OTB @ the 2013 Progressive Education Summit

It was my pleasure and honor to present some of my recent work at the 2013 Progressive Education Summit. Key note speaker Alfie Kohn drew a large audience of teachers, administrators and parents to the lovely City Neighbors High School in Hamilton (Baltimore, MD) bright and early Saturday morning (Jan 26th, 2013).

The title of my workshop was “Beatboxing, Arts Integration and the Evolution of Schools.” I was excited to find mostly K – 2 teachers in my audience, and so I focused mainly on the Beatboxing Numeric Patterns lesson I’ve been developing in Harford County’s SMART program (a whole other awesome story, I will write on this topic soon). The teachers were willing participants, and found the material useful (at least that’s what they told me 🙂 ). As always, I have to thank Young Audiences of Maryland staff for putting together a beautiful folder of resources, including the full 16-page lesson plan, which I was able to give to each teacher.

For the first time in my life, I truly feel like I am part of a community of people working towards the same goal. This point was driven home to me when I realized Diana Saez was a fellow presenter at the conference. Diana was a teacher of mine at one of Young Audiences of MD’s awesome Professional Developments in which I participated. Then, I stepped into an afternoon workshop on “True Project Based Learning” presented by staff from Baltimore’s Green Street Academy, where I recently conducted a residency program. It was so fulfilling to view these people not as disconnected entities but as friends and colleagues.
For more information on the Progressive Education Summit as well as the City Neighbors Foundation, click here.