The State of WEMTA

Following the Tony Ever’s State of the State of Education, I was reminded of how important communication is. Not only communicating what educators stand for and how we are working to support education, but celebrating teaching and learning and the dedicated educators who are making that happen for our kids everyday.

So what is the state of WEMTA?

Our organization is strong due to a hardworking board and dedicated members.

Each summer the WEMTA board meets to map out the organizational work for the upcoming school year. This year’s board developed and agree upon norms of working. These norms help set board expectations, so we respect each other’s time and value our roles.

Building on the leadership of past president Joel VerDuin, we are working on specific action plans around 4 areas of focus:

1. Advocacy for Educational Technology (NEW)
2. Focus and Relevance
3. Communications
4. Leadership

Our board members have been leading the 13 WEMTA committees with these focus areas in mind, and are looking toward membership to help move the committee work forward. We can’t make WEMTA happen without you!

Some of the exciting WEMTA developments you can look forward to:

• Make IT, Shake IT, and Move IT @WEMTA2015 planning is well underway. The call for proposals is out. Submit your hour-long session proposals here: http://goo.gl/WmmD4t
• The Library Crawl, WEMTA’s bus tour visiting creative library and technology spaces, will take place next spring. Stay tuned for details.
• WEMTA will be sponsoring ISTE’s Make IT Happen Award 2015. Opportunities to nominate WEMTA innovators coming out soon.
• WEMTA’s new quarterly newsletter (yet unnamed) will begin this month. Help us name it by sending your suggested names to #nameWEMTAnewsletter.

So what is the State of WEMTA? It is an exciting time to be a WEMTA member. So take advantage of WEMTA opportunities. Let's improve teaching and learning for all our students!