NY -- Friday, February 29, 2008

What I’m Reading: The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory (almost done)

What I’m working on: I’m at a work conference so just getting in my 100 words a day.

New Words Today: 128

New York Day #3:
Today was a lighter conference day for me. I woke up with a lovely migraine (sarcasm) that wouldn't go away.

However, I did manage to make it to Daniel Pink's presentation. Very interesting. The most important idea he imparted: We (educators) need to prepare kids for their future, not our past.

Thank you. I've been fighting this year to make teachers understand that just because a subject has been taught a particular way for the past 50 years doesn't mean we should continue to teach it that way. We need to make real efforts to reach today's kid and help him travel into his future.

I visited the exhibit hall for awhile and checked out the travel companies. My boss and I have a shared vision of taking kids to Israel. We go to Europe and the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica and Australia. We'd like to include Israel. However, I'll have to keep searching because none of the student travel companies there did Israel trips.

Finally, I heard Mariane Pearl, author of A Mighty Heart speak. She was lovely. Her message:
Preserve hope.
Maintain trust.
Open a dialogue.
Speak out.
Take action.

Yes. Good plan.

Tonight I also ate at The Brooklyn Diner (a favorite of writer bud Katrina) and saw The Other Boleyn Girl. Yummy food and a good movie. (But as usual, the book by Philippa Gregory is so much better.)

Night all.

Macy