Final reflection, for now, on NECC 2008. In many ways, NECC is the perfect complement to the TIE conference. NECC brings in speakers and practitioners from all over the country, and even the world. It’s intriguing, and in many ways validating, to see and hear what’s going on in other places. I’m happy to report that as I sat listening to many speakers, I could honestly say, “Oh, we do that.” I don’t pretend to think that we do it all, or that we do it all perfectly, but I would put our teachers and their practices on par with their counterparts from across the globe. In fact, I believe that we have teachers who should be presenters at NECC; they’re simply that good.
Likewise, the TIE conference is an opportunity to witness effective strategies by educators in using technology in the classroom. Two things are distinctly different about TIE—there are more classroom teachers presenting, and there are computers at all the sessions, which encourages active learning. As we have in the past, Littleton was well represented from both the presenter standpoint and among the attendees. I especially applaud the Littleton educators who presented their classroom practices, successes and failures, to an unknown audience. Public speaking is always daunting, but I heard nothing but good things about our LPS presenters. Your efforts are appreciated.