Mar 23

Written by: shines-2
3/23/2010 1:29 PM 

To how many professional organizations do you have membership? How many professional conferences do you attend each year? Ever sat in a  workshop and thought, "I could have taught this?" Have you ever asked your supervisor for permission to attend a confererence and hear, "Not this year?"

If you have a conference you attend on a regular basis, maybe you should consider volunteering to be more than just a conference attendee. Your organization needs you to be the best it can be. There are usually many opportunites to volunteer for a variety of positions. You can volunteer to answer questions, hand out conference materials, prepare for a social event, facilitate a workshop for a presenter or present a workshop of your own.

We regularly take teachers to TCEA. The first time, they get to go without volunteering, but if they want to go the next year, they are required to submit a proposal to present.

Next time you go to a conference and leave thinking it could have been better, ask yourself what you did to make it better for the other attendees. I hope you can say that you did all you could by volunteering. I know you have something to offer! You know you do!

Volunteer!