The Importance of Community
Last week, I spent a few days in Virginia at a regional conference. Last year, I went to the national conference and was told that this regional conference was quite good and had a good sense of community. I loved it. This was the smallest conference I have ever attended, with only about 60 people from the Mid-Atlantic region. There were no concurrent sessions, so we all sat in a room together for two days listening to each others' work. It was held at a retreat center, so we also spent time eating meals together in the dining hall. From this conference, I walk away with new colleagues and friends and so many new ideas to improve my science methods classes and to study the ways in which I am teaching. Getting to know colleagues in a smaller community environment takes away the stress of academia for me. Knowing that these are "normal" people like me, with kids and multiple responsibilities tugging at them, makes me feel like my work is more "normal" and I don't have to be a perfect profound professor at all times (which I have never been able to accomplish anyway). I'm now looking forward to attending the national conference in January even more now that I know a small group of people and their work.
Last week, I spent a few days in Virginia at a regional conference. Last year, I went to the national conference and was told that this regional conference was quite good and had a good sense of community. I loved it. This was the smallest conference I have ever attended, with only about 60 people from the Mid-Atlantic region. There were no concurrent sessions, so we all sat in a room together for two days listening to each others' work. It was held at a retreat center, so we also spent time eating meals together in the dining hall. From this conference, I walk away with new colleagues and friends and so many new ideas to improve my science methods classes and to study the ways in which I am teaching. Getting to know colleagues in a smaller community environment takes away the stress of academia for me. Knowing that these are "normal" people like me, with kids and multiple responsibilities tugging at them, makes me feel like my work is more "normal" and I don't have to be a perfect profound professor at all times (which I have never been able to accomplish anyway). I'm now looking forward to attending the national conference in January even more now that I know a small group of people and their work.