Imagine—you submit a proposal for a session at the NSTA conference, and you’re ecstatic when it’s accepted. And then you learn that you have an 8:00 AM Sunday morning time slot, in competition with early departures, church services, hotel brunches, and losing an hour to daylight savings time. Will anyone come to my session?
Steve Bane from Phoenix didn’t need to worry! The nice crowd who attended his presentation on science vocabulary learned some new strategies to help students learn and use key terms. (Last minute funding issues prevented his colleague Jodi Sanchez from attending.)
After the 8:00 session, I was talking with Kristen Shelly from the Hollis Public Schools in Oklahoma. Her school sent 5 teachers to the conference, and they had to take photos of themselves with the presenters as documentation. More importantly, they are expected to share what they’ve learned in workshops and meetings. So the impact of the conference is magnified by all of the sharing of experiences and resources that will happen over the next few months.
I’m sitting in the NSTA bookstore right now, and it’s crowded with attendees making last minute purchases. I hope they left room in their suitcases!