It was so good to be together again, at Worcester Academy, NEALS!
We proudly welcomed our speakers, Ellen Boiselle, PhD and Liz Radday, EdD, introduced on our conference page. Their tour of the world of mathematical thinking, processing issues, and accommodations fascinated us and has improved instruction throughout our schools. Members, the slideshow will be posted amongst our member resources very soon. We also enjoyed Liz’s tour off the Finnish educational system from her experiences as a Fulbright scholar. We are so grateful to Trisha McKay Monheim’s gracious team and Worcester Academy for hosting us and to all our board members who collaborated so well to make the member’s conference a special day for us all.
We are excited by what we have achieved this year, thanks in no small way to the generous $10,000 grant received from Elizabeth S. and Peter Tower Foundation. Their grant funded the initial implementation of the NEALS 2016 - 2019 Strategic Plan, and with newly improved communications, website, and governance, NEALS has taken great strides forward in our mission of promoting professional development for learning specialists creating community through collaboration, support, and advocacy!
Building on last year’s efforts, the Board has worked this year:
- To provide routine, reliable, and appealing professional development updates using MailChimp,
- To enhance the website with appropriate branding and an interactive, password protected system that gives members a go to place for professional collaboration,
- To enhance members’ benefits, privacy, and security, and
- To register as a NH nonprofit with Silver Level transparency on Guidestar.com
Now, from the day when you sign up for NEALS, you receive 12 months of membership; please be sure to re-enroll and update your profile each year. We hope that if you retire or move into another role, you will find it easy to continue your commitment as a NEALS mentor. And for its official kick off, we’ve created a new forum for our discussion group, accessed through the website, and open to current members only. The invaluable archives of our original Google Group will remain fully available to current members from the website. So, if you have enjoyed the original group as much as we have, please visit the new discussion group via: nealsonline.org/membership (Sign in using your password - if you didn’t save it, sign up for a new one, click on Discussion, and enjoy.)
As we head into our 20th year, please email us if you’re interested in hosting or sponsoring a celebratory event. And to help kick off our 20th anniversary, please send our link to a learning specialist who is not yet a member.
Thank you all, speakers, directors, and members, for sharing your wisdom with and devotion to NEALS.
Sincerely,
Susan
