The things you notice when you leave headphones at home...

While sitting in the Columbus Airport about to get onto my flight to Nashville all I could think of was how am I going to get to all of the sessions that I want to get to (I won't) and how can I see all the amazing educators I want to learn from (sigh... I won't).

Digging through my backpack I found that I left my headphones back at the house.  However, it was only a one hour flight so I didn't worry about it much.  However, the short flight to Nashville sat me by some troubling thoughts.  The row behind me, both directly and kitty cornered, were filled with teachers also heading to the conference.  Through their loud dialogue I discerned they were from a local district... and their dialogue really disturbed me as an educator.

Here are some of their comments.  All names have been changed:

• "Ashley is nice. She really tries hard.  Good thing she's so cute."
• "Oh, Amber... That girl is a little <removed> .  I can't stand her."  "I agree, I hate that student."
• "I hate when students just use the system. Just be good little students like you are supposed to!"

By this point I was glad there was only 30 minute of flight time left.  I continued to play Small World on my iPad

(I won but it was close!)

while really hoping that these teachers were just blowing off steam in a non-professional we all make mistakes way and glad they are going to a conference where they can get the professional help and pedagogy they need.

"... I mean I teach English.  It is impossible to differentiate in the classroom.  I mean I have two students in 2nd period that are dyslexic. What can I do with them?  It isn't like they can keep up!"

At that point I could only pray that this teacher would find the right sessions to help her gain the strategies she needs to help her students.  But here is what I realized As I searched through the hundreds of sessions being offered at #amle2014... I found this many sessions  by searching these words (teaching is big on data these days, right?) :

• math: 41 results
• common core: 48 results
• reading: 50 results
• dyslexia: 0 results

This is why I will be proposing that as a school, Marburn Academy should have a strong presence at AMLE 2015 - especially since the conference will be held in Columbus.

And especially considering that there are teachers local to the Columbus area that clearly need it.