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Becky's presentation at the 2013 Oakton Women's Conference

This morning Becky was one of the presenters at the Oakton Virginia Stake Women's Conference 2013. She and a former colleague from Fairfax County Schools presented together. Here's a blurb about their presentation:

Title:  Raising Resilient Children: It’s Never Too Late!Presenters:  Becky Vanatter and Virginia Rutledge 
They will share and discuss the pitfalls that hinder resilience and share some life-strategies to teach children of all ages (K-YSA) to help them through their school life, missions, and come what may. 
Rebecca Vanatter and Virginia Rutledge are members of the Fair Oaks Ward. Becky Vanatter works for Brigham Young University as the coordinator for BYU's student teaching program in the Washington D.C. Public Schools. She previously worked as a 6th grade teacher in Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) for almost 15 years. Jenna Rutledge is a retired school psychologist from FCPS for 20 years. Both have advanced degrees in how children/people learn. They have seen up close what difficulties our youth have as they develop their own personal arsenal of coping strategies to deal with intense frustrations in facing overwhelming challenges. 
I think about 40+ attended her break out session. She has been asked to come present to a couple wards in May.

I sneaked into her presentation (well, just outside the doorway) and took this photo.


Here is the flyer for the conference.



Here is my part. I was one of 10 other men who managed to occupy the attention of 45 kids (ages 18 months to 8 years old) for 4 hours. The graph of the level of noise/excitement and desire for change went from a very gentle slope upwards for about 3 hours, then it went semi-exponential the last hour. Actually, that was only in comparison to the absolute breeze the first 3 hours was. As the last hour progressed the value of our stories and our games and our snacks and our toys wore out -- for some. Only a couple young kids wanted their mommy, only a couple bumped their head, and only one climbed out the window. We caught him as he only did it to show up at the entrance of the kids area. (We saw him do it. He led the way for the Scavenger Hunt later on.)


I am proud of Becky, that she can share some of what she's learned in 15 years in the classroom, and another 10 in leading her student teachers in inner-city DC schools. Not to mention leading the way raising two resilient daughters. Love you honey.

Comments

Carrie said…
Good job mom! Very cool. Proud too:)
Becky/Mom said…
Everyone should have a husband that is their cheerleader! Thanks honey! Feels Great... to have been able to share what I've learned and have people be 1) interested and 2) inspired... I admit I was a little surprised so many attended and so many kept talking about it through lunch... If they walk away wanting to do more, learn more... then I am pretty sure I did my job... Thanks Carrie... Thanks Scott... love you...

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