The recently sworn-in 113th Congress has the most diverse membership in the history of our country’s government. As 82 new House members and 14 new senators assume their Congressional responsibilities, we will notice new firsts in the gender, racial, and ethnic composition of Congress. For the first time, the majority of House Democrats are made up of women, blacks, Hispanics and other ethnic minorities – almost 60 percent of the Democratic caucus. Continue reading “Diversity in the 113th Congress”

In 2012 we observed each of the national cultural heritage months recognized by Presidential proclamation. In doing so, we wanted the actions of the observation to be sincere and to be part of our professional development at West Wind. We decided that for each cultural heritage month we would have a brown bag lunch during which we would explore each culture with a discussion including such things as: identity and naming of the groups in the culture being observed; counter-stories to the stereotypes of the culture; and what are some of the issues children and families face in the educational system. These brown bags have been a great source of learning, debate, and growth for us. Continue reading “Cultural Heritage Banner Compilation”

Most of us have an idea of what the terms college and career ready mean – the skills, knowledge, and abilities necessary for a student to enter the workforce or postsecondary education.  And no doubt most of us have encountered several variations on college and career readiness and how we achieve it for all students.  Yet if we step back for a moment and consider these terms, the very order of the words seems to promote college readiness above career readiness.  Now, I realize that words must come in some order and perhaps it just sounds better.  Thinking too much about it could get us into a useless chicken or egg loop, but just humor me for a moment.  When I looked at word order and thought about what we value most, my gut reaction was that career trumps college because college is the preparation for the career.  But, the perennial student in me, kept saying, “College is not about a career.  It is about learning and growing.”  In fact college is about all of these – learning, growing as a person, and developing the skills to succeed in a chosen career. Continue reading “What It Means to Say College and Career Ready”

Learning how to speak powerfully about critical educational issues is an essential skill for educators and advocates for students. RESULTS [1], an international organization that advocates for preventing poverty, has designed a practical format for creating powerful laser talks. A laser talk is a structured way to communicate a message succinctly and powerfully – highly focused, targeted and effective like a laser. Another name for a laser talk is an “elevator speech” – brief enough to deliver to that key stakeholder you meet during the few moments you happen to share on an elevator. The idea is that you have a talk prepared in advance and memorized so that you can deliver it whenever the opportunity presents itself. Having a planned presentation makes it easier to avoid the wandering, rarely convincing, and sometimes boring “lecture”. Continue reading “Laser Talk for Powerful Speaking”

In an effort to learn about ways to make websites more accessible to all, I had a conversation with Jonathan Green, Communications Specialist with the National Implementation Research Network (NIRN) recently. Thank you to Jonathan for taking the time to share his knowledge.

His advice was very helpful with respect to being mindful about the difficulties some may experience looking at the internet or participating in webinars. Continue reading “West Wind Aims to Provide Web Accessibility for All”

I love to sail. I love being out on the water, feeling the power of the wind, watching the sails fill with air and propel the boat across the waves, and being a member of a crew. When sailing with a crew, I am always impressed by the way the sailors work together. Each person knows what they are supposed to do and takes care of their own role, whether it is taking the helm, hoisting the mainsail, bringing across the traveler, trimming the sails to the wind, or hiking out to balance the boat’s weight. Continue reading “Change of Crew at West Wind”