I began this blog directly due to being selected as Arkansas' delegate to the 2nd Annual Mom Congress, sponsored by Parenting, Inc. I was nominated by a wonderful and sweet teacher at Carver Magnet Elementary, where my 2 youngest have attended school, and where I spent the past four years as PTA President. It was requested of me that I blog about my experiences with Mom Congress, but I decided that I wanted to start the blog before I attended Mom Congress in April 2011 to enable me to collect information from parents and teachers to take with me to share.
Image via WikipediaI didn't set out to become an education reform advocate. I started out wanting to improve the environment of my daughter's first grade class. It wasn't an optimal situation and I don't believe in complaining about something that I'm not willing to be part of the solution! My work that year led to me being asked to be PTA President for the following year. I took on that challenge and ended up doing that work for a total of four years. My daughter is now in the final quarter of her 6th grade year and I've spent this school year figuring out how I want to effect change in our educational system without the bully pulpit that being PTA President provides.I hope that you find my blog educational and thought-provoking, and that you will add to the conversation with your comments and questions.
For the next two weeks, I'm going to go straight through the agenda that is planned for our Mom Congress. I want to take with me as much feedback as I can possibly garner about each of the topics that are planned for us. So, please plan to come back often and give me your comments!
Note: if you have a LOT to say, or would like to say it privately, please feel free to email your comments to me.
Mom Congess Agenda:
- Importance of Physical Education and Recess
- School Nutrition (with Jamie Oliver)
- Rallying Parents Behind A Cause
- Early Childhood Education
- Bullying Prevention
- Charter Schools (School Choice)
- STEM Curriculum & Technology in the Classroom
- Early Literacy
- What you would like for me to share with U.S. Sec. of Education Arne Duncan
- How to Support High Quality Teaching
- Closing the Achievement Gap
- The Parent Trigger (which was a bill introduced in the AR Legislature this session!)
