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Erik Hare

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MEA Weekend
10/19/2007 7:04:16 AM

Minnesota has an extra holiday, all its own. The third Thursday and Friday of October are what we call “MEA Weekend”, the time when the state teacher’s union holds their annual seminar and convention. The kids have off from school for it, so a large hunk of the state simply shuts down. Nevermind that the teacher’s union isn’t MEA, but “Education Minnesota” these days. We’re talking holiday, we’re talking tradition. It will always be “MEA Weekend”.

One of the many joys of living in the Capitol city of our state is that conventions like this are a only brisk walk away. I walked over to the Rivercentre (yes, they spell it with an “re”) to check out the action and party with the teachers. Well, at 8:00 in the morning they are a rather orderly lot, but there were still a few moments of excitement.

I met one of my kids’ old teachers, whom we can call “Mr. Mark” (that’s what the kids called him). He’s at a different school now, and everything is different. One of the features of Saint Paul schools is that each has its own “Reform Model”, meaning they have their own way of doing absolutely everything. For a dedicated teacher this isn’t a huge problem, but it’s taking some time for him to adjust. His favorite seminar was one given by a member of the Loft Literary Community on how to get kids to write in early grades.

The featured speaker of the morning is Jonathan Kozol, who rocked the world of public education some 20 years ago with his book “Savage Inequalities”, depicting how inner city schools were consistently shafted. He doesn’t have quite the same fire in his belly anymore, but he still has a lot of passion for the teachers who came to see him. He had that “I’m just happy to be here!” look as he signed his new book, “Letters to a Young Teacher”. Some of the young teachers in line for the signing had that rockstar gaga look that bubbled just a bit of excitement into an otherwise slow morning.

Later on there is a seminar on how to spot children’s mental health problems, which I find fascinating since it’s only been about 10 years since anyone thought that children had mental health problems. That’s why they hold these conventions, it seems, so that teachers can be brought up to speed on the latest thinking in many areas. Let’s hope that the latest thinking represents progress generally.

For those of you who live in Minnesota, this is what happens when your kids are off from school these two daze or, for that matter ,when half of your co-workers are missing. It’s nothing all that exciting, just a chance for teachers to be re-energized a bit after the school year has started and before it becomes deathly cold out. It’s an odd time of year for a holiday, but we can make the most of it. Why not? The teachers do.

Now, if they only had this in the summer …

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