Met fine folks at the 3 day Circle of Light Aboriginal Education Conference in T.O. I think the most inspirational parts were hearing the student panels. Those kids are so courageous and dedicated ... some had such difficulties trying to stay in school, having to leave their families to stay with strangers while attending schools that were much larger, more populated and far from familiar things. Most adults wouldn't want to endure such challenges even for a good job! I attended some workshops about various things some of the northern communities are doing infusing local culturally-based knowledge into the curriculum, learned more about PLC's [professional learning committees] as well as reaquainted and made new friendships. Now I have more clarity about what is being done [or not as usual with fed. funding] for and with our First Nations students to help them receive meaningful and relevant education that will result in them having good employment prospects. My perceptions of what the Ont. Ministry of Ed. needs to do was made even more clear with regard to delivering programming to new teachers and especially the boards' duties to provide all students with a wider knowledge of our shared history and current practises in native communities. ... all in all, a good conference where more sharing than usual was expressed.