Principal David Hanson’s NAESP Convention Blog

Tuesday, April 8

I unfortunately will not be able to attend the Tuesday sessions. However, I will share some comments about the Delegate Assembly. This will be the first time that I have not served as a delegate at that assembly.

My short blog for this day is done from my past experience to let you know what typically occurs. The Delegate Assembly is typically held on the last morning of the convention. The main business at hand is to approve the constitutional changes that have been recommended by the resolutions committee. Our zone met in Rapid City, South Dakota, this past June to submit our recommendations to that committee. I have not served on the resolutions committee, but do know folks that have and my guess is there is not a group that works harder than they do. The Delegate Assembly has also been a time that the outgoing members of the NAESP Board of Directors are given a token of appreciation from their states.

I have considered it an honor to have had the privilege to act as the
NAESP blogger. I hope that in some small way my contribution to the blog has been helpful to you. My best to you as you finish your school year!


Sincerely,

David M. Hanson
Elementary Administrator
Wyndmere Public School

Monday, April 7

I would like to begin today's blog with two omissions from the previous couple days. On Saturday night I attended a state gathering at the Wildhorse Saloon. When I told the publication staff at NAESP that I was now hooked on line dancing they wondered why that had not been included in my blog. I do not consider myself the biggest Country Western music fan, but line dancing has definitely created a change of heart in my musical tastes.

On Sunday night I was fortunate to have been invited out to eat with the NAESP publication crew. I appreciated their hospitality and would like to thank them for all of their hard work. The NAESP publications serve as a great resource to building level administrators.

Well now it's time to move on to today. The first activity for today was an early wake-up call for the Zone 7 Breakfast. Actually I wouldn't miss the event for anything. We historically fill the room each year for this event. Our current NAESP president, Mary Kay Sommers, was given a special gift from Zone 7 in recognition of her outstanding leadership for not only our zone but for NAESP. It is our custom for each state to bring a special door prize for a drawing during the breakfast.

I neglected to share that the two NAESP President-Elect candidates had spoken at yesterday's general session. They also came by and spoke at our breakfast this morning. I am not saying this just because I was on the nominating committee, but I do feel that we have two outstanding candidates. The key is to take your responsibility and right as a NAESP member to vote. My understanding is that the ballots will be sent out shortly after this convention. Planning the zone breakfast is a big undertaking and I would like to thank the folks from Wyoming for an outstanding job.

My next event was to meet with the editors from each state association. With no offense meant to any other groups I work and meet with, this group of folks are the ones that I look forward to meeting with the most. I would like to thank Kaylen Tucker, NAESP's associate editor, for all that she has done to help support and assist the state editors. They are a group of hard-working folks.

One of the things that I appreciate the most about the state editors is their willingness to help each other. We share a lot of the same obstacles and concerns and it is wonderful to have a peer group from which to bounce ideas off of and seek support from. I consider it a privilege to be a part of this group.

We had an excellent presentation by Elise Shelton called Wikis, Blogs, and Web Streams, Oh my-- We're not in Kansas Anymore. She is the chief communications officer for the Clarksville-Montgomery County School System in Clarksville, Tennessee. One of the key points she made is that the new principals in our associations are coming in with a whole new way that they receive information. If we want our publications to be something that they will read and access, we need to be aware of their needs. I always come away from this meeting energized and excited about being a state editor.

The next presentation that I attended was Favorite Practices of America's Principals. The session was presented by Dan Owens and Mary Beth Kropp from the Elk Grove Unified School District in Elk Grove, California. They have conducted surveys of principals, teachers, students, and parents to collect favorite practices from principals and a list of what's important to staff, students, and parents. If you would like more information regarding this presentation you can contact them at the following email addresses: Dan Owens at dowens@egusd.net and Mary Beth Kropp at mmkropp@egusd.net

The final General Session Keynote was Consuelo Castillo Kickbusch. She is the founder of Educational Achievement Services, Inc. She was born and raised in a tiny Texas barrio. She overcame the challenges of poverty and discrimination to become the highest-ranking Hispanic woman in the Combat Support Field of the United States Army. She has developed a video called Porque No- Why Not?

