Friday was the annual Acadia Summer Institute Conference, and I have to say I enjoyed the day. It's always great to hear from people that you might not get the chance to learn from otherwise, such as Karen Dyke and Shaughney Aston. It was also interesting to watch Phil and Dianne Ferguson deliver their keynote speech together. We've experienced them co-teaching a couple of times already in our Family Schools and Community Support course and their dynamic revolves around humour, respect, and passion for the theme of families and schools based on their personal experiences.
Dianne and Phil presented a few different models of family/school/student interactions, and had us think about the ways that factors such as family structure and routines, community, cultural sphere, and our relationships with parents can affect the dynamic between school and home. They've really got me thinking about situations in my teaching where communication and relationships have broken down, and ways to address those complicated and sometimes awkward situations in a professional way. Karen talked in her presentation a bit about the pressure for parents to be working. When parents of students with disabilities are missing time from work to go to various meetings, they run the risk of losing their employment. Living in an economically depressed area as we do, there may come a point when a parent has to make the difficult decision of meeting or work. I had that happen in the spring when a parent told me they'd be unable to make it to an IPP review meeting because they'd been missing too much work. At the time I felt like they weren't making their son enough of a priority- I didn't buy that excuse for missing the meeting. I didn't and wouldn't say that to a parent - but now I'm embarrassed by my ignorance and insensitivity.
Shaughney discussed her study of women with addiction in rural areas. She included an activity which involved getting up and moving around and having a conversation with a group of people I wouldn't have had the chance to interact with otherwise, which was interesting and engaging. This activity highlighted some of the key phrases found in her study, some of which were stark and heartbreaking. She left us with some final questions to ponder, which were:
How can you...
- listen for differences
- open space for alternative identities
- address gender imbalances
- address power imbalances
- address rural differences
I didn't bring my laptop to the conference because it's so heavy, I didn't want to lug it around all day. I wrote fast and furiously, trying to keep up with the slides and what each presenter was saying. At one point I looked up and Wade was taking a picture of the screen with his iPad. My iPad envy at that point was immense, although he claimed that the picture came out fuzzy :P It was just one more example of the learning advantages these devices can add to our lives. Handwriting for me is exhausting - I'm neat, but very slow. If there was an app (and I know there is - maybe Dragon Dictation would work best?) to record and translate the speeches I heard on Friday to text, I feel like I could have been more engaged and thoughtful about what the presenters were saying, rather than just focused on writing down all of the main points.
Here's a little tutorial on how to use Dragon Dication:
I have known about Dragon Dictation for a while but it had been on a desktop computer with a microphone. Students would have to go to the computer and work wen the class was quiet. This is not ideal, obviously, as students would feel like they stood out. If the class was too loud, the program doesn't work. With an iPad, the student can work from their desk or simply find a quiet corner of the room to work. This is going to be much more comfortable for students who do not want to stand out as "different". Soon, we will simply have to think something and it will be written!
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