MAEA Conference Day 2

Well we went back to the hotel and practiced some more since we did not have to end up presenting the first day. Practice went well, but it still wasn't the real thing. 

Saturday we woke up early and saw a keynote speaker on more the science of art education in schools. It was good information, but not as interesting as the first keynote with the real life story that we could relate to better.

After we went to prepare for our presentation and the room was small. As the time came, it filled up though! We had about 25 people come to listen to our presentation. The presentation took about 30 minutes, which was quicker than we anticipated but always as everyone gets in front of others, we tend to speak faster and get nervous. Not many questions, but one girl from Northern was particularly interested because their student chapter was not very active. They wanted to know more about fundraising and she was so excited that we were up and presenting what we had done. 


Along the day, we went to some other workshops, played with stuff, and met a lot more people! Michelle and I worked at our GVSU NAEA table, advocating for Grand Valley. Some people came through, but not many because our display/table wasn't much compared to all of the vendors. 

Michelle and I also went to a workshops that was hands-on. They gave us a CD of all the lesson plans plus more so that we could all share them and use them in our classrooms. There were quite a few ideas that we can use for all different ages of kids in the classroom. Everyone was very helpful and excited about what we were doing!


Our last presentation was successful but small. Only 3 people showed up to listen to it because it was so late and the room that we were assigned was back in the corner of the hotel so it was hard to find. The first person to show up was a student from Michigan State University, a teacher from East Kentwood, and a teacher from St.Mary' s in Leland where one of our members went to school. All of these people were awesome because it was more interactive with them, more of a panel rather than a presentation. Kati was also able to come which was great. The teacher from East Kentwood told us that she has a lot of connections with other teachers within the grand rapids area and if we are ever looking for teachers with a certain emphasis to work with, that she can help us out. She also told us that we can come to her classroom whenever we would like! It was a great experience!