Once again through the generosity of the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation LDA was able to offer 20 scholarships to the 2016 International LDA Conference. The scholarship requires that recipients must be active teachers in grades K-12. LDA is proud to list the names and states of the winning teachers: Sandy Daugherty, Missouri; Rosemarie Engman, Washington; Robin Fulcher, Arizona; Laura Hicks, Georgia; Carla Hillman, Brazil; Gail Houghton, Michigan; Jennifer Jablonski, Florida; Amy Jette, Massachusetts; Renee LaFurgey, Michigan; Lita Luke, Minnesota; Sharon Maculada, California; Arrah Massimini, Kansas; Jenifer Newman-Erickson, Michigan; Rebecca Oslanker, California; Shaughnessy Page, Mississippi; Candace Perry, Illinois; Ashley Rylander, Illinois; Kathy Reich , North Dakota; Jennifer Tyler-Leachman, Idaho; Regina Williams, Illinois.
The teachers attended an orientation the first day of the conference to give them an overview of the week and give them the opportunity to meet one another. Some of the teachers had been teaching only a few years and others for numerous years – it was a good mix of experience and varied backgrounds. The teachers chose sessions according to their interests and turned in evaluations after the conference. Some of the comments about favorite sessions and what they liked about the conference are included below.
A number of the teachers loved Jerome Schultz’ presentation, “ Turning Toxic Stress into Fuel for Success for Students with LD.” One teacher said, “This session was very engaging, the handouts were excellent and I learned why we as educators should all be learning how to teach better coping skills.” Another teacher raved, “I really loved the session ‘Theory into Practice: Effective Interventions,’ by Jessica Minahan. There were a lot of interventions and suggestions for students who have anxiety. There were suggestions provided that I actually have tried since the conference.”
Conference highlights for the teachers: “The highlight was definitely the awards breakfast with speaker David Bowker. His presentation was so powerful it made me cry. I think everyone at the conference should have heard his story. It was so uplifting and made me realize why I became a teacher.”
“The keynote sessions were inspiring but the highlight of the conference was being around other educators and listening to speakers that I had not heard before. I especially enjoyed the variety of topics, and came away with vast new knowledge and valuable resources that I can use immediately. I felt rejuvenated and inspired by the speakers and other teachers at the conference.”
“A highlight of the LDA conference for me was taking back the information I learned and being able to apply it right away to the current needs of students I presently teach. I also look forward to sharing many of the resources with my school PLC, Teaching Excellent staff members, and parents. In addition I have downloaded many of the files from sessions I did not attend and am listening to the audio recordings from Intelliquest.”
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