TeachUTeachMe

Teaching all children

I was surfing my favorite blogs with my morning coffee, but was stopped when I read John Lloyd's comments about residential school for abuse/neglected children in LA. His request for information about other facilities across the country sent me down memory lane to the home my Grandfather Barr ran for the Presbyterian Church of Arkansas and then to a similar school, Thornwell, in Clinton SC. On my last visit to my parents, Dad told me that Thornwell recently decided to close their on-campus school due to budget considerations.  While the original newspaper story is no longer available, apparently the Greenville, SC newspaper reported that Thornwell's local school district was asked to help Thornwell keep its school open by making it a charter school and refused. included in a Google search for the school I found the Swamp Fox, who is distressed by the school board's decision. All of this rambling is because my family feels an obligation to this school and the work that they do and I like to think that my affinity for special education was born in those summer days I spent with the children at my grandfather's home (gotta love them, they taught me my first swear words!). If you live in SC, consider including this school in your charitable giving; they do good work with children who need it.

AACTE follow up

We arrived back in Charlotte almost on time wearing smiles, but a bit weary. I am just not a city girl any more; all the hussle and bussle (read "shoving and pushing") and constant standing in line is very tiring when you are not accustomed to living that way. I did visit a few haunts from my high school days and it was wonderful to hear multiple languages while standing at stop lights. And the food, O the food I have missed; ate all the forbidden foods (or  unavailable in my hometown) and some more than once!

My first highlight is the 3 hour workshop on Dispostions on Saturday morning. We heard stories of 3 institutions' work to include and evaluate dispostions, did small group work comparing AACTE and NCATE definitions of dispositions, and in general had some lively debates. I learned a thing or two and left happy to have been there.

Another highlight is the Apple Luncheon/Workshop. Again we listened to stories from 3 institutions. Most discussion centered around 1-1 laptop programs at each school. Most disturbing was a continuing discussion of how to get faculty to use and require that teacher candidates use technology in teaching. Maybe I am just getting impatient because I know my time in higher ed is getting shorter, but what happened to the impact of the PT3 grants????  I had hoped that we would be further along by now. Also was hoping that the Apple folks were going to share new inovations or programs that my teacher candidates and I could use. Sorry to say I did not learn a thing here, but O my goodness we did eat well!

Continuing. . . I didn't have time to finish yesterday.

Keynotes I attended: 1). Erin Gruwell (Freedom Writers Diary) opened the conference on Saturday night. 2). Diane Ravich gave a talk on Sunday afternoon. She has soften her tone about education and was encouraging us to continue the hard work.

Caught up with several friends I only get to see at these events, had a good meal or two, had a blast at the play, and learned a thing or two --- a few days well spent. Next stop: AERA in Chicago in April.