Where Does It Live: Building Systems And Structures Around What You Believe (4 hours Institute)

Chris Lehmann, is the founding principal of the Science Leadership Academy, a progressive science and technology high school in Philadelphia, PA

Strand: Innovative Learning, Grade level: All, Subject area: All

The myth of the single teacher, bucking the odds to be that one great teacher in a school may make for a great Hollywood movie, but it rarely -- if ever -- leads to lasting, effective change. We must examine the manner in which our schools and classrooms are set up so that the greatest number of students, teachers and even principals can thrive and learn and feel valued. This session is focused on looking at institutional change, so that attendees can explore what they value and then examine the systems in their districts, schools and classrooms that must change to reflect those values.

U.S. College And Universities” - A “Snapshot” Of The Current First-Year Students And Issues Impacting Admissions

Daniel Saracino recently retired as the University of Notre Dame’s assistant provost for enrollment

Grade Level: High School Subject area: All

This session will share key demographics and attitudinal trends of first-year students who enrolled in American colleges in Fall, 2012. The CIRP survey which has been administered annually each fall at hundreds of U.S. colleges by UCLA’s Higher Education Research Institute provides a wealth of information and we will highlight the most interesting.

The rising cost of higher education and how colleges plus the state and federal governments are responding to this critical issue will be addressed.

There should be ample time during the session for interaction with all in attendance.

An Introduction To Mindfulness In Schools (2 hours workshop)

Kevin Hawkins, MS Principal at the International School of Prague

Strand: Social and Emotional Learning, Grade level: Grade 5-12, Subject area: All

This experiential workshop will provide an introduction to the theory and practice of mindfulness, and will consider the growing evidence base for the benefits that it offers for teachers and pupils. Participants will experience part of the ".b" course for teenagers and suggestions for follow-up will be provided.

What is mindfulness? Mindfulness is present moment awareness. There is now considerable and compelling evidence that training in mindfulness is a very effective way of alleviating stress, anxiety and depression as well as promoting well-being and flourishing. Mindfulness courses are now available on the NHS in the UK.

What does mindfulness training involve? Participants learn to sustain and focus their attention, exploring and accepting their experience in an open-minded way, using physical sensations as anchors whenever the mind wanders.

Transforming Teacher Capacity Through Professional Growth And Evaluation Systems / Part A (2 hours Institute)

Fran Prolman, Fran Prolman is an independent consultant in Great Falls, VA, a Senior Consultant with Research for Better Teaching, and Vice President for Training for the Center for Arts in Basic Curriculum

Strand: Innovative Learning, Grade level: All, Subject area: All

This two-part workshop will highlight the leadership, supervision and appraisal skills necessary for ensuring a highly competent teacher in every classroom in your school.

Part A will focus on the key components of an effective Professional Growth and Appraisal System:

• The design standards
• Ways to minimize teacher anxiety and focus on growth and support
• Reflection tools for using multiple measures of student achievement
• Descriptive focused feedback for growth
• Practical implementation of a teacher leader infrastructure, faculty buy-in, and how to facilitate a reflective cultural shift are also incorporated.

Part B will focus on the practical application of the power of a Professional Growth System. Those applications include:

• Alternative sources of data collection for professional growth and reflection
• Skills for promoting professional coaching conversations for teacher skillfulness
• Ways to correlate the appraisal system with professional development models
• Peer observation components
• Expansion of your repertoire for supervising underperforming teachers.

The workshops are designed as a pair, but stand-alone as well. Both workshops incorporate research-based, engaging and interactive strategies for immediate use back in your school. Problem solving and videotape analysis will be included in both workshops.

Today in...

Kurt Klynen Apple Distinguished Educator

Strand: Innovative Learning, Grade level: All, Subject area: All

Students can express their learnings in many ways. Kurt will bring several examples of students using the iPad to catalogue their learning, prepare notes for study and deliver engaging examples of learning using a few Apps for iPad. Learn, Remix and Share.

