Here are a few things I learned and noted during my time in New York:
- There is a real hunger for new learning and professional growth among the teachers in this region of the country that I don't always find in other places.
- Since Lutheran Schools Association is a pan-Lutheran organization, there is a cooperation and collegiality across denominational lines that is not found in other parts of the country. For me, this connectedness is refreshing. From what I have noticed, Lutherans in the eastern part of our country need to work together in different ways because of the common challenges that they face, and they are certainly rising to the challenge.
- Working with teachers to better understand project based learning and personalized learning strategies takes much more than an hour sectional. By the time our sessions were finished we had only begun to scratch the surface of what is now possible with student learning and there was a desire to hear about much more.
- The blending of vision and action can do amazing things. A few years ago the Lutheran Schools Association was close to shutting down. But then a new leader, Jessica Raba, was hired. Her vision for supporting Lutheran education and her passion for carrying through this vision was evident throughout the day. Every Lutheran organization would be blessed by this persistent and faithful leadership. The Lutheran Schools Association is an organization that is definitely moving from Association to Community.
It is fascinating that Tim Elmore is now taking up topics like project-based and personalized learning. This seems like a completely new direction and I'm delighted to see him turn the corner to discover how these approaches to teaching and learning better align with his broader vision for and philosophy of helping kids develop and mature. In the past, I've had the sense that his presentations were often used as a defense of traditional methods, so this is a huge advancement for those of us interested in Lutheran education reform.
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