In choosing a professional conference to go to for this semester's assignment, I immediately thought of Brown. Having been to lectures there before, I've consistently enjoy their topic choices as well as their reflective nature.
Background:
This particular lecture focused on a variety of Providence School goers, either current or graduated. They were all from different parts of the city and mostly attended different schools. Their ages ranged from middle school to college level. Some were immigrants to the states while others were born and bred in our city. However, they all belonged to one of the 3 groups (Generation Citizen, BRYTE and Rhode Island Urban Debate League) which hosted the event (each group focused on differing mentoring roles for kids).
Substance:
They were situated at the front of the lecture hall prepared to give us the "lowdown" on what school in Providence was like. Timid at first, the panel was introduced by name, school, and favorite school lunch choice.
There then were a variety of questions asked to the panel follow by open discussion from anyone in the audience.
Some of the questions had to do with how teachers and schools changed their ideas about education. There were so many different answers but the common theme had to do with how teachers made them feel needed, wanted and important. For all the students, when this happened it dramatically increased there interest in a class, subject or learning experience. I get this; teachers who engaged with me in high school won my loyalty and heart forever. I'm glad this conference reminded me of this. I'm hoping I can do this in the future for some of my kids.
Overall, good conference. Lots of nerdy Brown kids who kept doing this weird snapping thing. I still want to know what that was about. I googled it but no luck so far.