She told the audience that she is not a speaker, but a story teller... a conversationalist. She talked to us about her childhood and some of her experiences from the barrio. Having lived through that, she is better able to deal with and work with students who find themselves in difficult situations.

One statement that she shared that really made me think was "A leader's greatest gift is to listen." I also liked the concept of "You don't know what you don't know." To think about children as individuals and where they have come from and to accept the fact that what I know and what most children know is not what all children know. This perspective is an important one in dealing with children from diverse backgrounds.

My experience is that the final speaker is oftentimes the best speaker and this year was no different. Kickbusch made me laugh, cry, and helped remind me that not all children choose the situations that they have come from, but all of them have potential. We also need to blame parents less and do more to work with them.

Sunday, April 6

This morning I had the opportunity to share breakfast with a very dear group of folks. I mentioned earlier that I had served on the NAESP nominating committee this past year. Several members of that group are in Nashville and we decided to get together for breakfast this morning. I had never met any of the committee members before our two days at NAESP headquarters working through the nominating process. I think the fact that we wanted to see and spend time with each other this morning serves as an example of the quality of folks in the elementary principalship. This helps to support my contention that the people are a very big part of this convention.

The first session I attended this morning was Diane Hodges' session, Staff Recognition: Beyond the Paycheck. Coming from a school with only one teacher per grade, I have struggled with the concept of "public" appreciation. If I single out one teacher over the others, will that have a negative effect on staff morale? One of the comments from this session that stuck with me was "The best people go or stay where they are appreciated."

Hodges has been collecting appreciation ideas and has put them into a series of books called Looking Forward to Monday Morning. These books are available at the Bookstore here at the convention and online at www.naesp.org/nprc. The main idea I took from this session was that the benefits from staff recognition far outweigh the concerns one would have about the appearance of someone being the "Principal's Pet." There are a lot of ways that recognition can take place so that each individual teacher knows that they are appreciated.

The second session I attended was the Electronic Faculty/Staff Handbook. I attended two technology sessions today since my other responsibility at Wyndmere is to serve as the K-12 technology coordinator. I enjoy the challenge of finding ways to utilize technology as a tool for education. The presenters shared how they used Microsoft Word to create their electronic faculty/staff handbook. I was very impressed with the technical expertise of the presenters and their willingness to share their project. This is definitely a time saving and cost saving opportunity. For more information you can contact presenter Robin Shumate at robin.schumate@mnps.org. She would be glad to send you a copy of the template that they created.

I stayed in the Technology Learning Center for my next session. My school does not have any interactive white boards so I was curious about the session Increasing Student Learning Through the Use of Smart Interactive White Boards and Smart Software. The presenters were actual elementary instructors that use the product. They showed actual lesson plans that they have created. This made the presentation very applicable and real. My take on this technology tool is that you can use it pretty easily "out of the box" but if you really want to take advantage of the full measure of its capability, time and money will need to be spent on training.

The Keynote Speakers for today were James Carville & Mary Matalin. My wife is a fan of Meet the Press so she was much more in tune with the popularity of these two speakers. I found their discussion of the current political atmosphere very interesting. The banter that went back and forth between the two added to the delivery. It was apparent that they have a high respect for the profession of education and elementary administrators. They both emphasized the need for educators to continue to work to influence policy makers. This has not always been as successful an endeavor as we would like, but does not diminish the importance of the task.

My last official stop was to work at our state booth. The whole concept of state booths is quite interesting. Most booths have something to give away and or some type of contest. I have worked at the booth in previous years and have found it to be a lot of fun. I know I am beating a dead horse, but once again we go back to the theme of people. The other interesting part of working the North Dakota state booth is having folks come and tell me they know someone from North Dakota and asking me if I know that person. I shouldn't admit this but there are actually some instances where I have known the person they knew. I know this only adds to the small-town or rural moniker that my state is known for. I like to think that it is just because we are such a friendly state.

