The Kickass Arts in Education Conference

from Friday 10/29

All Guessed Out

The journal I am writing in is a promo item from Guess- it features a bunch of black and white photos from past ad campaigns, including one of Anna Nic*le Sm*th in her pre "I-gained-all-this-weight-and-am-completely-insane-on-my-own-tv-show,-but-then-I-lost-all-the-weight-thanks-to-these-magic-beans" days.
My bag is canvas with Guess emblazoned across one side. If anyone bothered to notice, they would think I'm a Guess wh*re- but aside from this free junk- I wouldn't touch the stuff.

I'm volunteering today for the New York City Arts in Education Roundtable- an all day event at Riverside Church, up near Columbia University.
I love this area of town- so collegiate, with beautiful manicured lawns and gardens-old stone buildings and such an academic feel. Coming up here makes me want to go back to school and really learn something this time.

Riverside Church is unbelievable beautiful- an immense building highlighted by an amazing, gothic-style tower- 20 floors up. Stained glass windows abound, intricately detailed doorways, molding, grates, ceilings, pedestals and lighting fixtures fill the place and make you feel like you are stepping back in time. They don't build like this anymore.

I am sitting in an assembly hall filled with teachers, artists & administrators. The room is abuzz and people flit up and down the aisles with much excitement. I am feeling a bit intimidated as all these people are professionals in the field and I am just a mere volunteer trying to perhaps get a leg up. But everyone has to start somewhere- right?
Snippets of conversation fly past me as I try and familiarize myself with the crappy HP Digital Camera they just gave me to take pictures of the speakers and the audience.

The camera sucks royal ass and every single on of the shots I take during the opening presentation are blurry and poorly lit. I remind myself to never buy a camera made by a computer company and not a camera company (go Canon!).

The rest of the day is fabulous and I've learned a lot- especially how to get my foot in the door. I've set up shadowing opportunities and have tried my best to make new connections. I think this is a great direction for me to go towards.

Some of the words and phrases I overheard today:
-multi-faceted -Consortium -Relationship with schools -modeling & reflection -stake holders -professional development (pd) effective communication -time management -practicum -breakout
-shoot for -teacher involved in classroom -pedagogy - parents -processing & assessment -scheduling -professional -human development -impact their lives -unit residency -encouraged -advocates -classroom environment - speak in terms of - management techniques -process & product -rich topics -collaborative process -differentiation -residencey -need to know, need to have -codify -language