Excitement at Midwinter’s All-Committee meeting January 16, 2008
Posted by Sara Kelly Johns in : Standards , trackbackIt was so exciting for me to go from table to table on Saturday at Midwinter to see the work of our association being done by volunteers from all over the country gathered right next door to the extraordinary jazz violinist Regina Carter, the Arthur Curley lecture performer this year. She may have been incredibly melodious, but the murmur of voices and frequent bursts of laughter was music to MY ears.
Making appointments is probably the hardest work of the president-elect and president but it was obvious that people with passion and expertise were “taking care of business” as they worked on tasks they care about. Some were new task forces like the Promotion and Maketing TF, others were long-standing committees like Research and Statistics or Publications. Bylaws reviewed the charges and functions of committees as part of their ongoing work and began to review the charges of four new task forces: diversity, outreach to parents, international relations, and role of reading position statements.
ESPECIALLY noteworthy were the people working in the Learning Standards Implementation TF and the Learning Assessment Indicators TF; there will be an implementation plan by the June report with some interim steps and there will be opportunities for both input of standards-related lessons and units and opportunities for comment about the indicators and assessments. As I said in my comment on Sharon Grimes’ posting about the standards, there is much more coming! And major steps were taken last Saturday.
Thank you to everyone who is serving on AASL committees and task forces whether you are a newbie on your first one or are an experienced AASL worker. Our profession will make a difference because of you. Those new task forces? They need volunteers. I have some names but would love more. How? Go to the AASL home page, click on “AASL Committees” and submit the online form, especially the “special interests” section which is very useful for task forces. President-elect Ann Martin will be filling committees that start after Annual conference in June and I am still filling some openings and creating new task forces. It’s a real chance to give back to your profession whether you are at the next All-Committee meeting or a virtual member. You will learn as much as you give, I promise. Think about it!
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