Good morning, from a chilly room on a rainy day in Dallas.   Here today at the bi-annual teacher conference of the Independent School Association of the Southwest (ISAS), an association of about 85 independent schools across the Southwest, from Arizona to Lousiana and north to Kansas.   I am new to ISAS this year, after nine terrific years as an active participant in the California Association (CAIS), and it is still a bit of a different world to me, but one to which I have been feeling welcomed with warm Southern hospitality.

ISAS has taken its teacher conference to what I would call a “marquee” speaker event, in contrast to the CAIS format of teacher-to-teacher trainings and workshops, and the 1100 attending here (up from 400 two years ago, I was told) are benefitting today and tomorrow from is a very impressive slate of national presenters.  Dan Pink and Tony Wagner are the big names, but there is also Shawn Achor, Samuel Betances, David Eagleman and Andrew Zucker.

I will be posting every hour or so, and I welcome you to read along and to post your own comments too.  Here we go.