Phew.

Finished my talk. I was a little nervous heading in because the discussant had that kind of demeanor that indicated she was no-nonsense (read: I thought she might be harsh in her critique). My paper benefited from a few extra weeks of reflection, and my presentation was much improved over the draft of the paper I sent to her. So I was worried she would comment on my flimsy implications/conclusion section. But in fact she did what a good discussant does - she found the common threads among the three papers being presented and then posed some interesting questions for further research. Then I had a great discussion with some of the folks who came to hear the talk about the Teacher Performance Assessment with some folks in other states that are also piloting it. I heard some interesting things, met some interesting people, reconnected with some grad school peeps, and gave a decent talk. A good conference, I think.

a spark of an idea

What I love about conferences like the one I'm at right now, is that I get to hear from the rockstars in my field and all the smart research and teaching they are engaged in at their own institutions. I usually come away with a powerful gem of an idea that transforms something I do. This time, it was a new theory that might just be the right framework for a research project I have percolating in my brain. Have to do more reading and research about it, but at least it is a place to start.

Now if only I could finish this presentation of mine...