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Where do I start?

What stood out to me about the panel on centering the experiences of Black students was unconditional love & the emphasis on helping students see the greatness of who they are. Also the reminder that parents were once students, who may have had negative experiences in school and just need someone to not give up the same way we don't give up on our kiddos.

Much like the panel, many of the sessions emphasized engaging families by understanding their needs (resources, language literacy, etc.), educating them and learning from them - what does their culture have to offer to enhance experiences for all of our kiddos?

Most importantly, I truly appreciated hearing the stories of some of our ELT members and how much they have gone through to get to where they are today. Understanding the stories of our community helps us truly see each other, better affirm each other and treat them the way they want to be treated. Thank you for your heart and vulnerability team!

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I was fascinated by several AI sessions. There are many promising AI platforms that we can leverage as educators. One really exciting takeaway was how much easier AI makes it to customize lessons and assignments. This will allow teachers meet students where they are and engage them in the content.

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Let me start with the opening session, just WOW! A panel of respected black leaders speaking freely and openly about the importance of representation, relatable curriculum and teaching styles that consider culture from a student's perspective. Then traveling into the hush hush reality of the mistreatment, unequal pay and decreased opportunity for educators of color. From there, pushing through and tapping into the legislative impact of policies, funding and politics as a whole that add to challenges for students of colors as well as staff. Finally the continuous praise of HBCUs illustrating the triumphant successes that have occurred in the education of Black America despite all the challenges.

I am not sure if it was a result of the opening session or simple math, but I was more aware of the increased presence of educators of color in attendance this year than in past years. CCSA, looked like the United Nations this year and evoked conversations within our own teams as well as those we share this space with in this small but powerful industry.

I continued to be intrigued by the conversations around me and with me. Especially amongst my own colleagues. I was reconfirmed in my belief that although color, culture, religion, social economic backgrounds along with several other elements of our personal existence matter and should be considered when trying to create and tailor education to be inclusive of all and for all to grow, if we dig deep, we can all find a commonality that will link us despite of visual differences, stereotypes, implicit biases, and assumed presumptions.

I will wrap with my joy of the closing session. The speaker and her story were the perfect finish to what I felt about my experience of this year’s CCSA Conference and the nuggets I took away. Though she and I do not look alike nor did we grow up in the same environment, our experiences, especially in college when thrown into a different environment caused unexpected anxiety and challenged yet another part of our existence. This part ultimately shaped who we became as adults, how we are often preserved by the family and friends we grew up with and how to balance the two.

Though I enjoyed the sessions related to my daily work, the theme of the conference this year is what made this conference one of the best I have attended.

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I had a couple of takeaway's. I appreciated that in the beginning of each of the general sessions, they highlighted a different culture through dance. It was so much fun to see the students performing and sharing that piece with us.

Another takeaway was the podcast and conversation that we had together on Tuesday. The conversation that spontaneously occurred after the podcast helped us to see and understand each other better as a community working together for our students.

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Keynote speaker Sal Kahn, founder of Kahn Academy

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I really liked the feel of this year's conference! The theme and keynote speakers were on point, and the structure of the conference as a whole seemed more streamlined and focused. The importance of inclusion and culture were highlighted multiple times in accessible formats, and it felt like a positive shift for the CCSA organization. I liked the variety of the conference program. There were multiple presentations featuring AI, across all programming topics; not just limited to topics like Technology and Cyber Security.

Lastly, I really enjoyed the chance to go all former-math-teacher fangirl over Sal Kahn, founder of Kahn Academy. I sent my family short video clip of him on stage and they joined in with my ooo's and ahhh's. 🙂

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Hilary Bessette - Celebrating our work family

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Hilary Bessette - Celebrating our work family

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I loved that we got to celebrate our work family in person. Happy 50th Birthday Richard!

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Hilary Bessette - laughter is the best medicine

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Hilary Bessette - laughter is the best medicine

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I haven't laughed this hard in weeks. I'm super thankful that I got to spend time with our team.

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The world of AI was one of my highlights at the conference from all the features and abilities it has to help students, teachers, administrators, and more. In addition, to understanding the legalities around AI and what districts and schools need to be cautious of when looking at implementing AI initiatives. I loved the quote or phrase I heard often around it throughout the week "it is not going away, it is only getting better and more effective so how can we leverage it as educators and professionals."   Some of the one's I am excited to dive in further and learn about were: Claude, Diffit, Code.org (and the AI game it has available to teach Elem STs how AI works), Twee (an AI platform that can be great for our population kids identified as EL or who have an IEP), Quick Draw, and so many others. One of the biggest things that captured my attention was its ability to easily craft and generate lesson plans that were differentiated based upon a students abilities but still focused on the grade level standards they need to master. 