The 2023 Louisiana Association of Public Charter Schools Conference took place this past Thursday, December 14th. Administrators, board members, vendors, and more gathered in New Orleans, LA to talk about key education issues over coffee and beignets. As fate would have it, I was able to attend, and after reflecting on my experience, I decided to share a few ideas.
Top 3 LAPCS Conference Takeaways
1. “English learners” are “multilingual learners”
In a session on visions and roadblocks to multilingual education, a point of emphasis was that language matters. Accordingly, Multilingual Learner, or ML, is now the preferred label for non-native English speaking students (as opposed to ESL, ELL, or EL). Our school’s elementary Spanish teacher sat in on the session with me, and we discussed ideas for collaboration and change to ensure culture is recognized and validated in our respective disciplines. Moving forward, I plan to be more cognizant of ML students, and more specifically, will incorporate express notes for them into my lesson plans.
2. We need more AI-related training
There were multiple sessions on artificial intelligence, as AI is a hot-button topic at the moment. The session I attended focused on the legal aspects of AI and what it means for schools. Banning AI in schools has already been tried and redacted in school districts; the better solution for handling these evolving technologies is education on their effective and ethical use. In the near future, I’m going to create a Google Slides lesson on AI best practices to keep in my back pocket, just in case I get an influx of ChatGPT-generated work from students who know no better.
3. Parent advocacy makes a difference
Towards the end of the conference, I attended a session about Parent Advocates for Learning Support, or PALS, and the benefits of recruiting parents to advocate for your charter school. Now, I’m in no position to enlist PALS, but the session made me reflect on strategies for motivating parental involvement. Later on, I went back to my hotel room and created a Google Site for sharing resources and information with parents. You can view the site HERE.
Final Words
As a bonus, I’ll leave you with one last takeaway from the Louisiana Association of Public Charter Schools Conference—I have some pretty awesome colleagues. The coworkers I traveled with as well as the new connections I made elevated the experience, and I’m excited to see what’s in store next year! Let’s go!
