Featured Speakers
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NWAIS Fall Educators Conference October 11, 2019 Session A | 10:00-11:00 am Featured Speakers A01. Keynote Follow-up: Come and Be Limitless Presenter: Jo Boaler Kemper Gym A02. Unleash Powerful Teaching Strategies Based on the Science of Learning Presenter: Pooja K. Agarwal, Cognitive Scientist & Author; Patrice Bain, Veteran K-12 Educator and Speaker Chapel When we think about learning, we typically focus on getting information into students’ heads. What if, instead, we focus on getting information out of students’ heads? In this interactive session, presented by a cognitive scientist and a veteran K-12 teacher, you will learn how to harness powerful evidence-based strategies, including retrieval practice, spacing, and feedback-driven metacognition. Without extra prepping or grading, take your instruction to the next level and transform your students’ long-term learning. A03. Critical Thinking Presenter: Daniel Willingham, Professor at the University of Virginia Kemper Theater When asked to name our highest hope for schooling, most would suggest that we want to teach students to think critically; we don't want them merely to learn factual content, we want them to evaluate and integrate what they read and learn. That desire has taken on a new urgency in the Internet era, with tidal waves of information, and attendant charges of fake news. In this talk I will explain from a cognitive perspective why critical thinking is so difficult to teach and I will suggest curricular and instructional strategies to address these difficulties. A04. Belonging, Identity, and Behavior: Engaging diverse youth in schools Presenter: Janine Jones, PhD Great Hall This session will focus on promoting resilience and well-being of diverse students in schools. Participants will learn practical strategies for activating culturally grounded protective factors can unlock the potential of historically marginalized learners. Research results on culturally responsive school engagement and effective strategies for school personnel will be presented. A05. Neuroscience of Learning – K-5 Education Through a Neural Lens Presenter: Kieran O’Mahony, PhD and Missy Widmann, MA USB Atrium In the past few decades, neuroscientists have made amazing discoveries about the neural substrates governing the human brain. In this session, you will learn more about the neuroscience behind how the brain works, how to positively grow neural connections, and how to foster engagement through a research-based neuroscience model that creates a safe environment for students to find voice and agency. Understanding how the brain works, what stimulates it and how to harness neural connections in a positive way enables students to flourish. Neurocognitive-informed pedagogy can be applied in real classrooms with real results. 1 Breakout Sessions A06. Every Voice Counts: Research-Based Inclusive Classroom Discussions Presenters: Sally Maxwell, The Bush School; Nidhi McVicar, Overlake School USB – Room 1604 Would you like to better design class discussions to engage introverted, anxious, or marginalized students? Are you eager to incorporate the latest cognitive science so that class discussions consistently support student learning? Join us for a demo lesson and examine how well you are currently meeting your inclusive intentions, learn research-based discussion techniques, and try out two SEL-integrated discussion models you could use in middle and upper school humanities courses. A07. Addressing Twice Exceptional Children in the Elementary Years Presenters: Michelle Sullivan, Tristan Gavin,Jennifer Bloch-Garcia and Beth Williams, Bertschi School Paddock Hall - Room 1121 Tristan Gavin and Jennie Bloch Garcia, Bertschi Learning Specialists, Michelle Sullivan, fifth grade teacher, and Beth Williams, second grade teacher, will share how Bertschi is striving to address the unique needs of our students who could be labeled as twice exceptional - gifted students who also have a significant area of challenge. We will share classroom strategies as well as how we are communicating expectations with students and parents. A08. Animal Instincts: The 5 Conflict-Handling Styles – And When to Use Them Presenter: Nora Jaso Ludviksen, The Table Mediation Sallie Egerton Wilson Corridor - Room 1406 Based on the Thomas-Kilmann model of conflict resolution, family mediator Nora Ludviksen presents the 5 conflict-handling styles - Avoiding, Accommodating, Competing, Collaborating, and Compromising - and translates them into ANIMAL FORM, so you can teach self-aware conflict handling skills to kids. Come find out which animal YOU tend to be when conflict arises, why we need to learn ALL of these styles and when to use them. A09. The Paideia Seminar: The Power of