NEA's Joint Women's and Minorities Conference

I had the privilege of attending NEA's Joint Women's and Minorities Conference this year in New Orleans prior to the NEA Representative Assembly. I am always amazed when I get around groups of teachers....from all over the United States.

The quality of people one finds at these events is wonderful. One of the amazing discoveries for me is educators are the same everywhere. Educators are very easy to spot in a group. Teachers recognize teachers. Anywhere you find yourself; riding an elevator, awaiting shuttle transportation, flying at 35,000 feet, shopping at a CVS pharmacy, sitting in a lobby of a hotel; if there are teachers anywhere in the room you’ll hear conversations about kids:

- Johnny really made progress this year.
- Suzy finally learned her facts.
- Next year I’m going to start earlier on the science projects.
- We tried that program, and it was a disaster.
- I’m tired of parents and our community saying they support schools,then
stab us in the back?
- Imagine what we could do with more teachers working with the kids.
- Lack of school funding is killing us. Too many of us are losing jobs.
- Why do we have to spend so much of the school year testing?
- We just don’t have the resources to help our low kids.
- Why aren’t we spending money on people rather than some new program?

That’s what teachers do, talk about kids. That’s why after many years of teaching, teachers often find it difficult to interact with ‘normal’ people. :)

The NEA Joint Women’s and Minorities Conference is two days with 800 educators from across the United States gathered to hear and learn more about issues regarding student achievement, what’s new with the Federal mandates, research on student successes, examples of community support, and identifying 'red flags' coming from those with an agenda of sabotaging public schools. I have attended four of these conferences. It is always the best of the best. Unlike most inservicees, it well worth the time to attend!

Below is some specific information I wanted to share with Kansas educators.

Texas and Arizona teachers informed us about what is happening in their states. Texas teachers are fighting a very well-organized movement headed by their State Board of Education censoring textbooks and rewriting their Texas history.

Arizona shared the effects of the new immigration law. The Hispanic population is being targeted, stopped by law enforcement demanding identification to prove legal residency. I heard stories of teachers, their family and friends (citizens) afraid to leave their homes without passports and other forms of identification. Teachers shared stories of their students being afraid to come to school. Arizona children are afraid of law enforcement, the very people they should see as protectors.

Another session I found very informative and very scary is the issue of obesity. Two-thirds of our students are identified as obese. This has happened very quickly. From 1990 to 2009 states are reporting increases of 15% to 67%. If this trend continues, we will be looking at the first generation whose life-expectancy will be shorter than their parents. Obesity is an epidemic in America. Possible causes were shared.

Primarily, the cause stems from lousy food choices (home & school), too many hours of television and video games, boiling down to the fact America’s children don’t move enough! Physical education is very important for our children! And yet it is one of the areas schools across the United States are cutting and replacing with more reading and math time (the areas required to test; the areas that someone thinks can be measured with an annual single test).

Research has shown time and time again high-stakes testing is damaging to our children. And yet every public school teacher is forced to do whatever it takes to prepare children and then test them; which, also, forces us to eliminate essential areas like physical education and music.

We know that these areas are essential for our children’s health and their ability to learn the core subjects like math and reading. It is a vicious cycle in which we (schools, educators, and students) are trapped! And we continue to play the game of outsiders who have absolutely no clue as how to educate a child.

Two of the programs shared to assist schools help their children fighting obesity (besides the obvious of ‘fixing’ the junk served for school breakfasts and lunch and the practice of eliminating recesses) were very doable.

First – All students walk or jog the quarter-mile lap on the track at the beginning of every recess. It has been known for awhile, those schools eliminating recess in K-5 grades attempting to schedule more core time, are wasting their efforts. There is quite a bit of professional opinion that believes eliminating recess hinders students’ ability to focus and learn.

The second no-brainer (Although, I never even considered it.) is the ‘play and eat’ concept. Instead of having the students eat lunch and then recess. It makes much more sense to have recess first and then eat lunch. Let the kids get their ‘spenkus arenkus’ under control and then eat lunch.

Several schools shared the ‘play and eat’ was very successful with their students. Students tended to actually take their time at lunch, and the behavior problems at lunch were significantly reduced.

Side note: Physically fit children learn better. Helping our children become physically fit is a win-win for schools and our country.

Keynote Speakers and Great Quotes:

The first speaker at the “Joint Women’s and Minorities” Conference was Chris Gardner. Will Smith played him in the movie “The Pursuit of Happiness.” He shared his story with particular emphasis on a few facts.

- Poverty can happen to anyone.
- Never let anyone convince you that you cannot succeed.
- Success is hard work.

Side note: His son in the movie was supposed to be about 4 years of age. In real life his son was 14 months old.

The second keynote speaker was Ginny Gong. She is the author of “From Ironing Board to Corporate Board.” Ginny arrived in the United States at the age of 6. She did not speak English, neither did her parents or siblings. Ginny was the oldest child. Her parents owned and operated a laundry. Ginny grew up in the back of that laundry.

She shared her life experiences of growing up in two very different cultures. Ginny was the family member responsible for bridging these two worlds. Her overall message to the audience was as educators we may have very limited knowledge of our students other life outside of school. No excuses, just awareness.

Side note: After 30 years in this country, Ginny’s parents took a trip back to China to see their parents. And the only way they would go was if Ginny and siblings ran the laundry.

The final keynote speaker at the ‘Joint’ Conference was Stephanie A. Fryberg, PHD, who researches the “Influence of Social Representations of Race, Culture, and Social Class.” Dr. Fryberg shared her research regarding Native Americans vs media’s portrayal of natives. Her findings suggest our media’s portrayal of Native Americans damages their personal images and lowers their ‘personal possibilities’-- what they might become as adults. Same media images shown to non-natives did not alter self-image or personal possibilities.

All the speakers and session presenters were of very high quality. This conference actually focuses on educators concerns and attempts to give the participants information and strategies to assist with our universal problematic issues. I felt very fortunate to have attended this conference and networking with teachers across our nation.