Hello, Chicago!

It's hard to believe it is time for another ASCD Conference!  Pacific ASCD members Michael and Valerie will be blogging about their experiences throughout the conference this year in Chicago as we did last year in Philadelphia.

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Michael and I arrived in Chicago in time to do a little sightseeing before we participate in the Student Chapter Service Day tomorrow.  We went to Lincoln Park Zoo today and thought that it would be a great place to plan a field trip to once we have our own classrooms.  We took pictures of the animals there to show our future students about the different kinds of biomes and habitats they live in- just in case our field trips from California to Chicago aren't approved.

Tomorrow we will participate in the Student Chapter Service Day at the Greater Chicago Food Depository. We are excited to participate, as it reminds us of the Service Day we did two years ago at the San Francisco food bank where we bagged and packed pasta and made it a competition.  We are also reminded of our own Pacific ASCD Service Project, where we volunteered at the Emergency Food Bank of Stockton to help the food bank prepare for an upcoming canned food drive.

After the Service Day, we will be participating in the Career Chat and the Welcome Session.  We will also be presenting at the Student Chapter Session on Saturday morning

We can't wait to get started at another ASCD Conference! See you there!

-Valerie Yim

Post-Conference Debrief

Pacific ASCD is now back in California and we're back to attending classes and going to our fieldwork classrooms.  We had a blast in Philadelphia meeting all of the student chapters, networking with many of the important people within ASCD and attending many of the intriguing sessions.  We've made new friends from schools all over the country and we are excited to keep in touch with everyone.  All of us enjoyed the time we spent in Philadelphia and we can't wait for the conference in Chicago next year!

-Pacific ASCD

In a History Mood

I started out today with Abraham Lincoln, then went to the General Session with Dr. Atul Gawande, a surgeon, who talked about learning through observations and further learning after you've reached a plateau in performance. It was actually really interesting and he received a Standing Ovation at the end.  Then, I continued my history day with a session about using Primary Sources in the classroom through the Library of Congress and we learned a really neat way to introduce primary source images into lessons.  Because Jen and I got out of the Primary Source session early, we decided to go explore the Reading Terminal Market.  There, we got some chocolate to snack on to help pass the time between our sessions.  Now, we are waiting in our next session (also history related to go along with the history streak) called "Medal of Honor: Lessons of Bravery and Self-Sacrifice" and eating our chocolate.

Not sure what sessions everyone else has been to today because we split up, but my Exit Buddy (Jen) and I are having fun with our Primary Sources and other history buff stuff.

-Valerie Yim

Lincoln's Legacy

Waiting for my first session to start.  I'm in a session called Advocating Respect for All: Lincoln's Legacy for School Leaders.  The history nerd in me is kind of tweaking out right now- connecting Abraham Lincoln to education is so neat.  This is a phenomenal session so far! Great information about leadership, effective communication, diversity, and hope.

I also won an #ASCDcuriosity shirt.

-Valerie Yim

Conference Day 1

Whooooo! What a day! Started off by going to the Student Chapter Session and learning about new ideas for Pacific ASCD. From there went and saw the opening session with Storm Chaser Reed Timmer, along with seeing two great individuals receive the Outstanding Young Educator Award. I will always remember "Never stop chasing your dream" -Reed Tiimmer.

After that went and had lunch from the local market and went to the Session about Serious Fun, incorporating fun activities in a serious classroom environment. Learned great tools and techniques that I can't wait to apply to my teaching in a few years.

From the session we went to the exhibit hall and saw a bunch of teaching tools and other materials that can be used in the classroom. Again another great time.

From there it was off to the Presidents Gala, with the other Student Chapters and other distinguished ASCD members. We had some dinner, and then the Chapters hit the dance floor, dancing to the band play some oldies. After a great time of dancing, a few of us headed out to continue the fun a karaoke night!

 Philadelphia has proven historic, and fun all at the same time. Can't wait for what's to come!

-David Tomaselli

It's RAINING

We walked out of the Marriott Hotel that the President's Gala was at and it was POURING. We ran back to our hotel and despite how close we are, (2 blocks, max) we were SOAKED.  Back at our hotel now drying off and doing homework... Wish we could all go karaoke with the other student chapters instead of doing homework...

-Valerie Yim

Great first day so far

I kind of want to try chasing tornadoes now. Great first session this morning with Reed Timmer from the Discovery Channel.  I also went to a session about Sexting and Cyberbullying- super informative and even more relevant right now.  Heading to the President's Gala tonight.

-Valerie Yim

PS. An awesome quote from today: "What's worse than being blind is being able to see, but having no vision." -Helen Keller