2009 Peer Learning Conference: Electrifying! Energizing! Heartening! Empowering!
Conference sponsored in part by:
The 5th Annual Peer Learning Conference (PLC), held July 20-22 in Bethesda, Maryland, brought together 180 Gateway to College faculty, counselors, students, program directors, administrative staff, and K-12 and college leaders to share best practices around educating and supporting Gateway to College students. The conference theme, Delivering On Our Promise, served as a call to action to ensure that all Gateway to College students successfully complete the program, earn a college credential, and gain the skills and knowledge that will help them achieve their goals in work and life. Since teacher effectiveness is the single most important factor in student achievement, conference workshops and plenary sessions focused on innovative and inspired instruction.
The conference "kick-off" included welcome remarks from Dr. Clarice Somersall of Montgomery College (the local program host) and an update from GtCNN Executive Director, Laurel Dukehart, on the National Network's accomplishments over the past year and ambitious plans for the year ahead. Day one concluded with a lovely reception at the Cafritz Arts Center on Montgomery College's Takoma Park campus.
Montgomery College representatives Rodney Redmond, Clarice Somersall and Amy Crowley
During the conference, participants had an opportunity to hear from several guest speakers. The first-day plenary session, Teaching Generation NeXt, was delivered by Dr. Mark Taylor, a nationally recognized expert on how to reach and teach today's students. Dr. Taylor's humorous and engaging style won high marks from participants. On the second day, Dr. Linda Metcalf offered several sessions designed to help staff build solution focused skills, while John Larmer of the Buck Institute presented on project-based learning strategies, and Chris "Kazi" Rolle, an artist and social entrepreneur, provided insights into his personal story and his work with The Hip-Hop Project.
Gateway to College student representatives outside the White House
While the expertise of guest speakers was enriching, the peer-lead workshops provided especially valuable learning opportunities for participants. The quality of these workshops continues to improve as the network matures and the skills and experience of program staff deepen. Participants also greatly appreciated hearing directly from the 14 Gateway students who spoke during a student panel and the closing session about the instructional practices and learning environments they find most effective.
"Team Time" on day three allowed staff of individual Gateway to College programs to discuss key learnings from the conference and develop plans for integrating those ideas into their programs in the coming year.
Overall, the 2009 PLC was a tremendous success. Following are a sampling of comments from the evaluations:
"Very inspiring. In this profession, some days are hard, so this has been a reminder to me of why I do what I do."
"It was the most enjoyable, most practical, and most applicable of any conference I've ever attended."
"Very motivational! It's great to see the heart and passion in all Gateway participants. It was certainly empowering. I got many great ideas to try out in my own classroom."
"This was the best conference yet--offered a variety of relevant material, lots of interaction and participation. I was able to meet many new contacts. The students were an incredible, inspiring addition."
Many thanks to the Wal-Mart Foundation for its support of the 2009 Peer Learning Conference!
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This I Believe...
This I Believe is an international project engaging people in writing and sharing essays describing the core values that guide their daily lives. Over 60,000 of these essays, written by people from all walks of life, are archived on the This I Believe website, heard on public radio, and featured in weekly podcasts.
Stephen Rice of the National Network decided to incorporate This I Believe essays into the 2009 Peer Learning Conference. Essays written in advance by PLC participants were woven into plenary sessions and other portions of the PLC. At the conference opening, essay readings were interspersed with a slide show set to music. This included an essay by GtC student Abby Rios-Watson. On the second day, essays were read prior to the plenary session, including a dynamic reading by GtC student Joshua Golden.
One evening, a group of 35 conference participants did a walking tour of the National Mall, which concluded at the Lincoln Memorial. Sitting on the steps, right below where Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech, the group gathered to listen to four This I Believe essays as the sun set over the Reflecting Pool. To see a video clip of one of those readings, go to:
http://www.youtube.com/v/Vgssfr6lUy8&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&border=1
Vee Butler of Savannah Technical College delivers This I Believe essay on steps of Lincoln Memorial
On the final day of the conference, This I Believe essays opened the day and closed the conference, including an essay read by GtCNN Executive Director, Laurel Dukehart. The final two essays, by Chris Williams and Eugenia Hooker, were of a similar theme - light as a metaphor for hope for the future.
