2010 Convention Wrap-Up:
Celebration of UEA’s 100 Years Culminates at the 2010 Convention & Education Exposition
At the 2010 Utah Education Association Convention & Education Exposition, UEA wrapped up its year-long celebration of 100 years advancing public education and strengthening the teaching profession. Thousands of Utah educators, parents, students and others interested in public education converged on the South Towne Exposition Center October 14-15 to hear some of the profession’s most respected and inspiring speakers, visited workshops that motivated and challenged educators, browsed an exhibit hall showcasing more than 200 vendors, and much more.
Here are a few highlights:
Opening Session—‘Speak for Tomorrow Today,’
“On this 100th birthday celebration of the Utah Education Association, I want you all to know I am filled with a great hope,” said UEA President Sharon Gallagher-Fishbaugh as she addressed conference attendees at the Opening Session. “UEA members have been the inspirational teachers of the children of yesterday and today, and we are their great hope for the future.
“It’s easy for us to lose hope with the constant attacks on public education and its teachers, however, hope doesn’t come from calculating whether good news outweighs the bad. Simply put, it’s a choice to take action. Our members have led the way in advocating for students and public education for over 100 years. That is our legacy…that is our goal…that is our mission.”
Gallagher-Fishbaugh encouraged educators to lead from the classroom and be champions for policies and practices that teachers know will work. “We must take back our profession and we must act now,” she said.
“With all the negative press, it is easy to feel hopeless and small, overwhelmed and inadequate, engulfed in thoughts and feelings that perhaps what we are all doing is not appreciated. I want you to remember you are the source of hope for the young people under your charge. You are not devoid of resources or power. You have the strength and dedication of colleagues behind you. You have the vigor to motivate, the fullness to laugh, the courage to control, the power to uplift and to create, and the intensity to inspire. You are the hope of our profession. Our students are the hope of our future,” she concluded.
Salt Lake Tribune columnist Robert Kirby reflected on individuals who had made an impact on his life. The first was his ninth-grade English teacher, he said, because she invested time in him “when common sense dictated otherwise.”
“When I look back at what I would eventually become…it’s her that I owe the most to. My parents didn’t recognize (the skills) in me. No one else did. But it was this English teacher that taught me, in spite of myself, that there was something in me that was worth developing,” he said.
“I don’t think you fully appreciate what it is you do for the kids that pass through your classrooms, because typically you don’t hear from people like me,” said Kirby. “For borderline kids like (I was) that could have gone either way with just a word or two, you have the capacity to make all the difference.”
Kirby concluded by encouraging teachers to plant seeds of success with their students. “The kids who truly need you are the kids like me…the ones you might think are hopeless, but in fact, carry those seeds with them for the rest of their lives. Later, when they need (those seeds), they look back and remember the people who put them there. You have the capacity of doing that by just lifting the drape of drudgery of sitting class day after day and showing them the magic that’s really there.”
Composer Kurt Bestor referenced his childhood in Utah County and his desire to “use all 64 crayons in my crayon box. My whole path to where I am today, to be a composer and someone that people will actually pay to come see, is because I had inspired teachers all along the way that allowed me to pour out my entire 64 crayons on the table.”
"In a state where people seem to like things black and white, educators are always being handed black and white rules, regulations and mandated standards, you keep that 64-color Crayola box in your desk drawer. Tell your kids that you are not in school to get a scholarship and a high ACT score so you can go to college and get a job…you’re in school to learn to love to learn,” said Bestor.
- View the 2010 Convention Opening Session Online (courtesy of UEN)
Political Candidates Speak Out
Gubernatorial candidates Mayor Peter Corroon and Gov. Gary Herbert addressed teachers during the “Political Candidates Speak Out” event on Oct. 14. Afterward, participants enjoyed a free lunch of hot dogs and sodas while visiting with state legislative candidates. Legislative candidates endorsed by the UEA Political Action Committee were in attendance to visit with teachers and constituents about their candidacies.
- View the UEA Gubernatorial Debate Online (courtesy of UEN)
“Superstars in Education” Awards Celebration
Top Utah educators and public education supporters were honored during a “Superstars in Education” awards ceremony, featuring guest speaker editorial cartoonist Pat Bagley. UEA leaders and philanthropists William and Pat Child presented the 2010 “Excellence in Teaching” Awards to 10 outstanding educators from across the state. Attendees received a unique Bagley cartoon created exclusively for this event…more
Day-Two Keynote Address by Alan M. Blankstein
Alan M. Blankstein, author of the award winning Failure is Not an Option™: Six Principles That Guide Student Achievement in High-Performing Schools, delivered a keynote address during the UEA Convention’s second day, telling educators that school success is achievable through collaboration.
Blankstein said success is not just about individual teachers’ strategies to reach students. “That will get you somewhere, but strategies for us—as a group of teachers, as a principal, as a whole school, as a whole district—that will get you really far,” he said. “We want the school to be in-sync and I want to give you strategies for making the whole school and the whole district in-sync.”
He said excellence is already happening in schools, the issue is how to spread it. Blankstein helped to create professional learning communities in the 1990s, a model for improving education that’s now used in many schools in Utah and nationwide. Essentially, the idea is that teams of teachers meet regularly to share strategies, plan and discuss student progress. He said shifting school culture is critical to the success of these communities.
"Relational trust builds potential for collective capacity and commitment,” he said. To develop this relational trust, he gave five tips: 1) listen first; 2) over communicate; 3) confront inappropriate behaviors; 4) engage staff first on a voluntary basis; 5) reframe/rename the activity.
Blankstein closed by encouraging educators to “keep on the path and open more and more doors.”
- View Alan M. Blankstein’s Keynote Address Online (courtesy of UEN)
Educator Workshops
UEA members were able to select from more than 40 different professional development workshops during the 2010 convention. New this year, general sessions and selected workshops were broadcast to remote locations in Richfield and Roosevelt.
View selected workshops online (courtesy of UEN):
Award-Winning Convention Program
The 2010 UEA Convention & Education Exposition program booklet earned a national “MarCom Gold” award from the Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals (AMCP) for its design and layout. The MarCom Awards is an international competition for marketing and communication professionals involved in the concept, writing, and design of marketing and communication programs and print, visual and audio materials.
The booklet was nominated for the award by newsLINK, the Utah-based company that was retained by UEA to design the publication. The 2010 UEA Convention & Education Exposition program booklet was mailed to all UEA members prior to the convention.