Part of my excitement about this conference came because I'd be traveling! The last time I boarded a plane for work was a while back when I flew to DC for a Google Earth/Maps training approximately four years ago. I was beyond #eduexcited to be traveling with my colleague and roommate for the trip, Betha MacClain!
For those of you unfamiliar with CISC, it is the Curriculum and Instruction Steering Committee (CISC) which is a committee for the California County Superintendents Educational Services Association (CCSESA). Each year the conference is hosted by a different region/county. This year the Sonoma County Office of Education hosted the conference. The theme for the conference was, "What if...Leading with Imagination."
I was most excited to attend a panel discussion on the role of school leaders in the maker movement facilitated by Sonoma State professor Jessica Parker. Panel participants were Mickey Porter (Sonoma County Office of Education, Deputy Superintendent Instructional Division), Jennie Snyder (Piner-Olivet Union School District, Superintendent) and Gina Silveira (Schaefer Elementary School, Principal). Gina made my day when she spoke about how the Standards for Mathematical Practice tie directly to Maker Education. Her enthusiasm and expertise about students as makers was contagious! It resonated deeply with me when Micky Porter said that we are not in a traditional time in education. I thought, "Thank goodness for that!" Here are my two favorite quotes from Jennie Snyder, "Memorizing facts won't necessarily ensure the life skills students need to be successful beyond school," and "The educational system that got us here will not take us where we need to go." I was both humbled and honored to be with such experienced, knowledgeable and inspiring leaders from our county and district. It is inspiring to work with such talented and #eduamazing educators in this time of educational change.
And I had the perfect seat in the front row!
During Grant Lichtman's opening keynote on Thursday night, he effectively used Twitter to crowd source educators' one word for K-12 education about what they want education to be. Attendees used the hash tag #onewordk12 to tweet out their "one word." Mine was "inspiring." I chose this word because I am inspired on a daily basis by the educators I work with both directly and indirectly in Sonoma County. I also appreciated Grant's commentary on how change is uncomfortable, because it is and if you don't feel uncomfortable some of the time, then it's a pretty good indication that nothing is happening.
The highlight for me was on the last day, hearing Columbia University professor and Harvard fellow, Chris Emdin speak. Mr. Emdin received a standing ovation at the conclusion of his presentation which was about courage in education. His speech was inspirational and my biggest takeaways from it are the following- "You are as effective as your honesty," and "When you don't know who you are, you default to who you believe you are supposed to be." It also struck me when he talked about, if we look closely, how much in education has really changed from 1890 to 1990 to 2014. It's a good question for me, as an educational leader and elementary principal, to think about. I agreed with him when he said the way to change the educational structure is through imagination and courage.
I also went to a session with Randy Sprick, who is an educational consultant and trainer from Eugene, Oregon. He is the founder of Safe and Civil Schools. His session was titled, "Consciously Constructing a Schoolwide Climate to Foster Responsibility and Motivation." Here are the main takeaways I left with from his session- everyone, even students who make poor choices, should be treated with respect, and out of school suspension is disastrous practice.
The session on NGSS that I wanted to attend was full, but I appreciated Edsel Clark's tweet from the session, that I found to be informative and thought provoking- "NGSS means that I don't get to lecture, then follow that up with a lab that simply confirms what I just said."
Lastly, Caine of Caine's Arcade spoke to us on Friday. It was inspiring to see and hear him in person. Long story short, my daughter (2nd grader) is making this right now:
While she's not collaborating with anyone, she is being creative, communicating (to me) and thinking critically.
Some closing thoughts from my experience: I am continually blown away by the high level of professionalism demonstrated by my colleagues from Sonoma County. I am inspired on a daily basis to work in a school district and county that support the idea of leading with curiosity. I am thankful for the opportunity to have been able to attend this conference.
