As
the
conference chair, and on behalf of the KAEA
Board, I
am
terribly
happy that you are visiting the conference page for 2008 already!
It is never too early! The Highland Hotel is already set up to make
reservations for next
year. I encourage you to start – or continue – thinking about sessions
you would like to present at the conference. Write them up in
preparation for submission as the deadline is going to be earlier this
year. I will present that in my next note on this site.
If
there is something you would like to see or have considered for the
conference – but that you are not necessarily the person to present it
– please let me know that as well … the sooner the better.
Candie White and her team coordinated and put on an excellent
conference this year. Kelly and her team did the same in 2006. Thank
you all. We have great examples for us, and I fully trust that we can
all contribute towards yet another excellent conference in 2008.
Continue to do well this year.
Susan Lukwago
KAEA President-Elect and Conference Chair KAEA 2008
Director, Colvin Adult Learning Center
Seward County Community College
Susan.lukwago@sccc.edu
Sessions on stress,
teaming, strategic planning
in the works for KAEA Conference 2008
Hello, Kansas Adult
Basic Educators. I trust your summer has gone well! As it winds down
and we get ready to get back in full gear for school,* I write to
remind you about KAEA Conference 2008. As you read in the last note,
the conference is scheduled for Feb. 20-22, 2008. We will likely start
on Wednesday the 20th afternoon and conclude on Friday the 22nd at
noon.
I am excited to
report some session news to you:
1) At the
Leadership Academy that various staff from all the ABE centers are
attending, we heard from a presenter named Dr. Gerald Bailey. He
presented a concept called Teaming. He is an excellent presenter and
many of us left thinking that it would be wonderful if other staff
from our centers were part of a workshop presented by Dr. Bailey. He
talks about creating teams not just among staff but in a classroom,
too. He has graciously agreed to present (possibly two different
sessions) at KAEA Conference 2008.
2) At the same
Academy, we heard from our main KSU champion whose name is Dr. Jeff
Zacharakis. Many of you will appreciate his sense of humor. He had the
challenge of convincing us to do something we need to do: strategic
planning. He took a group that balked at hearing the idea on day one,
and helped us break the process up into manageable pieces that we
could agree to do. At any rate, those of us at Leadership Academy
understood the how and why of strategic planning for each of our
centers, and that will feed into a strategic plan for Adult Basic
Education in Kansas that will be done by KBOR. Dr. Zacharakis has
kindly agreed to do two sessions for us – one for participants of the
Leadership Academy and one for all other staff of our centers so you
too can understand the “what and how” of strategic planning and how
you can support the process.
3) At the July
Directors’ and Coordinators’ meetings KBOR's Dianne Glass and Michelle
Carson gave me permission to give out a survey that has been validated
in measuring stress and coping mechanism among ABE administrators.
About 55 individuals completed the survey. I plan to present the
results of this survey as one of our sessions.
4) Most
importantly, the call for proposals is up and ready. Please write up
and send in your sessions now. I am ready to receive them. Several of
you told me at the last conference that you had some sessions ready.
Send them in now.
Great Bend is
just about in the center of our state. The Highland Hotel is ready to
welcome us. Plan now to attend next year. Till next time then!
Susan Lukwago
KAEA President-Elect and Conference Chair KAEA 2008
Director, Colvin Adult Learning Center
Seward County Community College
Susan.lukwago@sccc.edu
* Yes, I know some of
you/us did not shift into any lower gears in the summer! Hopefully you
took a little time for holiday and replenishment of your reserves.
