PEN 2019 CONFERENCE: A Reflection — by Theresa Collins, Board Member PEN chose the Twin Cities for our 2019 conference for a variety of reasons: the diversity of schools and students; the achievement and opportunity gap that exists there; the beautiful fall weather; a return to the midwest after two wonderful conferences on the East Coast, and our first time hosting in partnership with a university. Once again, hundreds of educators crossed the country, timelines and even international airspaces to gather with folks who work every day to deliver the best in progressive practice. The conference has always been a space of energy, ideas, connection, and the ever elusive element that we cannot make more of: time. With the time we had, however, PEN 2019 accomplished much. Our conference included featured events with education practitioners who pushed our thinking and inspired us to action: our opening panel of Minnesota education advocates included The Honorable Andrea Jenkins, Honorable Justice Alan Page, Ms. Kamie Page, and Dr. Marika Pfefferkorn. Facilitated by MPR’s Angela Davis, the panelists discussed education gaps and opportunities in MInnesota. Paul Gorski opened the conference on Friday morning with a rousing call to action entitled “Who’s Progressive?/Whose Progressive?: How Inequity and Injustice Persist in Progressive Schools and What We Ought to Be Doing About It ”; Local poet Julian Randall graced us with a poetry reading and lively talk back; Dr. Bettina Love closed the conference on Saturday afternoon with ”Abolitionist Teaching”. Educator and student-led programming always makes up the bulk of our conference, and we are so grateful to all of the presenters who shared their insights, expertise, and modeling of best practice with colleagues. With 90-180-minute program sessions, school site visits, 4-hour immersions on the U of M campus and in local spots around the Cities, the variety of experiences PEN 2019 provided was rich, diverse, and, we hope, enlivening and inspiring. 4
Opening night panelists Kamie Page, Marika Pfefferkorn,
PEN The Journal of the Progressive Education Network Spring 2020
The Honorable Andrea Jenkins
