I was excited to see the key speaker for the conference. Maria from Sesame Street! She gave us her background and her time with the show. It made me sad to think about how nearly all of the human cast was fired. They kept the younger actors to be more relevant to children.
At any rate, it was a great nostalgia trip for me and her talk focused on the importance of working with young children.
Here are some of the notes I took that night:
11/2 5:38pm
Poor kids were meant to behave and memorize. vs other kids who were to think – Sonia Manzano (AKA Maria from Sesame Street)
Kids are taught specific vs letting kids use tools to figure it it for themselves.
Phonetics in school
Every one who saw that things were able to bring their own things in it
Projecting own life experience on that story (charlottes web)
America needs people of different backgrounds to solve problems
Kids are not empty vessels to fill with facts
It’s our job to inspire. Not to do what we do or think like we do but that they are inspired to think of anything.