Sharing Web Resources

I have been following the National Head Start Association web site.  This week the information that seemed particularly relevant to my current professional development was the upcoming conference.  I took a closer look at what training sessions were offered throughout the week long conference.  There are sessions about connecting children to nature, lots of literacy based sessions as well as math and science based.  There are sessions that are geared for teachers and some that are geared for management.  One of the keynote speakers this year will be Stedman Graham, he is the chairman and CEO of a management and marketing consulting company that specializes in the corporate and educational markets.  I believe that his session will have an impact on what we have been talking about this week as he is a businessman.  There are also sessions that will explore brain development and add to our understanding of how neuroscientists support the early childhood field.  Another keynote speaker will be the Director of the Office of Head Start, Yvette Sanchez Fuentes.  I believe her address will give more insight into the politicians view of early childhood.  There are so many sessions each day to choose from that it can be very hard to decide on which ones to attend.  I know this because I was able to attend last year in Kansas City.  Each year there is something new to think about a new presenters along with ones that have presented in the past.  I also know from my own personal experience that you may attend a session and find that you don't agree with what is being presented and have very different opinions.  As with any new idea, you have to decide for yourself if the information is something you can use or not and either give it a try in your classroom or leave it back at the conference.  There is also an exhibit hall at the conference with lots of vendors and many university's including Walden University.  It was so nice to meet representatives from Walden at last year's conference! 

Something in the newsletter that made me think was the legal advisory service trainings that are being offered to Head Start agencies.  There are webinars for establishing a culture of compliance and conducting internal investigations as well as other topics.  These webinars are geared toward upper management personnel, but they made me think. 

By exploring this website I gained insights about what topics are hot in early childhood.  We are still talking a lot about early literacy.  There was also several sessions at the conference that talked about assessment, not only of the children, but of the effectiveness of teachers and different ways to do that assessment.  There were sessions that focused on coaching strategies as well.  I think that anyone that attends this conference, they will come away with a lot of good, useful information that they will be able to take back to their own classroom or agency and put into practice.