It's that time of the year again. The time when I put my life on hold and go to the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association. Last year, I profiled all of my experience at various AERA meetings. This year, I am going to give a day-by-day accounting.
Wednesday, April 6
The conference didn't start until April 8, but that didn't stop me from getting on a plane at 5 a.m. to head to DC. I was slated to present my dissertation at noon during the mentoring session of the International Scholarly Association on Teacher Thinking (ISATT). The ISATT group was really wonderful--educational researchers from Portugal, Spain, China, and the United States in our group. This was amazingly good fun and lots of good meals together over the course of two days.
Thursday, April 7
Together with my colleage from Germany, I presented research on preservice teachers uptake of technology during their preparation courses. This presentation occurred during a pre-conference for the Invisible College of Research on Teaching. My friend and mentor is the acting dean and I try to get there most years so that I can see people I know and like. During the day, I also hauled my suitcase 2 miles through the city to change hotels and did a phone interview for a job.
Friday, April 8
I got up at 6 a.m. and ate breakfast and then headed out to Alexandria to a school where I do research with teachers. I met with them during their common planning time and we did work together. Then I stayed with a teacher while he taught. Afterward, I headed back into the city and went to a roundtable presentation and then out to lunch with a colleague. We talked until nearly 3 p.m. and then I went and gave my first actual AERA presentation of the year.
Saturday, April 9
This was a cold day. I had tickets to go to Mt. Vernon but it was an hour away and then I didn't want to walk around in the cold looking at George Washington's estate. I stayed at the hotel and then did my laundry and caught up on the grading I needed to do for the class I am teaching. That night I went to the Self-Study of Teacher Education Practices meeting.
Sunday, April 10
Sunday morning I was a discussant in a session about integrating technology in teacher education. A discussant is supposed to read/listen to all the papers and then give critical commentary and feedback to the presenters. I was really nervous about what I was going to say so I wrote a bunch of things and then hoped for the best. That afternoon I went to Manassas Battlefield with a teacher that I work with in Virginia.
Monday, April 11
Monday morning I had a presentation with my research partner. We gave our paper in a session and then we ate lunch at a taco shop. Then I went to the Natural History Museum. I only took one picture while I was there and it didn't turn out. While I ran at night, I did visit a lot of landmarks though.
White House
Jefferson Memorial inside
Jefferson Memorial Outside
Ford's Theatre
Capitol Hill
Tuesday, April 12
The last paper I presented with my research partner in the morning and then I flew home in the afternoon. I was glad to be going home, but wait ... I didn't get to go home. I rented a vehicle in Lawrence and drive to the annual meeting of the Council for Exceptional Children in St. Louis in order to present and conduct a focus group about online learning for students with disabilities in institutions of higher education. I will save CEC for the next post.
Wednesday, April 6
The conference didn't start until April 8, but that didn't stop me from getting on a plane at 5 a.m. to head to DC. I was slated to present my dissertation at noon during the mentoring session of the International Scholarly Association on Teacher Thinking (ISATT). The ISATT group was really wonderful--educational researchers from Portugal, Spain, China, and the United States in our group. This was amazingly good fun and lots of good meals together over the course of two days.
Thursday, April 7
Together with my colleage from Germany, I presented research on preservice teachers uptake of technology during their preparation courses. This presentation occurred during a pre-conference for the Invisible College of Research on Teaching. My friend and mentor is the acting dean and I try to get there most years so that I can see people I know and like. During the day, I also hauled my suitcase 2 miles through the city to change hotels and did a phone interview for a job.
Friday, April 8
I got up at 6 a.m. and ate breakfast and then headed out to Alexandria to a school where I do research with teachers. I met with them during their common planning time and we did work together. Then I stayed with a teacher while he taught. Afterward, I headed back into the city and went to a roundtable presentation and then out to lunch with a colleague. We talked until nearly 3 p.m. and then I went and gave my first actual AERA presentation of the year.
Saturday, April 9
This was a cold day. I had tickets to go to Mt. Vernon but it was an hour away and then I didn't want to walk around in the cold looking at George Washington's estate. I stayed at the hotel and then did my laundry and caught up on the grading I needed to do for the class I am teaching. That night I went to the Self-Study of Teacher Education Practices meeting.
Sunday, April 10
Sunday morning I was a discussant in a session about integrating technology in teacher education. A discussant is supposed to read/listen to all the papers and then give critical commentary and feedback to the presenters. I was really nervous about what I was going to say so I wrote a bunch of things and then hoped for the best. That afternoon I went to Manassas Battlefield with a teacher that I work with in Virginia.
Monday, April 11
Monday morning I had a presentation with my research partner. We gave our paper in a session and then we ate lunch at a taco shop. Then I went to the Natural History Museum. I only took one picture while I was there and it didn't turn out. While I ran at night, I did visit a lot of landmarks though.
Capitol Hill
Tuesday, April 12
The last paper I presented with my research partner in the morning and then I flew home in the afternoon. I was glad to be going home, but wait ... I didn't get to go home. I rented a vehicle in Lawrence and drive to the annual meeting of the Council for Exceptional Children in St. Louis in order to present and conduct a focus group about online learning for students with disabilities in institutions of higher education. I will save CEC for the next post.
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