Lesbian, Gay, Bi- and Transsexual Issues in Schools (2 hours)

Jerald Newberry is currently the Executive Director of the National Education Association’s Health Information Network

Strand: Innovative Learning, Grade level: All, Subject area: All

The world has and is changing in attitudes toward GLBT students. Students, however, often express and act out attitudes that they absorb in their homes. Participants will identify situations that are most common in schools…with emphasis on those that are most challenging for students and for themselves as school leaders. Participants will leave with information and practice that they can use with colleagues and students in their home schools.

Aligning The Curriculum With The Units Of Inquiry From A Specialist Point Of View

Liene Leiskalne, teacher at the International School of Latvia

Strand: Collaborative Learning, Grade level: Grade 1-5, Subject area: IB PYP

This session will focus on how the Specialist teacher can align curriculum within the PYP framework. Often the Specialists' curriculum is lost when collaborating within the Units of Inquiry. Participants will learn effective strategies to successfully align the curriculum within the PYP.

Building Learning Environments for Systems Thinking (2 hours Institute)

Micah Fierstein, Assistant Professor in Educational Leadership Studies at West Virginia University

Strand: Innovative Learning, Grade level: All, Subject area: All

This workshop is one of the three institutes Micah is presenting concerning Transformation through Collaboration: Building Leadership Capacity for Systemic Change. The goal of these three conference institutes is for participants to discover and practice tools/frameworks that challenge educators to build their capacity to think and act in new ways. A different set of learning frameworks will be explored in each institute. The goal of each institute will be to help prevent others from falling inadvertently into the swamp of constrained possibilities. “Insanity is doing the same thing and hoping for a different result.” – Albert Einstein.

During this workshop Building Learning Environments For Systems Thinking, participants will be introduced to, and experience cognitive tools/frameworks that help them interpret and act on challenges/problems from a broader “systems” perspective. This system thinking perspective helps teachers and students to view their actions as being impactful on the health and success of the larger institution (classroom or school). Instead of blaming others – one begins to ask the more powerful question: “How am I part of the problem and how can I be part of the solution? Playful and engaging activities will be the learning design for this institute. Participants will leave with practical information and practices that they can use as they problem solve with colleagues and students in their home schools.

Bringing Khan Academy To Your School (2 hours Institute) (2-hour session: presentation, Q&A, and hands-on engagement with the site)

Elizabeth Slavitt is a team member of Khan Academy and her task is School Implementations

Strand: Innovative Learning, Grade level: All, Subject area: All

** Note: the first hour of this session will be the same as the 1-hour Creating personalized classrooms session; people who attend the 1-hour session may want to skip the first hour of this session and just come for the hands-on portion. Bring a laptop or tablet with wifi**

Khan Academy is a nonprofit organization with a mission of providing a free, world-class education for anyone, anywhere. Khanacademy.org features more than 3,500 videos on a range of educational topics (including math, science, economics, medicine, engineering, and art history), interactive math exercises with step-by-step hints, and real-time reports that help teachers keep a pulse on each student's needs. Over the past few years, Khan Academy has worked closely with a group of schools to determine how the site can be used effectively in the classroom; there are now more than 20,000 classrooms using the site and about six million unique users per month. For the first hour of this session, find out more about the resources available for students and teachers on Khan Academy, and learn about some specific examples of schools that have used Khan Academy to create more personalized learning environments. In the second hour, check out the site for yourself and engage with guided worksheets to begin planning how you could bring Khan Academy to your school.

Working Effectively With International Families and Students

Peter Welch, Director at Istanbul International Community School

Strand: Social and Emotional Learning, Grade level: Administrative Assistants and All, Subject area: Cultural differences

In this session we will discuss some of the latest insights and fascinating research into cultural intelligence. In order help someone or teach someone we must first understand their needs and their cultural point of view. Communities in international schools contain such a wide range of cultural perspectives and values; to work effectively we need to keep developing our cultural humility, empathy and flexibility.

