National Alternative Education Association Conference

This week I was able to attend one of the best conferences I have been to.  In Nashville, Tennessee I spent four days at the National Alternative Education Association Conference.  I was rubbing shoulders with several hundred people that were so passionate about the kids they work with everyday.  Kids that many people label as bad, or failures, or losers, but everyone there only saw untapped potentials and kids that only needed someone to give them another chance.

The first day was spent visiting some alternative education schools in the Nashville area, The Academy at Old Cockrill, Big Picture High School, and Nashville Diploma Plus High School.

One thing that really made the conference special was the quality of the keynote speakers.  

Thursday:  Danny Hill, author of The Power of the ICU and Greg Darnieder, Special Assistant and Advisor to the Secretary of Education.

Friday:  Cathryn Berger Kaye, author of The Complete Guide to Service Learning and Kevin Jennings, Assistant Deputy Secretary for Safe and Drug-Free Schools. 

Saturday: Chad Foster, successful entrepreneur whose presentation was titled, Will Your Students be Prepared...Or Just Educated?.

They did not just deliver quality presentations, they talked from their hearts.  Darnieder and Jennings are both appointees to President Obama's Department of Education.

Two key ideas that I came away with were service learning and authentic learning in the alternative education classroom.  I am thinking of ways to incorporate each into my classroom when I return to teaching.  I also attended an informative session on grant writing, an important skill in this new economy.