Deliberate Discussion Presenter: Christie Berkey, The Westside Schools Klarsch Hall - Level 1 - Room 1510 Bring the power of the Paideia Seminar to your classroom practice. Rooted in the classical Socratic method, learn how the Paideia Seminar Cycle will help you build your student’s core reading, speaking, listening, and writing skills while allowing you to coach critical and creative thinking and provide constant practice in thinking and discussion. A10. Bridging the Range of Students’ Capabilities – Differentiating Instruction to Maximize Success Presenter: Mary Mingels, Annie Wright Schools Klarsch Hall Level 2 - Room 2509 Our students are wonderfully diverse in a myriad of ways. Within a single class there could be students taking every math class from pre-algebra through pre-calculus. It is important that all students feel appropriately challenged and simultaneously supported. So how do you avoid having some feel held back without leaving others struggling to keep up? We will explore strategies to engage all students. Teaching and learning strategies and best practices will be presented that can be implemented in lessons across content areas. 2 A11. Creating Active Learners: Teaching Metacognition to Adolescents Presenters: Maritza Tavarez-Brown, Forest Ridge School; Debbie McLaughlin, Forest Ridge School; Louisa Fish-Sadin, Forest Ridge School; Eve Lipton, Forest Ridge School; Katie Joyce, Forest Ridge School USB – Room 1622 Executive functions (EF) and metacognition are skills that underpin academic success and adolescent self-regulation. Four high school teachers experimented with direct teaching of strategies for EF. They will share case studies from their work with 9th grade students. Several disciplines are represented: humanities, science, math, and international language. Participants will have a chance to ask questions and identify how they might adopt similar strategies to support discipline-specific learning. A12. Creating Supportive Communities for Learning New Language in a Non-Binary World Presenters: Jane Shay; Mary Grace Lentz, Seattle Jewish Community School Klarsch Hall - Level 2 - Room 2508 Words are powerful. As teachers, our words hold something more. As the world of progressive education seeks to create a more inclusive community and as our understanding of gender develops, changes in our speech and language are critical to setting up a classroom for student success. In this session, we will examine some of the implicit biases toward binary gender identities endemic in common teacher language. In addition to vocabulary, we will break down case studies to practice ways to hold ourselves as teachers and colleagues accountable for making change in our verbal habits. How do we speak using the pronoun "they"? How often do we reference students and groups of students by one or the other gender? If affirming a student's sense of self requires us to let go of old phrasing, how can we build opportunities for self-reflection and create a new world with a larger spectrum of gender and identities? A13. Deepen Your Teaching with Current Events Presenter: Dave Marshall, University Prep USB – Room 1610 A world-changing event just happened, and your students are eager to discuss it. What do you do? Integrating current events boosts student engagement and understanding across all ages and subjects. While this approach poses challenges, it can also enhance student voice and choice, media literacy, social justice work, interdisciplinary learning, and real-world connections. Come to learn about a unique approach we’re taking at University Prep: an 11th grade U.S. History course framed around current events. A14. Ditching the Tricks: Using Students’ Prior Knowledge to Conceptualize Three Middle School Math Concepts Presenters: Erin Flotte, Villa Academy; Lindsay Kapek, Villa Academy USB – Room 2609 Conceptual understanding is key, but what does it seem like there are some mathematical content areas where we can't help but return to the same old tricks? In this session, we will explore the ways we completely changed how we taught order of operations, operations with integers, and algebraic expressions by drawing on prior student knowledge and number sense. Come prepared to explore, discuss, and try something new! A15. Flipped Classrooms: Evidence of Effectiveness and Strategies for Implementation Presenter: Wendell Thomas, Rowland Hall USB – Room 1609 A veteran "flipper" describes compelling evidence from current research in cognitive psychology and neuroscience about how flipped classroom structures can increase student engagement and learning, 3 and to mitigate some of the common challenges experienced by independent school teachers. Strategies for implementation will also be discussed and participants are encouraged to bring ideas and questions