Dear fellow petitioners, I was delighted to receive more incoming petitions in my mailbox today. We have nearly 2800 names on the paper petition against the Inspiring Education initiative! My mailing address again is PO Box 277 Calmar AB T0C0V0. (Inspiring Education is the initiative to change our whole school system to the inferior inquiry/discovery-based system of teaching. We are wanting to stop this AND the discovery math). Thank you so much to everyone who came to our May 29th forum. And no worries to my fellow petitioners who weren't able to. You have helped in so many other ways. The evening turned out more wonderfully than I had imagined thanks in large part to the ever amazing Cynthia, Sharon, Mae, Glen, Marion, Kerry and Grant. My vision for the forum was to bring together parents, educators and political/education officials to not only discuss the concerns with the direction of Alberta's education under the Inspiring Education initiative and persistent discovery math practices, but also to start translating words into action. The presentations from Mr. Stuart Wachowicz, who gave a powerful presentation against Inspiring Education, Dr. Vladimir Troitsky, who was very witty, and Dr. Rob Craigen, who drove hundreds of kilometers to be there for us, were absolutely incredible! I could not be more fortunate to have such esteemed and knowledgeable individuals speak for us. I am grateful for the fortuitous release of Dr. Anna Stokke's fantastic CD Howe report just days before our event, as it helped attract media attention to the evening. I was very honoured to finally meet so many "my fellow petitioners", some of whom drove from as far as Whitecourt/Red Deer/Vegreville/Drayton Valley. Our team is still very impressed with the presentation by Ms Simon who described so passionately our concerns. And a teacher who courageously stood up to beautifully articulate her disapproval of Inspiring Education, thus giving us parents validation. Thank you so much to all who spoke, as it helped our cause immensely. And just having all the other teachers and mathematicians there really gave us strength. What I wanted most importantly to hear at the end of the night was what our decision-makers/education officials will do in light of what they've heard: 1. I was disappointed that the Education Minister wasn't able to make it, but much to my pleasant surprise, Mr. Bruce Hinkley, the NDP MLA for Wetaskiwin-Camrose did come as a representative for his party. He said he was there to listen and will examine the evidence. The very nice Mr Hinkley told me afterwards that he believes we will achieve what we want, though it would be difficult by fall 2015. This was very nice to hear, but I did tell him that I will not wait for the pendulum to swing to the end before that happens...that we will stop the pendulum and Sept 2015 is still my goal for them. 2. I so respect Dr. David Swann, Liberal Leader, for rearranging his schedule and making an effort to come hear us out. Though he was a little late, he heard enough that yesterday, he emailed me and offered to write a letter to the minister in support of us of our stance! Dr. Swann listened and is taking action on our behalf. Thank you so much Dr. Swann!! 3. Wildrose Shadow Education Minister Mark Smith gives us faith. He is a retiring teacher and knows exactly what our concerns are with Inspiring Education and discovery math. He has our back in this and will, if necessary, make sure the NDP will respond to us accordingly. I so appreciate how, after receiving my invitation, Mark made sure he scheduled everything else in his life around our meeting. This devotion to the best interest of our children is very admirable. 4. Mr. Wes Taylor, Wildrose MLA for Battle river-Wainwright also came in support of us because he too was a teacher. His bright daughter, an education student, is seeing the nonsense pushed on her and she is ensuring that her father help rein in the Inspiring Ed push. 5. Mr. Raja Panwar from Alberta Education told me in private that he was glad he came. He now has a better understanding of our concerns and will address it with the Minister when he comes into office. 6. An Edmonton Public School Trustee said to me that he will speak to the board about this and try to get things moving. 7 This is AB Party Greg Clark's response to my invitation: "Thank you for the invitation to your education forum. I admire the great work you are doing, but regrettably I will be unable to attend. I wish you success in the event." Hopefully, this is a sign that he will stand with us too against Inspiring Ed. So, overall, I think we did make some gains in the right direction. I refuse to give up my goal of Sept 2015. Something most definitely can be done by then. I have faith in the new government. :) Kindest regards, Dr. Nhung Tran-Davies mrgranthd@yahoo.ca https://www.facebook.com/pages/Alberta-Math-Petition/715037091853017 http://www.cdhowe.org/pdf/commentary_427.pdf http://www.edmontonsun.com/2015/05/29/back-to-basics-math-conference-held-in-edmonton http://www.cbc.ca/radio/checkup/is-there-something-wrong-with-the-way-math-is-being-taught-1.3093910