NETA 2014 Staff Reflections

Cozad Community Schools Staff Reflections - NETA 2014

Cozad Community Schools has been fortunate over the past several years in that we've been able to send multiple staff to several professional conferences, including NETA and ISTE.  I cannot overstate the positive effect this has had on our staff and our school.  Twitter and Facebook are great tools, but if you want your staff to truly get connected and inspired, they need to see other educators and what they are doing in person.  They also need a chance to visit, and especially a chance to reflect.

We sent a record number of staff (18) to NETA this year.  The sub list was stretched the breaking point and we really appreciate the support of our administrators in allowing this to happen!  We asked the staff to take a few minutes to reflect on their experiences the week after the conference.  The result was a remarkable document which clearly illustrates the power of collaboration and reflection.  We tend to forget that most of our teachers WANT to be excited and revitalized, and that they can be easily inspired by others.

I was planning to post something with just excerpts, but the google document has so many great ideas and observations that we decided to just present the entire document as our teachers created it.  Please feel free to share or comment!  We did check with the participants first to make sure it was alright with them for us to share with the public using their names.  These teachers range from early elementary to high school.  Several of them presented at NETA as well.

I would especially encourage you to share this document with your administrators as an example of the return a district can receive on the investment of sending staff to professional conferences.  With a group this large, there was also the added benefit of socialization and conversation within our own staff.  What a great investment in our teachers and our students!