Last week Jeanie shared her inspiration at a PD experience. I am fired up! Conferences are so fun and the AMLE annual conference was amazing! (Note: the NCMLE conference is accepting applications to present... Want to share our collective stories?)
I just got back from the Association for Middle Level Education (AMLE) Annual Conference. I hope you all will be able to go some time. It will be in Philadelphia next November.
On my flight back I tried to capture the experience...
What you do matters. More than ever, our world needs your passion, your hope, your knowledge and inspiration, your joy and your commitment. We need to continue to be middle level advocates! And we value your work, your skill, and your compassion to make a difference one child, one teacher, one parent, one colleague, one administrator, one community member, and one legislator at a time! Thank you for an inspiring conference, for your joy, your spirit of welcome, you. You are my heroes!
The #AMLE2016 conference showered us with the power of
Laughter,
Celebration,
Data,
Mindfulness,
Leadership,
Instructional Strategies,
Technology,
The Arts,
Collaboration,
Research,
Exploration, and the reason to
Never give up!
It as and is a world view of hope that is sparked in middle schools around the world. Thank AMLE for leading the journey, and inspiring us to carry the torch to light the way.
This week I had the opportunity to connect with middle level advocates, colleagues really, from Europe, Mexico, Australia, Canada, and across the US. I heard stories, passion, commitment, joy, and celebrations of middle level students and those who advocate for them. I heard research about the adolescent brain, the power of mindfulness, service learning, collaboration, data, and statistics all spotlighting middle level youth, middle level programs, and middle level leaders. I heard individuals and groups of classroom teachers, middle level administrators, middle school students, companies and exhibitors, professors and international organizers who have captured the essence of, value towards, and insight into the lives and needs of young adolescents.
It, the #AMLE2016 conference, was powerful. I could not help but reflect back across the middle level educators who, early on, recognized that young adolescents are different from elementary children and are different from high school youth, and who dreamed of a middle school run by young adolescent visionaries, who designed buildings, structures and programs to support their unique needs. I know they are proud.
In the nineteen eighties we were given tools for teaming, flexible scheduling, advisory, and exploratories. Professors and principals inspired us to collaborate as teams, to create experiences that integrate curriculum, engage learners, and develop academic as well as social and emotional needs of this age group. In the nineteen nineties Turning Points and This We Believe, NASSP, and AERA provided us with national research supporting these dreams. And now, in the twenty-first century practitioners, research scholars across disciplines as well as Teacher Leaders, organizations, administrators, school improvement teams, districts, and district partners are coming together, sharing contributions to the field. Data are rich and compelling. Practitioners and researchers are not only giving us amazing strategies, that are embedded in research from psychology, neuroscience, and physiology, but they are also giving us passionate, committed, and transformational leaders.
Those leaders, our leaders, came together in Austin. They inspired us with their joy and commitment, challenged us to never give up on our kids, immersed us with data, and guided us with a platform to conduct more research. Corporations and organizations shared their expertise, their tools, their compassion for and commitment to middle level educators and the children we teach. Together, in Austin, we were released from politics and barriers, and we embraced our passion for young adolescents and those who serve them.
We are making a difference from many different paths. We are second career educators, educators who accidentally landed in this field. We are teachers who have decided to be middle school principals by choice, and we are moving into leadership roles as team leaders, coaches, assistant principals, principals, district directors, and superintendents. We are just starting our careers and we are retired. But we all share the spark, the light, the passion, and a belief that middle level education is where young adolescents learn to believe in themselves, learn to believe in their own dreams, to make a difference. And we are committed to walk beside them on this part of their journey. The rich dialogue and the deep thinking of those who brought us passion and inspiration through research and practice, stories, dialogue, and for those whose data captured what is good about young adolescents and middle level education, thank you.
I hope you all can join us next year in Philadelphia!! (:
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