I most enjoyed the conference about gender differnces of males and females and how those differences relate to the classroom.  I learned that females may hear up to three times more noises than males.  I also learned that males and females handle stress differently.  The other major difference is how the brain is structured and where emotion and verbal communication is located.  I went to several other conferences that covered such topics as “The Ideal Science Classroom”, obesity in schools, and student motivation.

I learned in the gender differences of student learning conference that several strategies can easily be implemented in the classroom.  I learned that just be speaking louder when I teach, I can help my male students better.  Another topic discussed was how stress was handled differently by male and female students.  I learned that male students need to be challenged through competition, while females need to be relaxed in order to achieve their best results when faced with stress (tests, quizzes, etc.).  I have stated to use these strategies in class and have seen positive results.  I saw a female student who normally performs poorly on tests, who was allowed to relax (take her shoes off, listen to soft music, etc.) almost doubled her normal test scores. I learned that males also have a hard time describing their emotions with words because of where those areas of the brain are located.  On the other hand, females have no problem with verbalizing their emotions because those areas in the brain are connected in females.  Due to these differences, female students need to be asked “how” questions (How did that make you feel?), while male students need “why” questions (Why did you do that?).

The best time during the trip was the drive down to Florida with two of my colleagues.  During the conference, my colleagues and myself discussed the conferences we went to that day over dinner.  It allowed me a great opportunity to see them in a different light and bond together.  These bonding experiences will allow for more collaboration with my fellow educators.

I would definitely tell any teachers considering attending the ASCD conference to go.  Not only will they learn new and useful techniques that can be used in the classroom, this will provide them with a great opportunity to bond with their fellow educators.