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September 26, 2014

Time Well Spent

Over the course of a 20 year career in education, I’ve been to my fair share of conferences and workshops.  I can honestly say one of the best conferences I have ever attended occurred last Friday at Covington.  Put on by Los Altos School District, EdSummit featured a multitude of topics, many of them presented by our own LASD teachers (3 Springer teachers were presenters!).  

A highlight of the day for me was Dave Burgess presentation on “Teach Like A Pirate”.  In an inspiring and entertaining way, Dave gave the message that teaching with PASSION is vital in order to engage students.   He was honest with the audience when he said he doesn’t love all the content he has to teach, but in everything he teaches he finds the connection for his students.  In this way, he makes his instruction meaningful and powerful for his students.   While Dave was clearly talented at presenting, his message at the end was that creativity, creating moments of impact, and delivery are hard work, but it’s very much worth the effort.  

In the afternoon, I was blown away at a session called “Mindfulness and Happiness in the Classroom.  Because that’s what it is all about.”  Presenter Ronni Habibi, teacher at Gunn High School, began by taking participants through a series of fun “ice breakers”.  The idea of doing silly tasks with a partner (like create a secret hand-shake) was really about making connections with people in the room; of creating an environment where one feels safe.   The discussion then lead to the importance of mindfulness in a person- or simply, being present at that moment.  The ability to be present and attentive to those around you, at the moment, is not just connecting with others, but  leads to being attentive to your own feelings.   Ronni talked about how suppressing our feelings lead to potentially more negative emotions later.  By creating classrooms where students feel safe, giving them permission to be in the moment and express themselves, we are creating healthier learning environments.  

I encourage you to talk to your child’s teacher about what made an impact on her at EdSummit.  As a staff, even a week later, we continue to talk about some of the valuable lessons we pulled from it.  

I found my time at Ed Summit time well spent.  Please enjoy your time well spent this weekend.

Wade Spenader






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