Off to Seattle ELOB National Conference
Jenn (Grade 06 / Schoolcraft) Originally published May 2004The 6/7 teachers of Schoolcraft Learning Community traveled to Seattle, Washington, to present a Master Class about how to introduce an expedition by using Building Background Knowledge (BBK) workshops with students. The reason Marilyn, Jim, and Sara were chosen to be presenters is because in the fall of 2003, the 6/7 crews did a Holocaust re-enactment. At the time of the re-enactment, the school was full of visitors for the Demonstration Site Seminar. The visitors that chose to watch the Holocaust re-enactment were impressed at the impact it had on the students that they told the National Conference committee about their experience. The National Conference leaders called the school and invited the 6/7 teachers (Marilyn, Jim, and Sara) to apply to be presenters at the Expeditionary Learning Outward Bound National Conference.
The teachers started to write the Master Class proposal for the conference, it submitted for approval. After a couple of weeks, they received a notification that they were accepted as presenters.
Some of the preparations that needed to be done prior to the presentation were to finalize the movie that was shown of the 6/7 expedition, and to figure out what each of the team would present. There was an estimated number of 500 people at the National Conference.
Sara’s favorite part of the trip to Seattle was being a member on a panel discussing “School Culture.” She had to tell the 100 people in the room of Schoolcraft’s philosophy. Later, after all four of the panel members, including Sara, introduced their schools, the audience asked the panel members questions about their schools. “The audience was so interested in what I had to say about Schoolcraft,” said Sara,”that I was asked more questions than any other panel member. I was funny and serious when I talked about Schoolcraft. Many people talked to me later at the National Conference because they remembered me as one of the panel members.”
The most fun part of the trip, according to Jim and Marilyn, was going to the Space Needle to see the view, and Marilyn also said that it was fun to go to the Fish Market to see where they made the famous video called “Fish,” which is all about attitude.
The 6/7 teachers put a lot of work into preparing to go to Seattle, and I think that they should have a lot of honor for what they did.