My college is generally A-MA-ZING about sending faculty to conferences. In light of the economy, however, this year it looks like I will be staying closer to home and maybe attending a conference. IF, however, a magical conference genie gave me three wishes, I would attend the following:
- EDUCAUSE Annual Conference, October 18-21, 2011, Philadelphia, PA: EDUCAUSE, in case you are unfamiliar, is an organization that promotes effective use of technology in higher education. Of course, most of what you can do in higher education, you could do in preK-12 classrooms, so the information to me has much mileage. Plus, you know how much I adore our Tech Tuesdays together and all the free web-based resources we uncover.
- TESOL International Conference (Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages), March 28-31, 2012, Philadelphia, PA: I've been to this conference before and wow, do these folks pack it in! Literally, the conference has "early bird" workshops that start at 6-7am and workshops that go into the later evening hours. I've never been more invigorated and exhausted at the same time, then when I attended this conference years ago. Of course, since the conference centers on English Language Learners, you kind-of-sort-of need to be in sync with that theme.
- Expeditionary Learning National Conference, May 3-5, 2012, Denver, CO: Let me be clear, any event in Colorado you know I'd want to attend. Past that, I just adore this organization, which is an off-shoot from my outdoor education days including a stint with Outward Bound. I've attended this conference before and it was incredible! I still remember attending a session on teaching mathematics experientially. The presenters who attend this conference are masters of experiential and constructivist teaching & learning. Seeing is believing at this conference.
Jen
