their materials on display, many firms offer ...