Another National Middle School Association annual conference is over...I've been to every NMSA conference since 1976 (except 1981, when we were waiting for son Christopher to be born). Lots of ideas, discussions, forward progress, and backsliding in all of those years. This year's themes were very similar to those of the past—perhaps that is reassuring. Jim Collins, From Good to Great, was an excellent keynote...focused and very appropriate for middle level schools...many of whom stopped (improving) at the "good" level. This happens lots of ways in middle level schools...where schools attempt to keep teams "equal" and consequently don't allow them to develop to their full potential...with teachers who are "held back" by their peers through subtle "don't me me look bad peer pressure," and with "aim for the middle of the pack" curricula that is done to kids instead of involving them.
Also, really enjoyed Will Richardson's session on learning and technology. Hard-hitting and to the point. Will and Alan November (another NMSA keynoter) and others are the new progressives as they attempt to get us to realize that student involvement in their own learning is more critical than ever before. While the technology is alternately dazzling and off-putting...the reality it that it is there and our students need to use to learn it just as we learned to use typewriters, pencils, and more.
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