I have been to quite a few keynote addresses and this, hands down, was the single best experience of them all and I so wish you all could have heard the sincere and heart-felt speech this woman delivered.
I will confess I did not know of her very well. I knew Maya Angelou was a national poet, but I was not aware of her incredible academic background or her accomplishments and struggles. I did not know she holds 16 advanced degrees. 16! I did not know that she was hurt terribly as a small child and was pregnant at 16 years old. She has lived a life of struggle yet has accomplished so much.
If I were to paraphrase (which feels somewhat sacrilegious to do) I would say that the theme of her speech was to remember that we succeed only because of the people who have gone before us, both in our personal lives and in our professional lives. I couldn't help but think of my own father and his influence and when she went into detail about her own life, it was amazing to see all she has accomplished considering how she has had to struggle. There were moments of tears, laughter, and above all, inspiration to know that we are in the noblest of professions and that we work tirelessly in the name of kids.
We even got a poem! Pretty cool. I have to thank, and I have, the NCAC for this opportunity to be here to see what is going on around our nation in terms of after school programs and how they are being successful at a whole host of levels, mainly middle and elementary.
The first session of the day I attended was called: Lead Us Not Into an Extended School Day -- Afterschool Learning is fun! This was interesting in the fact that their after school program, which serves a large urban Indiana neighborhood, first focuses on relationships with kids. The first part of their instructional time with kids after school is getting to them in a format similar to Morning Meeting. I thought that was somewhat ironic. They showed what they did and it was sit in a circle and discuss different aspects of their lives. This was a good session.
The second session was most interesting, simply because a few years back I heard about a school in Renton, Washington that is doing something called MICROSOCIETY. Basically, it a nut shell, schools all around the U.S. are using their after school and some in-school time to create a Microsociety of jobs, relationships, courts...in other words create a real world atmosphere within the school. This was fascinating to see not only how schools across the US are doing this, but to see their academic achievement scores that are tied to it. Every school exhibited growth and it is so real world. Truly, it was inspiring. I would like to take a team to go see Renton and see how they are doing the microsociety in "real time." They've been doing it since 1993 and their principal is absolutely sold on it.
Well, it's break time now so I thought I would post a bit. I have my next session in a few minutes.
Regards!
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