Dear IEP Community:

Even before my alarm went off at 5:00 a.m., I was wide awake and my mind was racing through everything I needed to accomplish during the day, not to mention everything that I didn’t quite get around to doing the previous day: Grade midterm exams and submit the results to Engrade. Conduct one-to-one midterm conferences with each student. Find an appropriate YouTube video clip to illustrate a certain teaching point for my afternoon class. Review the desk copies of textbooks I might use next term. Take part in a faculty committee meeting. Draft a letter of recommendation for a student who is applying to graduate school. And so it goes.

I don’t wear my business as a badge of honor, as so many self-important residents of Washington, DC, do. Rather, this is the reality of my life, as it is for every other teacher I know. It simply comes with the profession.

Unfortunately, one to-do item that tends to be given short-shrift is professional development. There is always an article I would like to read, but the press of day-to-day demands gets in the way of keeping up with professional literature to the extent that I would like. There is always a local conference I would like to attend, but that second, part-time job makes it difficult.

This is why attending the TESOL Convention is so essential. Where else can you attend so many outstanding presentations and workshops? Where else can you learn about the latest creative uses of technology in the classroom? Where else can you learn about job opportunities? Where else can you listen to movers and shakers in our profession share their insights during the keynote presentations? Where else can you network with thousands of colleagues? Where else can you review and purchase so many publications? In other words, where else can you engage in so much professional development in such a short time?

I hope that everyone in our IEPIS is able to attend the upcoming TESOL Convention and benefit from the numerous professional development opportunities the convention offers. See you in Dallas!

Caralyn Bushey has been an ESL/EFL instructor for more than 15 years. In addition to teaching in the United States, she has also lived and worked in France, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, and most recently Russia, where she was a Senior English Language Fellow in Moscow.