2008-2009 Conference and Event Schedule

This is a partial list of conferences and events happening in or near Washington State this year; I say partial because I'm certain that there are things that I've missed. If you know of a conference that should be on the list, please post it in the comments section and we'll get it updated ASAP!

OCTOBER

• 5th to 7th: Washington Association of School Administrators fall workshop, Wenatchee.
  
• 9th to 11th: International Reading Association Regional Conference in Seattle. Registration deadline is September 25th. This is also the Washington Organization for Reading Development meeting for the year.
  
• 9th to 11th: Northwest K-16 Mathematics Conference meeting in Portland, Oregon.
  
• 9th to 11th: Washington Library Media Association annual conference in Portland, Oregon. This is a joint conference with the Oregon Association of School Librarians.
  
• 11th: Washington State Council for the Social Studies (WSCSS) fall conference, Edmonds Woodway HS.
  
• 23rd to 25th: The Washington Association of Educators of the Talented and Gifted (WAETAG) conference in Lynnwood.
  
• 26th to 28th: The Association of Washington School Principals fall meeting in Spokane.

NOVEMBER

• 6th to 8th: The Washington State ASCD annual conference in Spokane.
  
• 7th and 8th: WEA Collective Bargaining Conference in Sea-Tac. Consult your local Uniserv office for more information.
  
• 12th to 15th: Washington State PLC Summit in Seattle. This event is sponsored by Solution Tree and focuses on Professional Learning Communities.
  
• 19th to 22nd: Washington State School Directors annual conference in Spokane.
  
• 20th to 22nd: National Science Teachers Association regional conference in Portland.

DECEMBER

• 3rd through 5th: Washington Educational Research Association (WERA) winter conference, Sea-Tac.

JANUARY

• 7th through 9th:OSPI Winter Conference in Seattle.

FEBRUARY

• Date TBD: WSCSS K-8 Conference, Seattle
  
• 4th through 6th: AWSP Assistant Principal's Conference, Vancouver
  
• 8th and 9th: WASA/WSSDA Legislative Conference, Olympia

MARCH

• 19th to 21st: Washington Science Teacher's Association spring conference, Moses Lake

APRIL

MAY

• 6th through 8th: Infant and Early Childhood Conference, Tacoma
  
• 13th through 16th: WEA Representative Assembly, Spokane.

JUNE

• 28th through 30th: WASA/AWSP Summer Conference, Spokane

JULY

• 1st through 6th: NEA Representative Assembly, San Diego, California
  
• 27th and 28th: AWSP New Principals/Assistant Principals Conference, Lacey

Is Anyone Out There Going to the WERA Conference at the End of the Month?

The Washington Educational Research Association (WERA) is having their yearly spring conference at the end of the month in Sea Tac. I was able to go two years ago and found it to be an excellent use of my time; if any WaTeachers readers out there are going and would like to get together during lunch, leave a comment below!

Go. See. Do!

This is an overview of the conferences that will be held here in Washington this coming school year, along with links to conference descriptions and registration information. If you know of any other conferences of interest to teachers, please mention them in the comments section and I’ll update the list!

• Washington Organization for Reading Development, Spokane, October 12th and 13th. Called "Literacy Essentials", the keynote speaker for the conference is Regie Routman, author of several guides on the teaching of reading and writing.
  
• Washington Science Teachers Association, Tacoma, October 12th and 13th. Online details are a bit sketchy, but staff members from my school who have attended their conferences in the past have always spoken highly of the event.
  
• Washington State Math Council Northwest Mathematics Conference, Bellevue, October 12th and 13th. It's being held in conjunction with a Teachers Teaching Technology conference sponsored by Texas Instruments.
  
• Washington Association of Educators of Talented and Gifted, Richland, October 18th-20th. One of the speakers is set to be Margo Long, from Whitworth University in Spokane. If you've heard her talk you know what a treat it is; if you haven't had the pleasure, she's a dynamo.
  
• WEA Bargaining Conference, Sea-Tac, October 26th and 27th. This is the last year of our three-year contract in my district, so unless we put in for an extension next summer it'll be back to the table. Hopefully, this conference will be a good warm-up.
  
• WSASCD Fall Conference, Sea-Tac, November 1st-3rd. Our state chapter of the ASCD puts out a quality magazine, and I think pretty highly of Mike Dunn, their president and Superintendent of the Cheney School District.
  
• WERA Winter Conference, Sea-Tac, December 5th-7th.
  
• WERA Spring Conference, Sea-Tac, March 26th-28th (no online information available yet). I'll be a presenter at this conference, talking about what my school has done with Response to Intervention.
  
• WEA Representative Assembly, Spokane, May 15th-17th. I'll certainly be there! It's being hosted by the Spokane Education Association; the 2009 Rep Assembly belongs to WEA-EW, so I'll probably get pretty heavily involved in that one.
  

It sure seems like WORD, WSTA, and the WSMC could have put their heads together before scheduling all three of their conferences on the same weekend.

From the Association of Washington School Principals:

• The Principals’ Conference, Vancouver, October 14th-16th
  
• Assistant Principals Leadership Conference, Vancouver, February 6th-8th
• Work Less, Play More, and Still Get the Job Done in a Normal School Week, Sea-Tac, March 6th-7th

From the Washington Association of School Administrators:

• OSPI/WASA Special Education Workshop, Sea-Tac, August 8th-9th
  
• Legislative Conference, Olympia, February 10th – 11th
  
• Small Schools Conference, Yakima, March 3rd – 4th
  
• AWSP/WASA Summer Conference, Spokane, June 29th – July 1st, 2008