Dallas was cold -- freezing cold! But Sherri Gould (Maine) and I (Wyoming) had left colder and had arrived to participate in the 2009 National Teacher of the Year Program Conference, January 28-31, 2009 -- Dallas, Texas.
Planes were rerouted, flights cancelled, connections missed, roads icy, presenters rescheduled. For a major conference, those offer serious complications, but the hospitality was warm and genuine. Jon Quam and Andy Drewlinger, CCSSO and ING were generous hosts. We enjoyed all of the activities with the 53 attending TOYs and 45 State Coordinators.
The food was fantastic, as was the service. The night at the Women's Museum will be remembered.
Chauncy Veatch, 2002 NTOY, started the conference at the opening dinner with an inspiring, "Leading the Leaders" address. Michael Geisen, 2008 NTOY, closed it at the concluding dinner and reception.
Networking with the coordinators, we began to learn more about their side of this partnership. We're interested in hearing further about their varied approaches. They expressed a desire to have more communication with NSTOY, thinking it useful to have more information to share with their previous TOYs, as well as the current TOY from their states.
An excellent selection of presenters, talented experts in their fields, offered a wealth of information and challenges to the TOYs. (When broken down, there were no less than 25 categories, including music, theater, special education, and industrial arts, leaving no teaching field or grade level under-represented)
Five National TOYs shared their experiences and led groups following the theme: Leading, Teaching, Learning: Effective, Practical, Sustainable!"**Three of the four 2009 National Finalists were introduced: Susan Elliott--2009 Colorado TOY, ninth through twelfth grade English and social studies; Anthony Mullen--2009 Connecticut TOY, ninth through twelfth grade special education; Cynthia Cole Riggsbee --2009 North Carolina TOY, sixth through eighth grade reading teacher; **Alex Kajitani--2009 California TOY, eighth grade mathematics; (His absence was excused. He and his wife were becoming parents of a healthy baby, a little over six pounds, back in California)
Sherri and I returned to our colder climates happy to have shared in this working celebration for these excellent teachers who know it's not about them--but about kids, proud that we are part of this amazing group, knowing that 48 of the 55 2009 TOYs joined NSTOY before we left, excited that several were interested and donated extra dollars to NSTOY scholarships and other funds, thrilled that many expressed an interest in joining us in Maine for the 2009 NSTOY Conference, and overjoyed that several plan to submit a proposal to present.
What a stimulating addition to our conference and our organization! They all have their stories and we're anxious to hear them.
We hope they will connect with their state coordinators, who have helped make this possible, and bring them along to Maine in July. This will give coordinators as well as TOYs another networking opportunity.
Sherri and I were learners at this conference and will be making changes in our roles as a result of this very positive experience.
Joan Brummond, WY 95 TOY; 1st Vice President, NSTOY
