CSBA Congress 2016

Mmm… it feels so good to land. There has been much on the go lately that it has been almost a month since my last blog post. My last blog post was the speech I delivered on behalf of the SD46 (Sunshine Coast) Board of Education at Elphinstone Secondary. Since then, I have prepared for and facilitated two summer institute workshops on BC’s New Curriculum at St. Marks College at UBC and in between I travelled to Winnipeg, MB to present the findings of a research study I am working on with Dr. Daniel Laitsch about BC school trustees at the Canadian School Boards Association (CSBA) Congress. I have regrettably taken a break from my dissertation for the last few weeks and I am so glad to be back at the keyboard to reflect, write, and learn.

I am likely to write a few short blog entries on CSBA 2016, so look forward to them. There is so much to write and reflect about the CSBA congress. One blog entry would be about all the great people I’ve met and their lived experiences as school trustees in their provinces. Another blog entry would be about student voice and how powerful the student performances were that moved me in such a way that almost brought me to tears. This blog entry is about the presentation I prepared for and facilitated at the conference titled, “School Trustee Information Sources and Research.”

Good on people for coming to my workshop presentation. I had quite a few attendees and I was pleased on how I facilitated it. I could not imagine presenting the research and our findings for 1.25 hours. LISTEN TO ME… is not my mantra. My drive is student engagement. My students in this case were generally school trustees. I had a few BC delegates in the crowd. At this moment, I felt that my three worlds were colliding: educator, researcher, and school trustee. After spending a few minutes introducing the study, the attendees were asked to form small groups. Attendees participated in the study in group discussion. In the end, we compared our findings in group discussion with findings from the study in BC and District of Virginia.

The workshop presentation was engaging. I loved how our group discussion led to similar results from BC school trustees. I enjoyed the discussion of information gathering and the role of research. Best of all, the workshop attendees were actively participating. The small group discussions were lively. We learned a bit more about school trustees from other provinces, the similarities and differences. And, attendees were interested in the results of the study after being immersed in the questions as workshop participants. The 1.25 hours went very quickly and I am glad that those who attended my workshop found the content interesting, relevant, and worthwhile.

I never thought it would be possible to have my three worlds collide… and they did, beautifully. I appreciated all of the compliments and I enjoyed the process of preparing, creating, and presenting the contents of this research study. This experience was rewarding and validating. Thank you to my supervisor/principal investigator of this study for creating this opportunity to research with him as his research assistant and take the unknown step of applying and presenting at CSBA 2016. Thank you to the organizing committee at CSBA 2016 for accepting my application and giving me the space to present. And, thank you to the school trustees who attended my workshop and actively participated. It was a great experience.