Promising Practices

Overall, Promising Practices was a sheer success. While my two workshops were both vastly different, both taught similar lessons on different instructional use of technology and culture in the classroom.
My first workshop was taught by a teacher who taught elementary school art. While she was a little quiet and somewhat reserved, she did a very successful job at getting her point across about the widespread need for multiculturalism in the classroom. Using Diego Rivera as a key tool, this young woman used a highly complex painter of the nineteenth century to express cultural acceptance to her elementary school students. I personally found this experience very enlightening. Knowing that our country's youth is being taught multiculturalism at a young age is incredible. While I could critique my first speaker's teaching form, I will simply say that she tried hard and conveyed her message clearly.
My second workshop was EXTREMELY informative. The speaker, Grace Small, used prime examples of her own student's work to express new ways of teaching in a technology based world. Using students from all different grades in her school system, Ms. Small informed children of all ages of the story of Abraham Lincoln and his involvement in the Civil War. To have taken such a deep and often overlooked topic and turn it into a community-wide project is somewhat short of amazing. This presentation not only informed me of newer, more up to date ways of teaching, but also enlightened me on how far some teachers truly go to ensure educational success for their students.
Finally, the Curriculum Resource fair, in my opinion, was a very well planned idea. However, being an actual teacher in an actual classroom seemed to be a hidden requirement in usefully collecting the materials. The information WAS useful, however I am unsure as to whether or not it was effective for me because of the limited teaching I have at the moment.
The Keynote address by Tricia Rose was ABSOLUTELY AMAZING. Not only can Ms. Rose teach a lesson on public speaking while she expresses an open mind on public speaking, but she can also reach out to everyone in the room by simply using the right words. Looking deeper in her discussion, I have realized a few things: Not only does Ms. Rose use perfect words in reaching her audience, but everything from her posture to her voice tone fits perfectly in shaping the kind of message that she is attempting to convey. I especially enjoyed how each time Ms. Rose wanted to drill a point into our heads, she either made a slight raise in her voice, or she followed it with an attention grabbing story. Unlike other public speakers that I have seen in the past, Tricia Rose did not incessantly repeat her points in an irritating manner (such as repeating the same line every two minutes as others have.) Honestly, I was moved by her speech. Not only did she open my eyes but she was extremely reassuring with her pledge. Not only did her stories perfectly reiterate Delpit and Johnson perfectly (with discussing power codes and saying the WORDS {i especially felt an extreme Johnson moment when she used the word "Brother" and then went on to explain its everyday use and commonality in today's world} ). The following links, in my opinion help to reiterate what was learned throughout the Promising Practices conference: