|  | | MESPA Home > Press Room > NAESP Report |  | NAESP's 88th Convention
 | | Jean Clark |
May 2009 --
Report from MESPA NAESP State Representative Jean Clark
NAESP’s 88th Convention:
Powerful Keynotes from Ian Jukes and General Colin Powell
Thirty educators traveled to the beautiful city of New Orleans to represent Minnesota at this year’s NAESP’s 88th Annual Convention and Exposition. We heard outstanding speakers and were energized as building leaders by what we learned.
The first keynote speaker who captivated the 2500 principals at the convention was Ian Jukes, one of the top 10 educational speakers in America. His presentation was called “Living on the Future Edge.” Jukes challenged our fundamental assumptions about education while examining four global trends and the effect they have on everything from staff development to assessments.
- Moore’s Law: Because of Moore’s Law, students will be working with technology one billion times more powerful than they are now (exponentially times doubling) – while the cost of the technology will drop to “nothing.”
- Photonics: Bandwidth speeds are tripling every six months, soon to be every four months. In other words, today we are in the Stone Age. Our kids will always have access to information: anywhere, anytime. What are we doing now to prepare them for the exponentially different world?
- Internet: The Internet is the medium of the 21st century. It connects everything to everything else. Where is learning taking place? Are we preparing kids for the future or the past?
- Infowhelm: Because of exponential growth, we now live in a world of information that is constantly changing; information has become temporary and disposable. Jukes said this is the biggest threat to public education today.
Juke’s presentation urged us to transcend technology changes, rather than to keep up with them. Clearly we need to ask ourselves, are we preparing our students to live in the future?
Equally as powerful was General Colin L. Powell, who founded America’s Promise Alliance, which partners with nearly 250 organizations to provide wraparound support so that children can stay in school and succeed. Powell is a powerful speaker with a powerful message. A champion of peace and social justice, Powell believes in all children and that they all have the inherent right to succeed. Powell said that we need to invest in education and “we cannot afford to lose a single kid!” He pointed out five things that kids need and what America’s Promise is all about:
- Youngsters must have an adult who is a caring presence in their life.
- Children need a safe place.
- Children need a healthy start in life.
- Children need to come out with a marketable skill.
- Children need to serve back.
|
|
