Final details are being put into place for the October 11-12 IWLA conference, and having been involved in some of the planning, I'm really excited! It really is amazing how much work is involved in the conference on so many levels. We've been fielding registration questions for the last few weeks. Bea Houston, our membership chair, has been sending out receipts from paper registrations. The executive board has been working on various responsibilities--looking at award and grant nominations, making sure our website is up and running, paying for all the necessities that come along with the conference, preparing for meetings. Our president, Tracy Dinesen, has been working with the Downtown Marriott for months on our conference arrangements, and last but certainly not least---Kerisa Baedke has put together yet another full slate of great conference presentations! If you haven't yet, I highly recommend taking a look at the At-A-Glance on the Conference tab (just scroll down a bit--it's there!) and getting an outline of what's in store for this year.
If this will be your first year at IWLA, I hope you get the opportunity to network with colleagues in your teaching area and in others and really take advantage of all the opportunities that the conference provides. It can be an overwhelming few hours, so having an idea of what you want to accomplish can really help. If there is a classroom issue or teaching concept or strategy that you want to address, there may very well be a conference session that can help you. There may be fellow teachers at your table that can give you suggestions or support.
If you've attended before or have been attending for years, please know that we are grateful for your continued trust in IWLA to provide you with a quality conference experience. We really do try to bring back the things you like and try to fix the things you don't as much as we possibly can. At the Friday luncheon, there will be a survey for you to share any ideas with us on ways to make our conference even better. I hope you'll take the time to do so.
See you in two weeks!
Carrie Morris
IWLA Secretary
