Conference Choices

This Friday I will be attending the NAIS annual conference in National Harbor, MD. I am very excited about this conference as there are more sessions that interest me than I could possibly attend in one day. (Friday is the special “teacher day” where teachers are allowed to attend for a reduced rate. This is such a blessing as it is an expensive conference and it is coming from my own funds.) I’m not even allowing myself to look at the Wednesday and Thursday sessions because I know there are so many things I’m missing out on by just attending on Friday.

I am writing out my schedule plan for Friday today so that my Type A-ness can be in the right place at the right time. Oh, but what to choose!!?? For example, at 8am on Friday there are sessions on Arts vs. Athletics, Anxiety in Adolescent Girls, Women in Leadership, Global Learning, and Scheduling and Time. All of these are applicable to my current and future job positions and all sound interesting. What a nice dilemma to have; so many choices that it makes it difficult to choose.

I am particularly excited about seeing/hearing Geoffrey Canada speak at the end of the day on Friday. His work in the Harlem Children’s Zone is admirable and inspiring. I can’t wait to hear what he has to say to the independent school community.

No matter what I attend, I’m glad that I have this opportunity to learn and network with a large contingent of the independent school community. I have attended many a local conference and workshop but this is my first national conference since OPERA America in 2003. I hope to see a Klinger or two from KSI Class of 2008. I also look forward to spending part of the day at the C,S,&A LINK conference to make connections with schools from around the country and world.

I plan to blog or tweet as much as I can from the conference. Let’s hope the wifi signal is good! If you are attending, send me a tweet and we can meet up!