See you tomorrow!

Saturday, April 5

I had an early start to my day with a meeting for the NAESP Credentials Committee. I have had the good fortune to have served on the NAESP Credentials and Nominating Committees this year. If you are ever given the opportunity to serve NAESP and represent your zone on a national committee, SAY YES! The experience has allowed me to get to know an even wider range of peers from all parts of the United States and has helped me better understand how professional and personable the NAESP staff members are.

I am also the state editor for North Dakota. My next stop on today's whirlwind tour was the awards ceremony for NAESP membership. Thanks to the efforts of our State Representative Mike Forsberg and the region representatives in our state, we were able to attain the Goal Buster Plus award. This is quite an accomplishment for a state with a shrinking elementary principal pool.

The Zone 7 meeting is always one of the highlights of my national convention agenda. Zone 7 is a group of folks that genuinely enjoy spending time with each other. I can't speak for the other zones, but I know I consider myself fortunate to be a part of Zone 7. Thanks to Rob Monson, the Zone 7 Director, for running a very informative meeting. The Zone Directors are the main conduit from the general membership to the NAESP executive committee.

The next leg of my journey for today was to sit in as an NAESP journalist. I was asked to write a response to Evelyn Johnson's author presentation. She was a co-author of the book RTI: A Practitioner's Guide to Implementing Response to Intervention. Those with an interest in this topic can go to these two Web sites for more information: www.rti4success.org and www.nrcld.org. The presentation was very good and I was glad that I attended.

The first general session was very good as well. Daniel Pink spoke on the principles in his new book A Whole New Mind. His concepts and ideas were very interesting. It is not easy to keep a large group's attention late in the day. He talked about how our students' futures should not be based on our past. I felt these words were very true.

Friday, April 4th, 2008

Welcome to my NAESP National Convention Adventure! I did not participate in a Pre-Convention Workshop this year, so my blog for today is about time with my peers.

Since North Dakota is a very small state by most standards, the elementary administrators basically get together only twice a year. I have some very neat peers that have a lot of knowledge that can be shared. After registering and helping to set up our state booth I spent some time with some of my North Dakota peers.

This afternoon North Dakota and Minnesota principals are the guests of a book company at the Wild Horse Saloon and then many of us are going to the Grand Ole Opry. It is fun to share these experiences with my peers. I will include some pictures tomorrow from my peer-building time.

I look forward to a very busy three days. It appears that a wonderful program has been developed for our professional growth as well as opportunities to build our peer groups. I would suggest to first-time attendees that they soak up as much as they can. Take in your zone events. This is a great way to get to know folks in smaller groups.

Looking forward to more tomorrow.

Introduction

My name is David Hanson and I am the elementary administrator and technology coordinator for the Wyndmere Public School.  We are a small rural, public K-12 school (100 elementary students) located in south east North Dakota.  I have served as the elementary administrator for the past 23 years. 

I have had the good fortune to have attended six previous NAESP conventions. I currently serve as our state editor for NDAESP. One of the perks is getting to attend the national convention. The professional development that one can receive from a national convention is without a doubt the very best I have seen. NAESP works very hard to bring in outstanding speakers and concurrent session presenters. Over the years I have been able to expand my peer group to fellow zone members as well as other state editors across the United States. Needless to say this has been very beneficial to me professionally. 

There are so many opportunities to take advantage of at the convention. I would encourage you to take the time to plan which speakers and presenters best fit your needs.  I know that there are many times I wish there were two or three of me.  If others are attending from your state you could map out a plan for who is going to attend which sessions, so you can cover more ground.

I am looking forward to sharing my experience at this years national convention through the NAESP blog.  I hope that it will be a time of renewal as well as one that challenges you professionally. 

See you in Nashville!