Introductions...?

I always find introductions somewhat awkward when I'm presenting at conferences. I envy the style and finesse of those exceptional speakers who nail their first words that keep everyone from slipping out at the back to try on another session, or simply choose to opt out for another coffee. Today, in a few hours, I might be looking at many faces as my presentation is in a ballroom filled with close to 100 tables, not an intimate room for 30 interactive participants!

Even after presenting at hundreds of conferences throughout my 40+ years in education, I am still nervous about public speaking, especially since I try and keep my goal squarely on two themes: sharing creative ideas and making an impact.

When I flew in to the ASCD conference in DC yesterday, I was wearing my comfy clothes, something a semi-retired principal has the luxury of wearing. I went to the keynote address and was moved by ASCD's Executive Director, Richard Culatta and author and professor, Dr. Bettina Love. I was expecting a warm welcome message from Richard, and a powerful reason for change inspired by Bettina. In the first 90 minutes of the conference, from my perspective, I had under-expected - and both had over-delivered.

Culatta demonstrated a wealth of understandings of Ai and made us realize that we can no longer teach when kids can virtually build tunnels underneath us - as more expert users of all things digital. He noted that Socrates at one time worried about the impact of books, and not so long ago, math teachers grappled with calculators. While Ai is not the same, Culatta gave the audience much more than a welcome and a thank you speech to recognize all the volunteers.

Love proved to be a remarkable choice. Her message from beginning to end - compelling, and like Culatta, shared impressive confidence and passion about her ideas. She made us think about how our education systems need to change, not simply be tweaked, to truly address equity. She challenged, and rightly so, states who are banning books and restricting curriculum. We are not teaching about historical wrongs to make people feel small; we must do this to make sure we never repeat the wrongs we've done to others. Her message will continue to resonate for me and many others I sense now and for many years to come.

These are not easy acts to follow, but I wonder if they were nervous in the moments leading up to their first words, as I am.

I woke up too early this morning, with an idea. Change that first slide, you know the one with the title, with my name on it. I thought maybe I'd put my picture there and then I thought perhaps I'd put a picture of me in a place that I love to write, off grid in Canada, and then I thought, you know what, I had some goofy pics taken at a photo booth in the exhibits area that I tracked through yesterday. This might be a calming way to say that having fun in school matters, and that my session on interactive rubrics might be fun for participants, too.

But the words that I want to come out naturally in my introduction continue to spike my flight or flight response. Knowing that the audience wants to get into the meat of the presentation I do not want to dwell on an opening, but there is something many Canadians and other international countries are beginning to do more often and that is, what we call a Land Acknowledgement, to honor and thank our ancestors for giving us the land and taking care of the land around us for thousands of years. The more places I go, the more research is required to find out more about the indigenous peoples who once lived in the spaces where each conferences is held.

Today I am in DC, so my acknowledgement features a thank you to the Anacostans, and the neigboring Piscataway and Pamunkey peoples. I'm not sure how this would be received in the US, but I do want the delegates to understand that my message about interactive rubrics is informed not only by my experiences, my research and reading of other research, but my nature of being open to new perspectives. For instance, the values in the indigenous medicine wheel (belonging, independence, generosity and mastery) that incidentally fit nicely with more progressive school goals, partly shape some of my thinking about schools and assessment.

So, enough about me, time to get busy and get on with the task of shedding some light on some new ways to make classroom assessments more engaging for students and teachers...

Will keep you posted on how it goes! Cheers, Barbara, age 67.