Wk 2 Blog - Where Do I Want To Share My Project

I have been looking at the list of conference it was hard to find one that was still accepting presenter applications. Networking came into play this time for me. I was lucky enough to have a undergrad professor as a friend on my Facebook page. She is involved with the Illinois Council For Exceptional Children, a conference that I would be interested in to be a presenter. I contacted her and she sent me three possibilities.
1. Illinois Council For Exceptional Children State conference on November 1,2,3, 2012 in Lisle, IL. They have closed applications but Bev Johns, my professor is in charge of presenters and says there is always cancellations. I will have to get that application into her this week.

2. International Council For Exceptional Children will be held April 3-6, 2013 San Antonio, TX . I have to apply by May 22nd.

3. ASCD March 16-18, 2013 Chicago, IL Proposals due by May 15, 2012
The last conference would be to the ASCD Annual Conference in Chicago.

The Illinois and International conferences for Council for Exceptional Children would be the most logical place for me to present my Action Research Project. Here is the Overview taken from their website.
Overview
The Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) is the largest international professional organization dedicated to improving the educational success of individuals with disabilities and/or gifts and talents. CEC advocates for appropriate governmental policies, sets professional standards, provides professional development, advocates for individuals with exceptionalities, and helps professionals obtain conditions and resources necessary for effective professional practice.

http://www.cec.sped.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=About_CEC


As a special educator I would be addressing my peers, and I hope the presentation would prove to be helpful to others in this field of education. I hope to present my project as a discussion, so that the listeners and I can collaborate on how to improve what I have already done. Often times when teaching special needs children you have to rely on the suggestions and ideas of others, because most of the time you are not using a set curriculum. Functional Life Skills most likely will mean different things to people. It will be interesting to come up with a list, and then compare our results. By doing an exercise like that the group will be able to discuss what can be taught as a Functional Life Skill.
Talking about some of the Web 2.0 tools I used will help others there to engage their students instead of doing worksheets or group discussions. I also want to emphasis what the research says with regards to communication between parents and school. Establishing an open line of communication will help the students learn those functional life skills as they learn them at school and practice them at home.

The ASCD Conference would be my fall back conference.  Here is what the mission of ASCD is, taken directly from their website:

ASCD is a membership organization that develops programs, products, and services essential to the way educators learn, teach, and lead.

They are concerned with Best practice and offer conferences, online courses, printed books, and other educational materials. I really see this as a last resort.