A Collaborative Approach to Addressing Individual Student Needs

Colleen Knutson, Elementary Counselor/School Psychologist, Alyssa Kolowrat, Middle School EAL Teacher, both at the International School of Prague and Sue Elliott, Learning Support Specialist at Oakhill

Strand: Social and Emotional Learning, Grade level: All, Subject area: EAL, Counseling and Learning Support

This workshop will discuss and demonstrate the complexity and necessity of identifying individual student needs, in order to provide a nurturing and purposeful learning environment for each individual student. The workshop will focus primarily on three strands of needs: Learning Support, EAL and Counseling. The workshop presenters will present and discuss two fictional case studies from both Elementary and Middle School aged students, in order to illustrate the complexities of cases where a student's needs are spread across three areas of support, as this is a common profile seen in International Schools. The aim is for participants to gain additional strategies on how to work with these types of students at their own schools.

In Youth We Trust (2 hours Institute)

Cathryn Berger Kaye is president of CBK Associates and ABCD Books

Strand: Collaborative Learning, Grade level: All, Subject area: All

Essential to developing classroom engagement, student leadership, and global citizenry is the concept of trust, youth voice and choice. If we trust our students more, what could possibly happen? Let’s embark on a thoughtful exchange to uncover and discover how trust may make all the difference in a school culture. We will examine the connection between trust and creativity. We will see the enactment of trust in schools around the world. And we will uncover Five Steps to Trust to enact and re-build the most essential ingredient for learning and for service. What may we discover? Welcome (and even joyful) consequences.

“The What, Why And How Of Sustaining Adaptive Professional Communities” - Developing Adaptive Schools – Part 1 (2 hours Institute)

Carolyn McKanders, is Co-Director of the Center for Adaptive Schools

Strand: Collaborative Learning, Grade level: All, Subject area: All

For schools to effectively respond to the press for accountability and provide quality learning for all students, they must simultaneously address two perennial goals. One goal is the professional development of individual educators. The second is the development of the organization's capacity to learn and be adaptive. Both build the capacity for school improvement, without which reform efforts will fail.

In these Adaptive Schools Seminars, learn how to build strong collaborative and caring work cultures, in which results-oriented faculties work together for continuous school improvement. Explore the latest practical findings in organizational development, team learning and navigating the currents of change through applying adaptive principles and practices.

Participants will learn practical frameworks and tools for developing collaborative groups that bring collective responsibility in student learning. Leaders and group members will learn ways to influence and attain more productive and satisfying meetings in which members develop new norms and skills for collegial interaction, goal clarification, problem-solving and decision-making. Working in a variety of settings, skilled and confident staffs and facilitators will increase their ability to accelerate group development so that adult conversations produce the highest quality work for students.

Part 1: “The What, Why and How of Sustaining Adaptive Professional Communities”

OUTCOMES:

Participants will develop:

• Understanding of research findings regarding professional community in schools
• Increased awareness of the why, what and how of becoming adaptive
• Awareness of norms/skills for collaborative conversations

It includes

• Elements of Professional Community
• What is an Adaptive School and it's Impact on Student Learning?
• Principles, Strategies and Norms for becoming and remaining adaptive

This is a closed session.

Don't Eat the Marshmallow! Understanding Investor Behavior To Better Plan For Retirement

Justin Reinking and Jonathan Levy, Compliance Officer at Integrated Benefits

Strand: Social and Emotional Learning, Grade level: All, Subject area: Behavioral science

We will look at several studies, which have been conducted to analyze individual behavior as it relates to the perception of time and one's ability to delay gratification. The results of these studies can be directly related to our own personal efforts to manage our finances and save sufficiently for our future. Understanding behavioral tendencies and biases can help us take better control of managing our money and be more successful in our investment efforts.