President’s Message

Welcome to the 2012 South West Alberta Teachers convention. Alberta educators have organized and sponsored these professional development events for 95 years. Perhaps the biggest challenge of this convention will be choosing your sessions from our selection of outstanding speakers and presenters in over 130 sessions. Many of these topics celebrate the triumph and perseverance of the human spirit over enormous obstacles.  Closer to home, we have ATA president Carol Henderson addressing current issues in education, which certainly affect us all.

Teachers’ convention is a closed event. By this we mean that it is two days of professional development organized for teachers, by teachers and paid for by teacher’s contributions through their ATA dues. This is a time for teachers to learn, try new concepts, review materials available, and connect with colleagues from across Southern Alberta.

A reminder for all teachers, your ATA Membership Card is your entrance pass to all sessions at convention. This allows our chair people to know that you are a teacher from one of our five member locals or a paid attendant. This practice will address concerns that non-teachers fill up sessions thus causing paid attendees to miss out on valuable learning opportunities. If you happen to forget your membership card, you can always pick up a "nametag" at the SWATCA office on Thursday morning in PE 264 or our main office D633. Bring a paystub or your ASEBP card in order to get your "nametag".

We wish to thank Interim Dean, Craig Loewen and the Facility of Education of the University of Lethbridge for their continued generous financial support. We would also like to recognise their contributions to the organization and smooth running of the conference venue in an event that hosts close to 2000 delegates.

All the teacher volunteers on the SWATCA committee have worked hard this year to make this a positive and energizing learning event. It is our sincere hope that this will be a memorable and uplifting convention for you.

Enjoy!

Elizabeth Pocock

SWATCA President 2012