NEASP Conference

November 12-14, 2004

		It was mid-November and Virginia Beach weather was bitter cold; the trip to Miami was a beautiful break. Besides getting to enjoy the city in shorts and a no-sleeve shirt, I met fellow future teachers from across the nation and attended professional workshops. I also traveled with Michael Weisbrod and Karen Shelton from VCU, Amy Wilkinson from ODU, Lonnie Bonham the state advisor, and Kimberly Anderson the staff organizer.

The NEASP Connections Conference is an annual conference put together by the National Education Association Student Program. This year, the theme was making the connection to the classroom: helping future teachers make the transition. All the workshops were geared toward this goal. At the end of the conference, the Student Program distributed a CD with a lot of the workshop information. Here is the information they included on the CD:

	Motivation in the Classroom
	Student Teaching and Beyond
	Creating Safe Schools for GLBT Students
	How to Work with Your School Counselor
	Connecting your Passion to Your Classroom
	Developing Assessment Literacy
	Closing the Achievement Gap
	Energize and Organize Membership by
	Using Dollars and Sense

As if the workshops and materials weren’t enough, Saturday night all of the participants enjoyed a few hours cruising on three-floored yacht. We danced, ate, and enjoyed each other’s company. It was a perfect completion to a day of pre-professional development.

One of the best parts was that my registration, flight, and hotel for this conference were completely paid for by the state SVEA. By getting involved at the state level, you can also have the opportunity to participate in conferences like this one.

--Beth Scott

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