Blogging the ASCD Conference

On Saturday, Sunday, and Monday I'll be blogging the ASCD Annual Conference in San Francisco. Check back on this blog, and a few others, this weekend. I'll try to shoot out some quick posts after each session and a few longer ones later when I've had time to reflect and digest.  Saturday is assessment heavy but I promise to be more diverse on Sunday and Monday.

If you're going to be there, say hello.

I'm going mainly on session title and a few recommendations but I'm planning on switching up if it turns out they're selling something.

As of now, here's my Saturday. If you've got any inside info (good/bad) about the presenters or presentations let me know. The program booklet is online:

8:00 (wait...what?!?!? 8:00 in the morning???)

Option A:
1129 Conferring with Students: Practical Strategies that Close the Achievement Gap - Patricia Reynolds from the NYDOE.

Option B:
1102 Beyond Reteaching and Regrouping: Using Data to Dramatically Improve Instruction - Trent Kauffman, Education Direction

10:00

Made to Stick with Chip Heath. (Loved this book and also Switch.)

The over/under on how many times I make the joke, "I won't take notes on this, because I'll just remember it." = 6.5

1:00

Option A:
1222T Fair and Meaningful Grades for Exceptional Learners - Thomas Guskey

Option B:
1254 Doing Whatever it Takes: Barrington's Journey to Extraordinary - I really wanted to go to this one because I've been trying to get my school to put in a flexible time schedule, but I can't pass up on Guskey. If you're going, let me copy your notes.

3:30

Option A:
1302T Leading by Design: Leading Understanding by Design-Based Reform at the School Level - Grant Wiggins

If Wiggins ends up just reading from his book I'm going to sneak out to go to

1347T Boosting the Cognitive Complexity of Instructional Tasks and Assessments - Rebecca Stobaugh, Western Kentucky University


5:15

I'm pretty meh about this time slot. I'll take any recommendations.

Option A:
Finding and Keeping Great Teachers - Scott Herrman, Margaret Clauson

Option B:
Interventions to Improve Students' Cognitive Abilities - Rhoda Koenig


I'll finalize my Sunday and Monday schedules after I've had a chance to get the inside scoop from conference vets. 


Assuming wifi is working, you can follow me on twitter. I'll be using the #ASCD11 hashtag for updates.