My Time in Colorado

So for the past week I was in Boulder, Colorado at a health and physical education student leadership conference. I missed last weeks class because of it and wish to share a taste of my experience with you all. Only a few students from every state were asked to attend this conference, and there were many students and mentors that came throughout the country. I think the best part about the whole experience was getting to meet all of these students from different states. I got a small sense of what every state is about and how its different to live in other places. The conference obviously was surrounded around the concept of leadership; taking a stand and leading the way. There were six different workshops that we all attended throughout the course of a day as well as night activities. Some of the workshops were active, giving ideas of activites to do in the classroom, some workshops were reflective that got you to think about yourself in terms of what you've been doing and where you are going, and some were about how to get others on board. It was a great mix of topics tied into the central theme.

Literacy was touched upon, just never talked about in debth, but some part of each workshop brought it up even if it was small. I paid particular attention to when literacy was mentioned because i knew that I would be posting a blog about it, so it forced me to look for it within the workshops. I think the biggest thing I gained from doing that was the fact that normally, I would not have noticed this being touched upon. If literacy is tied into something directly, by actually doing something with it, it easy to see when and where there are links. However, when it is not thrown at you, but embedded within a lecture/lesson/activity and not directly apparent, it is not that easy to notice and see the connections. It was because I specifically looked for it that I was able to notice and see those connections. That then made me think about how much it is not directly tied into something, yet still there and I just don't realize it. It made me see that even if I am not making a student read something in debth, literacy is still going on in some way, and I need to pay more attention to it. (I hope you all are following me with this). It made me see that those connections are always being made, but if I am not really noticing it, then maybe my students wouldn't be either. Is it then the fact that I need to make more efforts to point it out, or is that even though we aren't aware that it's there it still sticks? That is a question that I honestly don't know the answer the to and boggling my mind.

I noticed these connections in little things here and there. Let's say when the speaker was talking about a book they had read, or asked us to reflect on something we have read, or relate something to a topic which we have read much about and that's why we know so much, or problem solved our way through something, or persuaded someone to do something, or broke down a skill to someone who a novice at it. I think it was interesting to have my mind a little more tuned into where literacy appears for it made me see that it really is everywhere, and doesn't have to be direct for it still be there.

So that was the jist of my experience. I had a great time and I must say Colorado is absolutely georgous! The first two days I was there it was really warm where I was just in a T-shirt and by the last day it was snowing! I got to see it all. It really was a great experience.