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About Capitol Words
Capitol Words gives you an at-a-glance view into the daily proceedings of the United States Congress through the simplest lens available-a single word. For every day that Congress is in session, Capitol Words displays the most frequently used word in the Congressional Record.
Whether the word matches up to an issue, an action, or the name of a member of Congress, Capitol Words provides a snapshot of the main topic addressed by Congress for any given day, dating back to the second session of the 106th Congress (January 20, 2000).
Being at NECC was an experience of immersion. I was completely surrounded by “Agents of Change” – those that are chartered to go forth and change the way education is being done… to move into the future with technology supporting the learning of students. Very motivating, somewhat visionary, and definitely exhausting.
After sitting at the airport with the rest of the attendees – all trying to get on one plane I think – it was nice to get home. Home where I was quickly absorbed into the daily grind. But wait – what happened to vision? What happened to motivation?
Welcome to reality.
As full of ideas as a conference like NECC is, our reality is less inspiring. Reality is full of schedules and deadlines – firewalls and limitations – “old school” and “tradition”. And, unfortunately, I didn’t see one NECC session that addressed any of these constraints (did I miss it?). Sure, it was mentioned in passing… but no one really put it up front where it needs to be. Ideas and vision are wonderful, but if we aren’t talking about the speedbumps along the way then the journey becomes much more arduous and much longer.
I heard teachers on either side of me express delight in an idea or new tool. Then came the inevitable “but we can’t do that at our school”. So, is there just an imaginary school somewhere that gets to do it all? And how did they get to do it all? Do they have a roadmap, a list of hints, anything at all to share? THAT is a session that would be full!
Now don’t get me wrong, I am so very fortunate to work in a school that shares a similar vision that was the overall NECC theme – priority one is teaching the students, next is to support that teaching with innovative technology while working with a curriculum that is mapped to NETS and the professional development necessary to bring the teachers along as well. However, the majority of schools have many more limitations pressed upon them. How do the teachers move forward?
That’s what I would like to see at NECC next time around.
No one, however, can fix the one thing that would help above all. Adding more time to get it all done!