The essays provided an inspirational backdrop to the conference and allowed participants to leave with their heads a little higher and their resolve much stronger. Following are excerpts from a few This I Believe essays.
"I believe we all have hopes and dreams of achieving great things, but many times are too scared to do them and take the risks that come with them. I know I am. But here is the thing; we can no longer live in fear. We just have to do it anyway." --Abby Rios-Watson, GtC student at San Antonio College
"I believe that our society has been given an opportunity to get it right this time. We have the opportunity to become a transformative society. I believe that the task may look daunting, but we educators have an opportunity to re-create institutions. We also have the opportunity to create pedagogy that is relevant to the needs of poor, oppressed, and disinherited." --Wendell Covington, Jr., St. Louis Community College
"I believe my parents had it right. I believe you should keep going no matter what. I believe you should keep going even when you cannot see very far ahead--perhaps especially then. I believe that if you pull over and wait for the skies to clear, the storm lasts longer than if you face it head on and keep moving through it." --Eugenia Hooker, Spartanburg Community College
"There is nothing more important than showing a teenager that they are capable of amazing not only others, but themselves." --Laurel Dukehart, GtCNN
"I teach because I believe everyone is capable of great things. Though I perform this task under the pretense of instruction in reading and writing, what I am doing is helping my students have their own moments where they learn what they are capable of. This is my purpose and my responsibility. This is what I hope everyone gets to learn: that each of us has something significant to offer." --Lorayne Jacques, Front Range Community College
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7 New Gateway Programs Open Their Doors
It's back to school season and, over the next month, seven new Gateway to College programs will begin serving students for the first time. On August 17, City College of San Francisco and Spartanburg Community College held their first Gateway classes. These "rookie" programs will be joined on August 20 when Laney College holds its first classes. In late August, Pueblo Community College and Eastfield College get in on the fun and, in September, Essex County College and Lake Washington Technical College will officially launch their Gateway programs. Congratulations and welcome to our newest partners!
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Cell Phones as Instructional Tools
On July 24, EdWeek.org hosted a webinar on the topic of "Cell phones as Instructional Tools." The presentation featured educators who have used cell phones for instructional purposes both in and out of the classroom. A wide range of techniques, technologies, and resources were featured in the webinar. One presenter spoke about a classroom where all students were provided "smart" phones to use as mini-computers for projects and "field work." Another spoke about how she maximized the features of her own "basic" phone as a strategy for creating multiple levels of student learning. And, the presenters also advocated for using cell phones in ways that fit within schools' existing phone-use policies.
The webinar emphasized that cell phones can be used in ways that do not require schools to provide expensive technology to each student, nor do phones need to be used in ways that foster a "have vs. have-not" status between students. Creative instructors are finding effective means of generating content outside of the classroom and helping students to engage the world around them in an academic frame.
You can listen to and watch the webinar at:
http://www.edweek.org/ew/marketplace/webinars/webinars.html
(It was sponsored by Sprint but there were no obnoxious commercials and other than that, it's free).
Several useful websites were referenced during the presentation, including websites that students can call in order to record oral presentations and websites where speech-to-text, group text-message discussion services, mapping, and mobile up-loading services are available for free. Following are links to these websites:
http://www.textmarks.com
www.Earfl.com
http://Drop.io/
www.Dial2do.com
http://www.google.com/googlevoice/about.html (previously grand central)
If none of this makes sense to you, don't worry, just explore a little and see if these services might add something to your classes.
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New Home for GtC National Network!
We've outgrown our space at Portland Community College, so have moved to a new location.
NEW ADDRESS
529 SE Grand Avenue Suite 300
Portland, OR 97214
phone: 971-634-1212
fax: 971-634-1213
Our email addresses will remain the same.
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